The 2024 season will be a crazy new world (2024)

This fall marks the start of a whole new era of college football. The FBS landscape has changed dramatically with the SEC going from 14 to 16 teams, the Big 12 from 10 to 8 to 12 to 16, the Big Ten from 14 to 16 to 18, the ACC from 14 to 16 to 17, and the Pac-12 from 12 to 10 to 9 to 4 to 2.

And the most interesting part of it all? Almost all these conference realignment changes waited to go into effect until one particular season:

2024

The determination of college football’s national champion has slowly evolved from just giving the #1 team at the end of the season a trophy and calling it a day to a 2-team BCS heavyweight title bout to the 4-team CFP that brought playoffs into the sport, to the much-haggled over, long-demanded, and laboriously but at last created true playoff system with 12 teams to enable any team in the FBS to start their season at 0-0 and know that they can win the national championship. And you know what’s interesting? This playoff was created to not go into effect until one particular season:

2024

It’s a new era, and it might just be the wildest season since 2007—or the wildest ever! Here are some other facts to try to wrap your head around as the season arrives:

No Nick Saban (or Jim Harbaugh)

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Since the 2007 season, Alabama’s gone 201–29, gone bowling every year while winning nine SEC championships and six national championships (and nine title game appearances). Almost every year for the past 17 years, Alabama has either been a champion, runner-up, or contender in some way.

In all of those seasons, Nick Saban wore a headset on the sideline, and almost nobody was able to beat him (especially if they were one of his former assistants). What will Alabama’s standards of success be now without him? Will Georgia completely take over their SEC supremacy?

And look at Michigan: after years of frustration to break through the Ohio State and CFP ceilings, the Wolverines, under Harbaugh, beat the Buckeyes and made the playoff in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and are now the reigning national champions. What a spectacular three-year ascent to the top for Harbaugh and the Wolverines! In three years, Harbaugh conquered the sport, even conquering Ohio State and Alabama.

Now that both Harbaugh and Saban have departed, there’s a power vacuum to be filled. The kings are gone — who’ll take the throne?!

Kentucky shares the SEC with Texas and Oklahoma now, and conference East and West divisions are gone

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Kentucky’s conference football schedules will finally stop being carbon copies. Every year of the Stoops Era (except 2020), they’ve played the same six teams in the East, Mississippi State, and one new team. Every year, it was the same seven SEC teams plus one, which meant Kroger Field season ticket holders could go over a decade without seeing Texas A&M or Arkansas or somebody from the West.

Now, they finally get to have some variety, and instead of finishing in the standings somewhere between 1st and 7th in the East they’ll finish somewhere between 1st and 16th overall.

You can finish as low as 18th place in your conference if you’re in the Big Ten

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Finishing last in your conference has always been embarrassing and painful. But in the Big Ten, will it mean automatic firing? I know somebody’s got to come in last but behind 17 other teams? I just know I’m glad I’m not coaching Purdue this fall. Oh, and think about winning the league: you have to be better than 17 other teams!

Power 5 - 1 = 4

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5 - 1 = 4. The Power 5 is now the Power 4, thanks to the Big 12, Big Ten, and ACC all taking bites out of the Pac-12 and leaving nothing but bones and gristle (namely Oregon State and Washington State). Convenient for this new playoff: for the top four conferences at the end of the season, their champions get byes. Gee, I wonder who the top four conferences will be each year?

Two-Minute Warning

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What?!? Yep, that’s right—that odd and forever head-scratching difference between college and the NFL is gone, just like when the DH finally came to the NL in baseball a few years ago. Now, teams will have a little bit more of a chance to avoid losing by the other team taking a knee when they’re out of timeouts.

Everyone has a shot at the title

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As mentioned above, pretty much all of the FBS teams are kicking off their seasons at 0-0 with a chance to win the national championship, just like every college basketball team starts at 0-0 with a chance to win the NCAA Tournament. Gone are the days when a Group of Five team goes 13-0 and doesn’t even come close to the CFP.

Now, anybody who simply refuses to lose can play till they fall, and football will finally be “last man standing” and not “who’s in the aristocracy.” Kennesaw State is joining the FBS this year with immediate postseason eligibility. They can go 12-0, win the Conference-USA title game, win the Group of Five golden playoff ticket (though if there’s a second 13-0 Group of Five team, that might complicate things), and win three playoff games and be national champions. If that happens, they can be 16-0 national champions with the #11 or #12 ranking in the final AP poll or something! Everyone has a shot at the title!