The 2024 college football season is almost here.
As Week 1 of the season quickly approaches at the end of August, here are 10 of the biggest storylines ahead of a season of serious change in college football.
There are now four power conferences
It may take the month of September to get used to the Pac-12’s absence. Sure, Washington State and Oregon State are still officially in the Pac-12, but the conference’s 10 other teams have been spread out across the country. It’ll be odd to see Stanford and Cal playing conference games against ACC teams, and it’ll be bizarre to see USC playing Big Ten conference games against Michigan and Penn State.
Utah appears to be the former Pac-12 team with the best chance to win its conference as the Utes are prohibitive favorites to get to the Big 12 title game. Oregon should be in the thick of Big Ten contention too, and has a Heisman co-favorite in QB Dillon Gabriel.
Welcome to the expanded playoff era. After a decade of four teams in the College Football Playoff, the field size is officially tripled in 2024. The top five conference champions will earn spots in the field along with seven at-large teams.
The top four conference champions in the final CFP rankings all get first-round byes, while teams seeded Nos. 5-8 will play at home. They’ll be the first non-neutral site playoff games ever.
After the first round, the final three rounds will all be bowl games at neutral sites. The Rose and Sugar Bowls will serve as two of the quarterfinal sites along with the Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. The Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl will be the semifinals ahead of the national title game on Jan. 20.
Oregon State and Washington State chart a new path
The two biggest losers of the summer of realignment are in Corvallis, Oregon, and Pullman, Washington. Oregon State and Washington State will meet on Nov. 23 in a game that will decide the winner of the two-team Pac-12. Neither team is eligible for the College Football Playoff as a conference champion; they will need to earn an at-large spot.
Both teams will play Mountain West teams to fill out their “conference” schedules as part of a scheduling alliance, and the rivalry games with their in-state Big Ten rivals will continue, at least for now. On Sept. 14, Oregon visits Oregon State and Washington State visits Washington.
Teams who loaded up for a title run
Ohio State and Ole Miss are two of the teams that made concerted efforts at big title pushes for the 2024 season. The Rebels brought back key contributors like QB Jaxson Dart and loaded up via the transfer portal to beef up the defense. Lane Kiffin’s team has a plausible path to the playoff and an SEC title thanks to a schedule that includes a home game against Georgia and doesn’t feature either Texas or Alabama.
The Rebels did lose a key player in RB Quinshon Judkins. He headed to Columbus to join the Buckeyes and will form the best running back tandem in the country with TreVeyon Henderson. Ryan Day went out and grabbed former Kansas State QB Will Howard from the transfer portal after QB play doomed Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. The defense should be fantastic with edge rushers Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau back and former Alabama DB Caleb Downs leading the secondary.
The evolution of player pay
We quickly got used to college players getting compensated for their name, image and likeness through endorsement deals. But as the four power conferences — namely the Big Ten and SEC — consolidate power and the NCAA attempts to get ahead of any further legal challenges, the landscape surrounding player pay is rapidly changing. And athletic departments across the country are working through ways they will be able to directly pay their players.
Expect lots of details to be discussed and worked through over the course of the 2024 season, as it could be the final season where college football players aren’t being directly paid by their schools.
It’s Kalen DeBoer’s time at Alabama
It’s Year 1 of the Post-Nick Saban Era as former Washington coach Kalen DeBoer takes over the Crimson Tide while Saban watches from his analyst position at ESPN. Expectations are still sky high at Alabama with QB Jalen Milroe back to run DeBoer’s offensive system.
We’ll have a great idea of where Alabama stands at the end of September, too. The Crimson Tide open with two easily winnable games against Western Kentucky and USF before visiting Wisconsin and hosting Georgia to close out the month. Wins against the Badgers and Bulldogs would quickly endear DeBoer to Alabama fans.
How schedules will play a role in the playoff race
Schedule strength has always played a significant role in college football. But expect it to take on an outsized role in 2024 with the four power conferences all eliminating divisions.
The top two teams in the standings in each conference will play in the conference championship games and tiebreakers are going to be of the utmost importance. Don’t be surprised if one or more conferences has to determine a title game participant by via common opponents or another non-head-to-head tiebreaker.
The size of the conferences also leads to some unbalanced schedules as well. A team like Florida may be one of the 30 or 40 most talented teams in the country. But the Gators could be at risk of missing a bowl with non-conference games against Florida State and Miami and conference matchups against Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, LSU and Ole Miss. Missouri, on the other hand, plays at Alabama and its second-toughest SEC game could be either a home game vs. Oklahoma or a trip to Texas A&M.
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Which Group of Five team will make the playoff?
Since five conference champions are guaranteed spots in the College Football Playoff, we’re guaranteed to have a Group of Five team playing for the title for just the second time ever. Who will that team be?
Boise State enters the season with legitimate hopes of making the playoff. The Broncos landed former USC QB Malachi Nelson and RB Ashton Jeanty is back after a 1,300-yard season. An early season matchup at Oregon is a good measuring stick.
The AAC looks to have the most playoff candidates in teams like Memphis, Tulane and UTSA. But the conference could also be too crowded at the top for its own good. Can someone emerge with an undefeated or one-loss season?
Rivalries resumed
The recent round of conference realignment does have a silver lining or two if you’re a fan of renewing rivalries. The final week of the season will see Texas and Texas A&M meet for the first time since they both were in the Big 12. The game is in College Station. How loud will it be if Texas is playing for a spot in the SEC title game?
Utah’s move to the Big 12 means that its rivalry game with BYU is back on as a conference matchup. The two teams will meet on Nov. 9. Oklahoma faces Missouri the same day to relive their old Big Eight and Big 12 contests.
A revamped bowl schedule
The expanded playoff and the 2024 calendar means that bowl season will look significantly different in December and January.
With Labor Day falling so early in September, the first Saturday of the season is Aug. 31. That means teams will have two off weekends in a 14-week regular season. Conference title games are the weekend of Dec. 7 and bowl season starts the following weekend on Dec. 14.
There’s just one bowl game that day, however. The Camellia Bowl kicks off the FBS bowl season that night after Army and Navy play their traditional rivalry game.
Just six bowl games will be held before the first College Football Playoff game on Dec. 20 and four non-playoff games will be held after New Year’s Day. The final non-playoff game of the season is the Bahamas Bowl on Saturday, Jan. 4.
