The 2024 college football season is almost here.
As the first week of the season quickly approaches in late August, here are 10 of the biggest stories ahead of a season of serious change in college football.
There are now four power conferences
It may take until September to get used to the absence of the Pac-12. Sure, Washington State and Oregon State are still officially in the Pac-12, but the conference’s other 10 teams are spread out across the country. It will be strange to see Stanford and Cal playing conference games against ACC teams, and it will be weird to see USC playing Big Ten 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 the heavy favorite to advance to the Big 12 title game. Oregon should also be in the thick of the Big Ten race, and has a The Heisman co-favorite is QB Dillon Gabriel.
Welcome to the era of the expanded playoff. After a decade of four teams in the College Football Playoff, the field size officially triples in 2024. The top five conference champions will earn spots in the field with seven at-large teams.
The top four conference champions in the final CFP standings all receive a bye into the first round, while the teams ranked 5th through 8th will play at home. These will be the first playoff games ever on a non-neutral site.
After the first round, the final three rounds will be played on neutral sites. The Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl will be two of the quarterfinal sites, along with the Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. The Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl will be the semifinals before the national title game on Jan. 20.
Oregon and Washington State Chart New Course
The two biggest losers of the summer of realignment are Corvallis, Ore., and Pullman, Wash. Oregon State and Washington State will meet 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 have to earn an at-large berth.
Both teams will play Mountain West teams to fill out their “conference” schedules as part of a scheduling alliance, and rivalry games with their in-state Big Ten rivals will continue, at least for now. On Sept. 14, Oregon will travel to Oregon State and Washington State will travel to Washington.
Teams that prepared for a title race
Ohio State and Ole Miss are two of the teams that have made concerted efforts to win big titles for the 2024 season. The Rebels have brought back key contributors like QB Jaxson Dart and loaded up through the transfer portal to bolster the defense. Lane Kiffin’s team has a plausible path to the playoffs and an SEC title thanks to a schedule that includes a home game against Georgia and doesn’t feature…