Sports

What's new in the 2024 college football season? 12 things to know before kickoff

Published

4 months ago

August 24, 2024

What's new in the 2024 college football season? 12 things to know before kickoff

Follow live coverage of Georgia Tech vs Florida State in college football’s season opener today

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 seeds (who are the four highest-ranked conference champions) 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
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— 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 redshirt freshman 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)

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Sports

SMU’s CFP nightmare: Interceptions, diverted billionaires and a ‘shell-shocked’ Cinderella

Published

3 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

SMU’s CFP nightmare: Interceptions, diverted billionaires and a ‘shell-shocked’ Cinderella

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Billions of dollars can buy a lot of things. It can help revive a football program and get your alma mater into a bigger conference. It can buy a private jet. But it can’t clear more space at a tiny regional airport.

SMU donor Bill Armstrong’s last name is on the team’s indoor practice facility. His plane, which included two-time U.S. Open champion golfer Bryson DeChambeau and former Mustangs star running back Craig James, left Dallas around 6:30 a.m. CT for State College, Pa. But upon arrival, it was diverted to Williamsport, as were some other SMU private planes. The airport was full.

If you believe in harbingers, this was an ominous one, the limits of SMU’s money on display. From a party bus on the drive to the stadium, several SMU donors and former players watched on their phones as quarterback Kevin Jennings threw two pick sixes. By the time they arrived at Beaver Stadium, the score was 21-0, the game all but over.

“Still a great season,” Armstrong said after the game, pulling gloves out of his pocket and refusing to get too down. To him, there was no doubt that the 11-win Mustangs belonged here.

The final score was 38-10. As the last at-large team in the field, the discourse over College Football Playoff blowouts and selection committee decisions turned to SMU, one day after Indiana was manhandled by Notre Dame.

On display at Penn State was the difference between being a CFP darling, a fun story, and a CFP contender. It’s a gap so often exposed at this stage of the season.

“We didn’t play well enough to say anything that isn’t going to be written,” head coach Rhett Lashlee said. “It’ll be written, should we be in or did we belong? That’s fine. You’re welcome to write it. We didn’t play good today. But this is a quality team. We had a good team. We deserve to be here. We earned the right to be here. I’m disappointed we didn’t play to the level that validates that.”

What’s too bad is SMU didn’t even give itself a chance. Before kickoff, Lashlee told the broadcast his team had to avoid a bad start like it’d had in the ACC Championship Game against Clemson, when Jennings had two bad turnovers.

What happened this time? First, Jennings missed a wide-open Matthew Hibner in the end zone on what should’ve been a fourth-down touchdown to cap SMU’s opening drive. On the second drive, Jennings threw a pick six, missing a short throw out of the backfield. On the fourth drive, Jennings threw another pick six, a desperate attempt to make a play on third down instead of throwing the ball away.

SMU was down 14-0 despite playing pretty well otherwise and holding up in the trenches. The defense to that point had been stout.

“That kind of shell-shocked us a little bit,” Lashlee said of the turnover scores.

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Jennings has been turnover-prone. He had five against Duke, but the Mustangs rallied to win that one. SMU also rallied from his two turnovers against Clemson to tie things up late. But Penn State is another level up in competition.

“We don’t have an Abdul Carter,” Lashlee said, referring to Penn State’s All-America edge rusher who was in the backfield constantly and did more than his two tackles for loss indicate, constantly sending Jennings out of the pocket. Penn State’s defense finished with 11 tackles for loss.

For his part, Jennings said his early miss in the end zone didn’t linger in his head and lead to the interceptions. Lashlee blamed the second quarter tipped red zone interception on himself, saying he should’ve just called a running play. Jennings blamed himself.

“I made mistakes three times and gave them the ball with careless mistakes,” the typically quiet Jennings said. “I didn’t take care of the ball.”

Asked if he considered replacing Jennings with backup Preston Stone, Lashlee didn’t indicate it ever came up until the fourth quarter. Stone, who was the Mustangs’ starting quarterback last year and at the beginning of this year, entered the transfer portal earlier this month but had stayed with the SMU team. When Lashlee pulled Jennings late, everyone decided they didn’t want Stone to get hurt on his way out at that point in the game, the coach said. After the final horn sounded, multiple reports emerged that Stone was heading to Northwestern.

A 38-10 game is not close, nor is it competitive. Penn State was clearly the better team, one that will be favored to win the Fiesta Bowl against No. 3 seed Boise State. But SMU finished with more first downs and held PSU to 5.0 yards per play, though the amount of garbage time certainly factored into those respectable stats.

SMU scored just three points on four red zone trips and gave away 14 points on the interception return touchdowns. It’s why Lashlee was so frustrated. He knows how it looks. He can’t argue otherwise.

“People are going to see 38-10 or (28-0 at) halftime and say they don’t belong, but the two pick sixes and we had our opportunities,” he said. “We don’t have anybody to blame but ourselves. It should’ve been a good defensive struggle in the 20s. We didn’t do that.”

SMU long felt that if it just got a power conference invitation, it would show it belonged. The Mustangs showed they belonged in the ACC, going 8-0 in conference play. But they didn’t show they’re ready for this stage yet. Nittany Lions coach James Franklin takes a lot of heat from fans and detractors for not winning the big games, but he almost always wins the games in which Penn State has more talent.

Underdog stories typically end with a thud in the CFP, and SMU and Indiana join a list that includes Cincinnati, TCU and others. Top-level talent wins in the end, and SMU doesn’t have that yet.

Lashlee and SMU will spend the ensuing months hearing those that say SMU shouldn’t have been in the CFP, that Alabama deserved the spot (even though Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe’s three-interception performance in a 21-point loss to 6-6 Oklahoma in mid-November was nearly exactly the same as Jennings’ at Penn State). That’s what comes with this stage.

SMU found itself here for the first time and didn’t deliver. As the party bus headed back to Williamsport and the private planes flew back to Dallas, SMU’s coaches, players and billionaires left with a clear vision of just how far they still have to go.

(Photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)

Sports

Ravens take down Steelers to keep AFC North race open

Published

4 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Ravens take down Steelers to keep AFC North race open

The Baltimore Ravens punched their ticket to the postseason and kept their hopes for a division title alive Saturday.

With a 34-17 win over the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore could reclaim first place in the final two weeks.

Pittsburgh (10-5) would have clinched the division with a victory, but now the teams are deadlocked after the Ravens (10-5) won for just the second time in the last 10 games of the series. Baltimore clinched a playoff berth with the win.

The Steelers had already clinched a playoff spot.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson throws from the pocket during the second half against the Pittsburgh Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium. (Tommy Gilligan/Imagn Images)

Russell Wilson threw two touchdown passes, the second of which tied the game at 17 with 5:14 left in the third quarter. Jackson answered with a 7-yard scoring strike to Mark Andrews.

After Pittsburgh turned the ball over on downs, a 44-yard run by Derrick Henry put the Ravens in the red zone.

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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson (3) during the first half at M&T Bank Stadium. (Tommy Gilligan/Imagn Images)

That drive ended when Jackson was intercepted for just the fourth time this season, but Marlon Humphrey picked off Wilson and ran 37 yards to the end zone to give Baltimore a cushion in a series that’s been tight of late. The previous nine games between the Steelers and Ravens were decided by seven points or fewer.

Jackson improved to 2-4 against Pittsburgh as a starter. Saturday’s game marked his first time facing the Steelers at home since 2020.

Henry rushed for 162 yards.

Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry (22) is defended by Pittsburgh Steelers safety Damontae Kazee (23) in the first quarter at M&T Bank Stadium. (Tommy Gilligan/Imagn Images)

Pittsburgh entered the game with a plus-18 turnover margin, but the Ravens had the edge in that department Saturday. Baltimore recovered three of its own fumbles and had two big takeaways.

Now the Steelers will have to deal with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day before finishing the season at home against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Ravens will travel to Houston to play the Texans on Christmas Day before finishing the season at home against the Cleveland Browns.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

Sports

JuJu Watkins and No. 7 USC hold off No. 4 Connecticut to win in a thriller

Published

4 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

JuJu Watkins and No. 7 USC hold off No. 4 Connecticut to win in a thriller

HARTFORD, Conn. — In a marquee matchup Saturday night, No. 7 USC defeated perennial powerhouse No. 4 Connecticut 72-70, avenging its Elite Eight loss to the Huskies in April and strengthening its status as one of the nation’s elite teams.

“This is a really significant win, and it’s a significant win because of the stature of the UConn program and what [Connecticut coach] Geno Auriemma has done for our sport,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “I told [the team] in [the locker room] — for me, for my entire high school and on, this is what basketball excellence was, this is what we saw. And it’s challenged all of us to want to be better, to find players who want to be better and be that elite.”

Undeterred playing in front of a sold-out crowd on the road, USC opened the game with a 9-0 run, capitalizing on cold shooting and defensive lapses from the Huskies. Buoyed by 15 points from JuJu Watkins, the Trojans shot 48.6% from the floor in the first half, including seven for 11 from three-point range, to take a 42-29 lead at halftime.

“A lot of the things [JuJu] does [are] super hard, but she makes it look so easy,” USC forward Kiki Iriafen said. “So I think she really got us going on the offensive end … we all know she’s a superstar, so playing with her definitely relieved the pressure on everybody else.”

Connecticut came out of the locker room with increased intensity, forcing seven Trojan turnovers and limiting Watkins to four points in the third quarter. Propelled by nine points from guard Paige Bueckers, the Huskies outscored USC (11-1) 20-13 in the third quarter, cutting their deficit to six points entering the fourth.

Connecticut (10-2) continued to chip away and took its first and only lead when freshman Sarah Strong scored on a layup with 4:34 left. USC regained the lead moments later on a Watkins jumper, but the Huskies wouldn’t let the Trojans pull away.

“I don’t think we were ever really rattled,” Watkins said. “We knew what [Connecticut] is capable of, they were going to go on runs, so it was just a matter of handling that and coming down on top.”

With USC leading by three with five seconds left, Strong drew a foul off Watkins while attempting a three-point shot. Strong made her first free throw, but missed her second attempt. After Strong missed her final attempt, Bueckers grabbed the rebound and fed the ball back to Strong, who missed a logo three at the buzzer.

Watkins finished with 25 points, six rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Iriafen had 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.

Bueckers and Strong each had 22 points.

Auriemma praised Watkins’ exceptional talent.

“Every scouting report that you put together, or every film that you watch, it’s very evident that one player can’t guard her,” Auriemma said. “You have to hope she helps, you have to hope she misses. And when she gets a little bit of a rhythm like she got in that first half, it’s really, really difficult … there’s qualities that she has that are just unique.”

Watkins showed why she’s one of the nation’s brightest stars, helping the Trojans earn a signature win. The victory was a showcase of the elite talent that has accelerated women’s college basketball’s growth in popularity.

“It’s just a testament to when you give women a platform, we’re going to perform,” Watkins said. “And I think that tonight was an excellent game. … It was just beautiful to be a part of. And I couldn’t imagine watching it — so, super exciting. And I think, as we continue to get games like this, we’ll always show up.”

The Trojans next play No. 20 Michigan at Galen Center on Dec. 29.