The biggest storylines of the 2024 college football season.
A new era at Alabama
In five years, Kalen DeBoer went from serving as the offensive coordinator at Indiana to running the show at Alabama.
Talk about a meteoric rise.
He’s stepping into gigantic shoes as the Crimson Tide coach following Nick Saban.
In two years at Washington, he went 25-3 and reached the national championship game.
The 49-year-old DeBoer is clearly a talented coach, but he’s also never been under the microscope quite like this.
In Tuscaloosa, championships are the expectation, particularly after the Crimson Tide won six titles in 17 years under Saban.
One loss leads to widespread panic. It will be fascinating to see how DeBoer handles the bright spotlight as the Alabama head coach.
The expanded playoff
There is no bigger storyline than playoff expansion.
After a decade with four teams deciding a champion, 12 schools now will compete to see which is the last one standing. Including more teams should only add interest and eyeballs to the sport — just 15 teams reached the final four in the old format — which has for too long revolved around a select few.
The SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC winners will get automatic invites, and so will the next highest-ranked conference champion.
The other seven teams will be at-large selections.
It will make games that ordinarily didn’t matter now have major significance.
One potential question: Will top-ranked teams locked into the playoff sit key players late in the year to avoid potential injury when a loss would only impact seeding?
We see it all the time in the NFL.
Conference realignment and the impact on the playoff
There are now two super leagues.
Oklahoma and Texas have joined the SEC, and USC, Oregon, Washington and UCLA are part of the Big Ten.
The Pac-12 has been all but dissolved, with only Oregon State and Washington State remaining.
It has created some fascinating matchups, like Ohio State visiting Oregon on Oct. 12, Oregon making the trip to Michigan on Nov. 2, Texas hosting Georgia on Oct. 19 and Oklahoma meeting Alabama on Nov. 23, among several others.
Strength of schedule was already a key part of the playoff selection process, and now teams from those two conferences have a major advantage.
Eight of the top 10 schools, and 14 of the Top 25, in the Associated Press preseason poll are from the Big Ten and SEC.
Year 2 at Colorado for Coach Prime
The Buffaloes and Deion Sanders dominated headlines last September, starting 3-0 before finishing 4-8.
That was still a three-win improvement from the previous season.
The losing campaign didn’t sit well with Sanders, who made numerous changes to his roster and coaching staff.
Colorado has two new coordinators, former Giants coach Pat Shurmur on offense and longtime NFL assistant coach Robert Livingston on defense.
In its first year in the Big 12, it hopes that numerous offseason additions, highlighted by a completely turned over offensive line, can result in the school’s first bowl game in five years.
Most importantly, projected first-round picks Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter are back, giving the elder Sanders two of the premier players in college football.
What’s next for the defending champs?
As the season nears, Michigan has flown under the radar.
Jim Harbaugh is now coaching the Chargers, and several key players from last year’s undefeated champion are in the NFL, too.
Expectations are low.
The Wolverines aren’t considered to be a serious threat to repeat under first-year coach Sherrone Moore.
Overlooking them, though, would be a mistake.
The roster still includes big-time talents such as cornerback Will Johnson, defensive tackle Mason Graham and tight end Colston Loveland, plus plenty of complementary players who now will have expanded opportunities.
