What's new?
Conference realignment
Conference realignment brings new teams, new rivalries and more travelling. The now sadly defunct Pac-12, provider of so much excitement in the 2023 college football season, saw all bar two of its teams scramble to join other conferences. Two northern Californian teams, Stanford and Cal, join the ACC where they will be competing with teams on the opposite coast. The four teams that moved to the Big Ten conference, USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington will have conference opponents based not only in the cold Midwest, but also on the east coast, in Rutgers and Maryland.
The new ACC
With Kentucky previously being the furthest outpost of the Atlantic Coast Conference, courtesy of Louisville, the ACC followed the SEC, Big 10 and Big 12 by expanding westwards. Northern California teams Cal and Stanford join mid-80s Texan powerhouse Southern Methodist University to create a coast-to-coast league of 18 teams.
For all the changes, expect traditional ACC powers Florida State, Clemson, Miami and this year, potentially Virginia Tech, to challenge for honours.
The new Big 10
L.A. based teams USC and UCLA raised eyebrows in June 2022 when they announced their move to the Big 10 conference, effective from August 2024, decisions which precipitated the downfall of the Pac-12. Fourteen months after the Southern California schools' announcement, Oregon and Washington announced their intention to follow suit.
Three of the four schools could make a quick impact. Washington join off the back of a national championship appearance, albeit with a weaker squad this season, while Oregon could contend for the Big 10 immediately. USC can expect to improve in Lincoln Riley's third year in L.A. and cross-town rival UCLA enter a new phase with DeShaun Foster being promoted to head coach after Chip Kelly's departure to new conference rival Ohio State.
It's worth watching the fantastic trailer (above) to get a feel for the sheer breadth now covered by this historic conference.
The new Big 12
Having seen arguably the two strongest teams in the conference, Texas and Oklahoma, flee for the riches and glamour of the SEC, the Big 12 decided to go on the offensive. In 2023, BYU were added, shedding their independent status while UCF, Cincinnati and Houston also joined.
The Big 12 opportunistically picked at the remnants of the crumbling Pac-12 conference a year later, landing then defending champion Utah, headline-grabbing Colorado, rapidly improving Arizona and their in-state rival Arizona State.
The changes make for a wide open conference. Realistically, five teams could all have a shot at the Big 12 title and it will be fun to watch.
The new SEC
Arguably college football's strongest conference added the cream of the neighbouring Big 12 conference Texas and Oklahoma to challenge the traditional southern powers of Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss amongst others. Texas looks primed to challenge straight away, rebuilt under Steve Sarkisian, while Oklahoma are rapidly improving under second-year head coach Brent Venables.
The SEC has managed to expand and retain its regional base in the southeastern United States. Watch this amazing trailer to get you in the mood...
An expanded 12-team playoff
The College Football Playoff have introduced a 12-team playoff bracket for the 2024-25 season, dramatically changing the postseason landscape from the previous four-team format, selected purely by the Playoff Committee.
The new 12-team College format will include the five highest-ranked conference champions, who will receive automatic bids. The seven next highest-ranked non-conference champion teams will make up the rest of the 12-team line-up.
The top four teams will receive a first-round bye to the quarterfinals.
Hers's how The Sporting News showed how the field would have looked, based on the final rankings from last season:
Seeds 5-12 will play each other in the first round, with the higher-seeded teams playing at home, creating a fantastic series of games with electric atmospheres, as opposed to both sets of fans travelling to neutral venues.
Here's a breakdown of how the first round match ups would have looked last postseason, featuring some mouth-watering contests, and games played at classic college football stadiums in Tallahassee, Athens, Columbus and Eugene:
No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 12 Liberty
No. 6 Georgia vs. No. 11 Ole Miss
No. 7 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Penn State
No. 8 Oregon vs. No. 9 Missouri
New Year's Six bowl games will be introduced in the quarterfinal round, where the winners meet the top-four seeded teams. The winners will contest the semi-finals which will be played in bowls on a rotating basis. The national championship host site is determined through bids by prospective host sites. The inaugural final of the new 12-team playoff will crown a national champion at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on 20th January.
Key coaching changes, who's new?
Sherrone Moore - Michigan (formerly offensive coordinator)
Deshaun Foster - UCLA (formerly backs coach)
Kalen DeBoer - Washington to Alabama
Jedd Fisch - Arizona to Washington
Brent Brennan - San Jose State to Arizona
Jonathan Smith - Oregon State to Michigan State
Mike Elko - Duke to Texas A&M
Manny Diaz - Penn State (defensive coordinator) to Duke
Willie Fritz - Tulane to Houston
Bill O'Brien - New England Patriots (NFL - offensive coordinator) to Boston College
Curt Cignetti - James Madison to Indiana
Predictions?
Week 1 is fast approaching, so here are my quick-fire Power 5 and Playoff predictions for the 2024 season...
Conference winners:
ACC - Clemson
Big Ten - Ohio State
Big 12 - Utah
SEC - Georgia
College Football Playoff:
I won't predict the entire bracket, but think Ohio State are loaded with talent this year and will beat Oregon in a close final. Georgia and Texas are the losing semi-finalists.
Heisman Trophy:
Dillon Gabriel is tailor-made to succeed Bo Nix running Oregon's offense and could put up frightening numbers in Eugene. If Oregon make it to a national championship, or even the final, Gabriel can win the Heisman.
Across The Pond College Football podcast:
In the latest episode, Tony and I chew over Georgia Tech's upset win over Florida State and pick our players to watch this season. We make their predictions for the Power Four conference winners, playoff contenders and who wins the national championship. After mulling over the end of season individual award winners, we look ahead at the games to watch in Week 1.
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