If you spent the offseason wondering what the heck is going on in college football at what feels like the sport’s most critical juncture in history, fear not. The one-of-a-kind sport we all know and love has changed — a lot.
But here at The Athletic, we’re experiencing all of those changes right along with you. And we’re here to help you navigate it.
Without further ado, here are a dozen things you should know to help you prepare for a new era:
CFP expansion is here
For years, college football decision-makers have debated the optimal postseason model. Starting this year, the sport will have a new format. Goodbye, four-team Playoff. Hello, 12-team chaos.
The shift in format comes at just the right time after Florida State went undefeated in 2023 but was left out of the Playoff in favor of one-loss Alabama after Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending leg injury in November.
In the new College Football Playoff, automatic bids will be extended to the five highest-ranked conference champions — meaning a Group of 5 team is guaranteed to get in — and at-large spots to the next seven highest-ranked teams.
The top four teams will get a bye into the quarterfinals while seeds No. 5 through No. 8 will host first-round games against seeds No. 9 through No. 12. Those on-campus games should be electric … but then it’s back to neutral sites for the quarterfinals and beyond.
So the top four seeds miss out on the experience (and money) of hosting a postseason game simply for being the highest-ranked teams.
College football has never been accused of being logical.
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Michigan won the title, but hopes of a repeat are slim
The Wolverines had a controversial but highly successful season in 2023, going a perfect 15-0 while Jim Harbaugh was feuding with the NCAA and the school was in the midst of a sign-stealing scandal that rocked college football. Michigan beat rival Ohio State for the third consecutive season and won the program’s first national title since 1997. Now, it’s facing a bit of a rebuild.
With star J.J. McCarthy off to the NFL, Michigan will usher in a new quarterback in coach Sherrone Moore’s inaugural season following Harbaugh’s departure to the Los Angeles Chargers. Alex Orji, a dual threat who can challenge defenses in multiple ways, appears to be the front-runner for the job, but he did not attempt a pass in 2023 despite playing in six games. Michigan also lost its leading rusher, Blake Corum, and its top receiver, Roman Wilson.
Don’t expect the Wolverines to fall out of contention for a spot in the expanded Playoff, but it will be hard to replicate the success from 2023 with so much turnover — and with Ohio State doing everything it can to get back on the winning side of this rivalry.
Georgia and Ohio State are the favorites
It should come as no surprise that Georgia — which won consecutive titles in 2021 and 2022 — is the favorite to win the national championship this year. The Bulldogs were on track for a potential three-peat in 2023 but lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game and missed out on a College Football Playoff berth.
There will be no rebuild in Athens. Quarterback Carson Beck is back for his fifth season after passing for 3,941 yards a year ago — good for third nationally and the most among returning quarterbacks. The Bulldogs must replace some key weapons in the passing game — most notably All-America tight end Brock Bowers — but Beck will still have plenty of talent at his disposal. Georgia’s defense has been ranked in the top 10 in each of the last three years, and there’s no reason to believe this season will be any different.
Ohio State has the next-best odds to win the national title. The pressure is on head coach Ryan Day, who has lost three straight to hated rival Michigan, but the Buckeyes have a star-studded roster that includes some key transfers and several veterans who bypassed the NFL Draft to return to Columbus for one more season.
Two key names to know: quarterback Will Howard, who transferred to Ohio State after four years at Kansas State, and true freshman wideout Jeremiah Smith, who is regarded as the best prospect at his position in years.
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Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh are gone — who are Kalen DeBoer and Sherrone Moore?
Nick Saban won a record seven national championships — six at Alabama and one at LSU — and is considered the greatest coach in college football history. He announced his retirement on Jan. 10, just nine days after the Crimson Tide’s loss to Michigan in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.
In steps Kalen DeBoer, who most recently coached at Washington — where he guided the Huskies to the 2023 national title game — but previously compiled a staggering 67-3 record with three national championships in five seasons at the University of Sioux Falls, an NAIA school in South Dakota.
Alabama fans will expect similar success in Tuscaloosa. We’re kidding — sort of.
Moore is familiar with Michigan after serving on Harbaugh’s staff for the past six years, including three as an offensive coordinator. The 38-year-old from Kansas is well regarded — and did a great job filling in during Harbaugh’s multiple suspensions last season — but he must now deal with the pressure of taking over one of the sport’s most iconic brands.
“We will continue to attack every day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind, and I promise we will smash!”
🗣️ @Coach_SMoore#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/lbw7QaTxg2
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) January 27, 2024
The Heisman race is wide open
All four Heisman Trophy finalists from 2023 — LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels (the winner), Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., Oregon quarterback Bo Nix and Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. — are off to the NFL. That leaves this year’s race wide open.
Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, the Oklahoma transfer, is the preseason favorite. Beck isn’t far behind. Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart have the next best odds.
But could a non-quarterback win the prestigious award this year? Colorado’s Travis Hunter is in a league of his own as a unique two-way player who stars at both wide receiver and cornerback. If Colorado does its part on the field, there’s reason to believe he could be a contender. There has been only one non-QB to win the award since 2015 — Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith in 2020.
Goodnight Pac-12
The “conference of champions” is no more.
The league started to crumble when USC and UCLA announced their decision to join the Big Ten. Then it fell apart when Oregon and Washington followed the two SoCal schools to the Big Ten and Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State bolted for the Big 12.
The two teams left standing are Oregon State and Washington State in what is now the … Pac-2? Both teams have scheduling agreements with the Mountain West Conference for the 2024 season but are still in limbo for the long term.
We will miss you, Pac-12 after dark.
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The most famous backup in college football
Arch Manning — grandson of Archie and nephew of Peyton and Eli — is still a household name even though he’s thrown only five passes in his collegiate career.
Now a sophomore at Texas, Manning is expected to back up Ewers for one more season before the Longhorns give him the keys to the offense in 2025. A season ago, Manning played in just two games as Texas advanced to the College Football Playoff for the first time. Should anything happen to Ewers — and keep in mind, he has missed multiple games in each of the last two seasons — Manning would be next in line for the Longhorns in their debut SEC season.
Hopes are high for Notre Dame
Notre Dame might have no interest in joining the ACC as an official member, but the Fighting Irish sure do love the league’s quarterbacks.
Last year, Sam Hartman used his final year of eligibility at Notre Dame after throwing for nearly 13,000 yards in five seasons at Wake Forest. This year, the Irish swiped Riley Leonard from Duke. Leonard entered the transfer portal after Blue Devils coach Mike Elko was hired at Texas A&M, and he committed to coach Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame about two weeks later.
His arrival gives the Fighting Irish a good chance to make the Playoff for the third time since 2018 and the first time under Freeman.
It will be must-see TV when Leonard squares off against his former coach on Aug. 31 when the Irish open the season at Texas A&M.
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The SEC is no longer on CBS
The SEC and CBS have been one of the most recognizable duos in college football over the last three decades, but the conference’s games will now be shown exclusively on ESPN and its networks after the SEC and Disney reached a $3 billion deal in 2020.
The coveted 3:30 p.m. (ET) CBS slot — and that glorious theme music — now belongs to the Big Ten.
The rest of the Big Ten slate can be found on Fox and NBC, along with the Big Ten Network.
It might take a few weeks, but we’ll figure it out soon enough.
College football’s first ‘Big Ten on CBS’ commercial:pic.twitter.com/H9NCoMGwS9
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) January 28, 2024
Yes, Deion Sanders is still at Colorado
Coach Prime begins his second season in Boulder with his son Shedeur Sanders at quarterback against North Dakota State on Aug. 29. That’s great news for TV executives. There were 44 college football games last season that drew more than 5 million viewers, and Colorado appeared in four of them (the same number as bluebloods Ohio State, Notre Dame, Florida State, Tennessee and Texas). The only schools that played in more games that crossed that threshold were Georgia (eight), Alabama (seven), Michigan (six) and Washington (six).
Of course, all of those teams produced winning records, and Colorado went 4-8. There’s optimism, though, that the Buffaloes are primed to win more thanks to another hefty haul in the transfer portal. Win or lose, Sanders and his crew figure to still be must-watch TV before games, during games, after games and in the interview room. You better tune in because with Shedeur Sanders and Hunter headed to the NFL after this season, this might be the last year to catch Coach Prime.
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Rule changes
In case you missed it, college football decided in April to leave the stone age behind and adopt a few rules that have been part of the NFL for years — most notably instituting a two-minute warning and allowing coach-to-player helmet communication.
The NFL has been using coach-to-helmet communication since 1994 and has stopped the clock with two minutes to play in the second and fourth quarters since 1949.
Coaches are definitely more excited about the new form of communication. Only one player on each side of the ball (designated with a green dot on their helmet) will be allowed to have a radio inside their helmet, and communication will be shut off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock. Teams have been using hand signals and funny play-call signs for years in an attempt to cut down on sign stealing (we’re looking at you, Michigan).
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Sleeper teams
We’re confident that at least one team that isn’t ranked in the AP preseason Top 25 poll will grab a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff. But who is the dark horse to ride with? Earlier this month we selected 13 sleeper teams to watch.
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If you’re looking for a Power 4 conference school to emerge from the shadows, it’s unlikely to be someone from the SEC or Big Ten, which combined to dominate the preseason poll with 15 of the 25 spots.
It’s more likely that it will be a team from the Big 12 or ACC such as Louisville, Virginia Tech, SMU or West Virginia. There are also several unranked Group of 5 schools — Boise State, Memphis and Appalachian State are a few candidates — with plans on crashing the first 12-team Playoff party.
(Photos of Kalen DeBoer, Riley Leonard: Gary Cosby Jr., Greg Swiercz / USA Today Network)