25 burning questions about the 2024 college football season

Top 25 week is back here at Saturday Down South.

This year’s fun began with our official ranking of the Top 25 teams in America. My colleagues wrote “25 burning questions” pieces specifically on the SEC, the Big Ten, and the ACC. Below is a more global look at the sport, and all the questions it faces in the new season.

Let’s dive in.

25. What does the CFP selection committee value?

At the SEC’s annual media conference last month, the CFP’s executive director, Lieutenant General Richard M. Clark, held court for about 15 minutes to open Day 2. At one point during the question-and-answer session, Clark was asked how the committee would balance record against strength of schedule when determining the at-large bids in the 12-team Playoff. It was the most important question Clark would face, and he didn’t exactly answer it.

“How it’s weighted is hard to say,” Clark said. “When they make those decisions, they’re looking at the full body of work of a team up to that point in the season. Strength of schedule is going to be important, what their record is, the eye test is going to be important. There’s just a lot of elements that go into it.”

We’ve all played enough of the new College Football 25 video game from EA Sports to know the CFP rankings are about to get borderline insane in the 12-team/super-conference era. According to ESPN’s FPI, the 8 toughest schedules in the FBS next season all belong to SEC schools. FPI isn’t a perfect model, but the fact that SEC and Big Ten schools own 24 of the 25 toughest schedules in the new year says something. Georgia will face Alabama, Texas, and Ole Miss all on the road.

Not all 9-3 records are created equal. That, now more than ever, is true. A 9-3 Georgia team that faced one of the country’s gnarliest schedules has to be viewed differently than a 10-2 Miami team that faced what FPI believes to be the 53rd-toughest schedule.

At least, that’s the assumption. We have no clue how the committee is actually going to vote on these things. One loss in the conference title game was enough to exclude Georgia from the 4-team field last season, despite almost everyone agreeing the Bulldogs were among the 4 best teams in the country.

Related: Looking to place a bet on the 2024 national champion? SDS has you covered with all the latest odds!

24. How will the Big Ten’s student-athletes like the travel?

UCLA is the perfect case study for how this new-look Big Ten is going to work outside the boardroom. The Bruins open the season in Hawaii. They’ll travel to LSU on Sept. 21, come home to host Oregon, fly out to Penn State, come home to host Minnesota, and then fly back out to Rutgers. UCLA is likely to have at least 3 losses by the time its midseason bye week arrives. If it drops a game to Minnesota or Rutgers, the hopes of a bowl-eligible season in Deshaun Foster’s first year will be on life support.

It’s easy to get excited about the theoretical Big Ten. It’s easy to get swept up in the shiny, new conference. It’s easy to be enamored with the financial windfall. When a 2-4 team with a first-year head coach has to fly out to Piscataway, New Jersey, for a mid-October rock fight in what will be its sixth game in six weeks, the excitement may very well be gone.

One of the cases against a Big Ten that stretched coast to coast was that it would make life too strenuous for the Olympic student-athletes and inflate travel budgets to the point it just wasn’t worth the hassle. The belief was that football would be fine with all its resources. We’re going to find out quickly whether that was wishful thinking or not.

And UCLA also has to worry about a $10 million-per-year subsidy it owes Cal for ditching the Bears and the Pac-12.

Keep an ear to Westwood. The other 3 newcomers have more reasons than not to be excited about the Big Ten, but this is going to be a challenging season for the Bruins.

23. Will the Florida State/Clemson/ACC situation continue to fester?

Florida State and Clemson are suing the ACC. The ACC is counter-suing them. After an unbeaten FSU squad was excluded from the 4-team College Football Playoff, it’s perfectly fair to question how the league will be viewed relative to its peers going forward. The other 3 leagues added proven recent winners. The ACC added 2 bad Pac-12 schools and a G5 school. Not exactly the same level of excitement along the Atlantic.

If the ACC has a bad year — more on that in a bit — or the conference is again shown the proverbial finger by the selection committee, how antsy will Florida State and Clemson grow? We saw reports this offseason that the duo had already talked with the Big 12. The latest round of realignment doesn’t seem done just yet.

22. Is Brett Yormark done retooling the Big 12?

To that end, comparing Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark’s approach to expansion with that of his peers in the Big Ten and SEC yields some hilarious distinctions.

Greg Sankey has been very narrow in his view of expansion; he wants programs that move the needle in ways that matter, that won’t compromise the existing ethos in the conference, and that geographically fit. Big Ten commissioners Kevin Warren and Tony Petitti made money moves in response to the SEC’s acquisition, snapping up the biggest brands that were available. As the ACC has grown unstable, neither has seemed particularly interested in picking apart another conference just for the sake of adding schools.

Then there’s Yormark, grinning like a Bond villain waiting for the ACC to explode and seeming more than happy to pillage the league’s top brands. Private equity could soon become a Big 12 partner. The conference might even sell away its naming rights if the money makes sense. Yormark said at Big 12 Media Days the league was like a “mature startup” and that fits perfectly.

The Big 12 is in 4 time zones with no real geographic cohesion. The Big 12 no longer owns the state of Texas, but it does have flags in Orlando, Salt Lake City, and Morgantown, West Virginia. The culture might best be described as “pure vibes.” The basketball is excellent but the football is a clear No. 3 to the SEC and Big Ten. In this conference, it feels like anything is on the table.

21. Who will be the first Core 4 coach fired?

There are 5 head coaches in Core 4 leagues right now who are sitting on varying degrees of hot seats heading into the 2024 season: Sam Pittman at Arkansas, Billy Napier at Florida, Clark Lea at Vanderbilt, Dave Aranda at Baylor, and Kalani Sitake at BYU.

Justin Wilcox is probably fine at Cal given the circumstances. Ryan Day is a rage-bait social media answer that doesn’t really make sense in the real world. Maybe Miami has had such an offseason that a complete failure in 2024 would put Mario Cristobal under the gun? But that seems unlikely. James Franklin is too expensive… probably. Neal Brown bought himself some time and goodwill at West Virginia last season.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, there have been 40 Power 5 midseason coaching changes during the College Football Playoff era. We’ve seen 18 midseason changes since the start of the 2021 season. Last year, Mel Tucker, Jimbo Fisher, Zach Arnett, and Dino Babers were all fired at some point between the start of the regular season and the start of the postseason. We will surely see multiple coaches axed in the coming months.

Napier is the obvious name atop the list. The Gator fanbase is restless. The schedule is as tough as any you’ll ever see. And Florida feels an awful lot like a team that is dead on arrival. If Miami wins the opener in Gainesville, it will get sooooo toxic at Florida.

20. Can Lincoln Riley fight the narrative?

Paul Finebaum probably isn’t getting a Christmas card from the USC head coach anytime soon. Immediately after USC’s season concluded, Finebaum slammed Riley for being a “total fraud.” Last month, during an appearance on ESPN’s First Take, Finebaum said he would have fired Riley after the “disaster” that was the 2023 campaign.

It’s hyperbolic at best, but Finebaum isn’t the only voice holding Riley’s feet to the fire for his shortcomings and, frankly, Riley has done himself no favors. The perception of his Oklahoma exit is that he fled a storied program because of its impending move to the toughest conference in the country. Now that his Trojans have joined a close second in the Big Ten, Riley has attempted to get out of his Week 1 matchup with LSU and cast doubt on the future of the USC-Notre Dame series. His second USC team, led by the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and future No. 1 overall draft pick at quarterback, completely fell apart in the back half of the year because Riley clung to a defensive coordinator who should have been jettisoned after the 2022 season.

Riley is a punching bag right now. And USC has a ton of questions to answer in 2024. The biggest areas of concern in the offseason were the lines of scrimmage, and the jury is still out on whether USC did enough. Riley assembled an excellent defensive staff, but a strong staff on paper only goes so far. No one will care he got a head coach to take an assistant role on his staff if his players blow coverages and whiff on tackles at the rate they did last season.

When he landed in Los Angeles, Riley set “championship or bust” expectations. When the Trojans were dropping 5 of their last 6 regular season games, Riley changed his tune and often talked about how the 2022 team overachieved and wrecked the curve. The rebuild, he has since said, is an extensive one.

But USC didn’t hire Lincoln friggin’ Riley to go 7-5 (a firm possibility this season). This is a big year for him.

19. How many CFP spots does the SEC get?

When I ran through the SEC schedule, I came out of the exercise with 6 teams posting at least 10 wins — Texas, Georgia, Ole Miss, LSU, Alabama, and Missouri. Is a 10-2 Missouri team getting left out of the Playoff? Surely a 10-2 Alabama team wouldn’t be excluded.

How many spots are going to SEC teams?

What if Tennessee — which has the eighth-toughest schedule in America, per FPI — goes 9-3 with losses to Oklahoma on the road, Alabama, and Georgia? Place the Vols against a 10-2 team from the ACC or the Big 12 that doesn’t have a conference title. What does the committee do?

In the 12-team Playoff, the 5 highest-ranked conference champions and the next 7 highest-ranked teams will get bids. There is no set limit to how many teams from one conference can qualify.

The SEC’s champion will get a spot. The loser of the SEC title game will also get a spot. Set aside 3 more for the champions of the Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC. One more belongs to the highest-ranked G5 champ. Six of our slots are filled. Six are up for grabs.

Does the loser of the Big Ten title game get the same treatment as the vanquished SEC team? It would seem fair now that the league has finally ditched the East/West divisions. (But maybe restitution is needed after the Big Ten subjected us to watching Purdue, Northwestern, and Iowa get slaughtered in its champ game.)

If Notre Dame hits double-digit wins, it probably has an at-large berth reserved. What happens if multiple ACC or Big 12 teams hit 10 wins?

It’s possible people are going to be even less happy with the selection committee in a 12-team world.

18. Is Blake Baker the answer for LSU?

When LSU won the national title in 2019, it had a top-30 defense by efficiency — no small feat considering how prolific the offense was on the other side. Then Dave Aranda left to run Baylor and the Tigers gave up 7.3 yards a play (!!!) in 2020.

Blake Baker, hired away from Missouri this offseason, makes it 4 defensive coordinators in 5 years for the Tigers since Aranda’s departure. Funny enough, Brian Kelly had the chance to retain Baker when he initially took the job, but that’s water under the bridge at this point.

LSU ranked 109th in defensive efficiency last season, giving up 6 yards a play. It ranked 81st in scoring (28 a game), 91st in run defense (4.5 yards allowed per carry), and 67th in tackles for loss per game. The Tigers didn’t generate turnovers (106th in takeaways), didn’t stop a soul on third down (117th in conversion rate allowed), and gave up touchdowns in the red zone like candy (122nd in touchdown percentage allowed).

How Baker unlocks Harold Perkins is a fun offseason storyline because Perkins is a future NFL talent and LSU hasn’t been able to maximize his talent yet. But that can be said of a number of players on this defense. Baker has a ton of work to do, and LSU doesn’t have the benefit of a Heisman Trophy quarterback on offense anymore.

Kelly has a squad talented enough to make the CFP, but only if LSU finally found its answer at defensive coordinator.

17. Which G5 school is a legit CFP contender?

According to Bill Connelly’s SP+, Liberty has a 41.7% chance to go 11-1 or better in the regular season. Boise State has a 12% chance to hit that mark. Memphis has an 11.8% chance. As it stands, Boise (+400), Liberty (+440), and Memphis (+550) are the only teams from the Group of 5 ranks with better than 10/1 odds of making the CFP at FanDuel.

Liberty’s schedule is appalling. Boise State is coming off an 8-6 season in which it fired its head coach midseason. Memphis is a big favorite to win the American — the only G5 league thus far to produce a Playoff team — but there are capable challengers in that league, perhaps more so than in the Mountain West, where SP+ says Boise has a 41.1% chance of winning the league title.

Someone is getting a bid to the Playoff. And if schools like Memphis, Boise State, and UTSA all have multiple losses, does the committee put an unbeaten/untested Liberty team in the field and deny everyone else?

16. Will SMU make the most of its schedule?

SMU waltzed to an 11-2 record and an AAC championship last season before dropping a dud to Boston College in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl. Now, the Ponies have jumped to the ACC and look like a legitimate threat to steal a spot in the conference title game. Quarterback Preston Stone is excellent. Defensive end Elijah Roberts is coming off a season in which he posted 9.5 sacks and graded among the best defenders in the G5. SMU hosts Florida State on Sept. 28 and… that’s it. No Clemson. No Miami. No NC State. No Georgia Tech. No Virginia Tech. Four of the first 5 games are at home. Three of the final 4 games are at home. If the jump up in competition doesn’t prove too much for the Mustangs, this is college football’s equivalent of a bid-stealer.

15. Is Miami back?

In 2 seasons at Miami, Mario Cristobal is 12-13. The Hurricanes went to a bowl game last season, but lost to Rutgers. They underperformed their expected win total last season — a marker for improvement. Per ESPN’s Bill Connelly, they’re top-30 in returning production when factoring in transfers. Cristobal killed it in the transfer portal, where The U added quarterback Cameron Ward, running back Damien Martinez, and wideout Sam Brown. They signed the No. 6 class in 2024 and the No. 8 class in 2023. In fact, Cristobal and Oregon’s Dan Lanning are the only 2 coaches in the country with back-to-back recruiting classes that ranked top-10 for both high school and transfer signees.

There are parallels to Texas with this group. Steve Sarkisian was 13-12 in his first 2 seasons at Texas before the Longhorns broke through in a major way in 2023. Sark built a talented team, but they struggled to close games, going 2-5 in 1-score games in 2022. That flipped in 2023, when Texas ran to the CFP.

Miami went 2-4 last year in games decided by 8 points or less. Cristobal has his most talented team yet, and has had 2 years to build the foundation.

Miami just has to go out and actually do the thing.

Related reading: Value bets to go unbeaten in 2024 college football regular season

14. Did Lane Kiffin bridge the gap?

Kiffin brought in the No. 2 transfer class in the country ahead of the 2023 season, and he produced the No. 1 class this offseason. High school recruiting hasn’t rivaled that of Georgia or Alabama within the SEC, but that hasn’t really been the goal. Others have used the portal to plug holes; Kiffin has wielded it to bridge the gap.

And he’s all in on this 2024 season.

Ole Miss has a quarterback entering his third season as a full-time starter at the school, a loaded receiver room, a well-stocked running back rotation, and the best defense of the Kiffin era. Kiffin has said repeatedly this offseason that Mississippi’s bludgeoning at the hands of Georgia served as their motivation all offseason. The Bulldogs went 5-for-8 on third downs. They gained 611 yards and averaged 10 yards per play. Ole Miss finished without a single defensive tackle for a loss. And Kiffin knew that night they needed to get better on the line of scrimmage to take the next step from “nuisance” to “legitimate challenger” in the SEC.

The 2024 transfer haul brought Walter Nolen (Texas A&M), Princely Umanmielen (Florida), and Chris Hardie (Jacksonville State) to fortify the defensive front. Former 5-star defensive end Suntarine Perkins (a 2023 signee) adds to the potential.

Nov. 9 is circled on the calendar. That’s the day Ole Miss welcomes Georgia to The Grove. That’s the day we’ll learn whether this team is a title contender or not.

13. What’s next for the Pac-12 Pac-2?

Oregon State and Washington State were left behind to try and pick up the pieces of the Pac-12. They fought in court over control of the conference and its assets, and now are on the clock to either rebuild the league or find a new home. In the meantime, the 2 schools will play Mountain West teams and they’ll face each other in late November. Oregon State will host Oregon and Washington State will host Washington in what could be nasty environments.

The Beavers lost their coach to a Big Ten school in horrifying fashion. Then, they were absolutely gutted by the transfer portal. Washington State got hit by the portal as well, though not to the same degree. Jake Dickert and Trent Bray have uphill climbs in rebuilding their rosters when no one knows what the future holds for either program.

So what will their seasons look like? Washington State opened 4-0 and ranked as high as 13th in the country before losing 7 of its final 8 games. Oregon State climbed as high as 10th in the polls before closing the year with 3 straight losses.

Neither has much momentum heading into the new year. Both need something positive to build upon.

12. Is Cade Klubnik good?

Clemson closed out the 2022 season 14th in SP+. The Tigers lost to Notre Dame and South Carolina, but they went unbeaten in conference play and won the ACC championship in a rout of North Carolina. In that title game, Klubnik took over for DJ Uiagalelei and completed 20 of his 24 passes for 279 yards and 2 total touchdowns. The former 5-star recruit was the most popular man on campus. But then Clemson lost to Tennessee in the Orange Bowl while Klubnik was picked off twice.

In 2023, Klubnik took the reins and Garrett Riley joined from TCU as one of the hottest offensive coordinators in the sport. Clemson’s offense was expected to take off. Instead, the Klubnik-led passing attack averaged 6.3 yards per attempt (111th nationally) and the offense shriveled up. Clemson dipped to 23rd in SP+ thanks to an offense that ranked 51st overall.

Klubnik finished the season with a 58.4 QBR — 12th among the 13 qualified ACC quarterbacks. Uiagalelei posted an 80.8 QBR in his first year with Oregon State, with an EPA twice as large as Klubnik’s.

The ACC feels wide-open in 2024. Though Clemson is arguably the most talented — fifth-ranked high school class in 2021, 10th-ranked in 2022, 11th-ranked in 2023 and 2024 — the Tigers have a massive question at quarterback.

Is Klubnik the answer?

11. Is Michigan’s offense bad?

The defending national champions aren’t even expected to win their conference this season. Ohio State, Oregon, and Penn State all have shorter odds to win the Big Ten than Michigan, which is +750 at ESPN Bet. Michigan is +115 just to make the CFP in 2024.

Why? This is a massive overhaul on offense.

The starting quarterback has to be replaced. The lead running back has to be replaced. Only 2 wide receivers averaged multiple catches a game last season and both need to be replaced. The top 6 offensive linemen need to be replaced. Yes, Donovan Edwards is a cover athlete, but he averaged 3.5 yards per carry last season going into the national title game. Yes, Colston Loveland is a strong option at tight end, but there are serious questions about Alex Orji as a passer.

And there’s virtually no time to get this offense into a rhythm. Michigan hosts Fresno State on Aug. 31 and then welcomes Texas to town in Week 2.

10. Can Nico Iamaleava reinvigorate the Tennessee offense?

With Hendon Hooker at the controls in 2022, Tennessee was among the country’s best in production (525.5 yards per game; first in FBS), efficiency (7.2 yards per play; second), and scoring (46.1 points, first). Through the first 10 games, UT was averaging 0.634 points per play — a historic pace that, for a full season, would have been in the 97th percentile of all FBS teams since 2000.

The deep ball was a huge part of Tennessee’s offense. Hooker threw more than 20 yards downfield on a fifth of his throws, per Pro Football Focus, and completed those passes at a 44% clip. He had 13 touchdowns, 17 big-time throws, and 0 turnover-worthy plays, as graded by PFF. In 2023, Joe Milton III completed 29.5% of his deep throws with 10 touchdowns, 12 big-time throws, and 5 turnover-worthy plays. The offense wasn’t as effective, and the scoring output dropped by 2 touchdowns a game.

UT needs that deep-ball potency within its offensive toolbox. Iamaleava looks capable of providing it.

But it’s a lot to ask of a redshirt freshman quarterback with 5 career appearances and 1 start. Most Tennessee sports betting apps expect between 8 and 9 wins for Tennessee in 2024. DraftKings has the win total at 8.5, with the Vols priced at +550 to make the SEC title game.

Iamaleava looked brilliant in the shutout bowl victory over Iowa, but he also took 6 sacks in the game. Is he ready for the task at hand? If so, Tennessee is a threat.

9. Did Missouri do enough in the trenches?

Brady Cook and Luther Burden III are outstanding. The ground game should be fine. Coach Eli Drinkwitz told me at SEC Media Days success in the SEC ultimately comes down to how well you do in the trenches. (It’s true in all levels of football, to be frank, just especially so in the SEC.) And Missouri has some work to do there. Three of the top 4 defensive tackles from last year’s team are gone. And Drinkwitz hit the portal hard to rebuild the offensive line.

8. Is the Big 12 actually wide open?

FPI says Georgia is the most likely conference winner in the SEC, with a 32.8% chance to win the league crown. In the Big Ten, Oregon is the favorite with a 37.5% chance to win the conference championship. Florida State is the favorite in its league, with a 26.2% chance to win the ACC. In the American, the CUSA, and the Mountain West, the favorite has a better than 35% chance to win its league.

In the Big 12, the favorite (Kansas) has a 17.4% chance to win the league title. Nine different teams have at least a 5% chance. (Compare that to 6 in the SEC.)

Again, FPI has its flaws, but that’s a fairly accurate picture of what most expect from the rebuilt Big 12. It is anyone’s to win. Kansas and Kansas State both won 9 games last year and have exciting quarterbacks. Arizona enters the league with a quarterback-receiver tandem as good as any in the country. Utah is loaded with experience. Oklahoma State returns everything, including a Doak Walker Award winner. West Virginia is intriguing. UCF is a team to keep an eye on.

Since 2004, Oklahoma and Texas won 15 of 20 Big 12 championships. With both now in the SEC, the Big 12 is lacking a clear-cut frontrunner.

Does one of the newcomers step in and seize the mantel? Or is the obvious answer (Oklahoma State) being overlooked? The Cowboys have one of the 20 best winning percentages in the FBS over the last 10 years and one of the 10 best percentages against the spread over that same period. Still, Oklahoma State is +700 to win the Big 12 at bet365, behind Kansas State (+350) and Utah (+300).

7. Can Andy Kotelnicki be James Franklin’s savior?

Since 2017, the Nittany Lions are 2-13 in games they entered as an underdog. They’re 11-18 against ranked opponents. And with as much excitement as there is surrounding Kotelnicki’s arrival, it’s important to point out he is Franklin’s sixth offensive coordinator in a decade on the job. And he’s not the first to arrive with serious fanfare.

During Kotelnicki’s 3-year run with Kansas, the pass game for the Jayhawks ranked 10th nationally in explosive percentage (21.0% from 2021-23) and the offense was equally effective on third down and in the red zone. Franklin is hoping those translate, because Penn State has everything else in place to finally get over the hump and beat the Big Ten’s elite.

Penn State has lost 7 straight to Ohio State. It hasn’t played for a Big Ten title since beating Wisconsin to win it in 2016. If Franklin doesn’t win a Playoff game this season, will there be questions about his job security? Hefty buyouts seem to mean little in this new era of college athletics.

6. Did Marcus Freeman get this OC hire right?

After all the drama surrounding Marcus Freeman and the offensive coordinator he didn’t hire prior to the 2023 season, Notre Dame went out this offseason and grabbed one of the hottest on the market in Mike Denbrock. Fresh off a dazzling season with LSU, Denbrock partners with Duke transfer quarterback Riley Leonard to try and help Notre Dame get back to the Playoff.

Notre Dame finished last year seventh nationally in scoring (39.2 points per game), ninth in offensive efficiency (7.0 yards per play), and 12th in pass efficiency (9.1 yards per pass attempt). It was a fine season on the surface, if not a little misleading. The Irish averaged 46 points a game and 8.3 yards per play through the first 4 weeks of the season. Over the final 8 weeks, they were 10 points and 2 yards per play worse. In big games, they looked dreadful.

Because of what Denbrock just did with Jayden Daniels, there’s optimism around Leonard. He just needs to be kept upright. If Denbrock works more magic, Notre Dame can clear its win total (10.5 at BetMGM).

5. Did Texas fix its pass defense?

The Longhorns lost major pieces on the defensive line, but perhaps even more important this offseason was the rebuild in the secondary. Steve Sarkisian hit the transfer portal hard for defensive backs. Andrew Mukuba (Clemson) and Jay’Vion Cole (San Jose State) should both fill key roles in the secondary alongside Jahdae Barron and Malik Muhammad. The Longhorns were frequently gashed with the deep ball last season, and that proved lethal in the CFP semifinal loss to Washington.

Michael Penix Jr. completed 29 of his 38 passes for 430 yards. Two Washington receivers went over 100 yards. Texas failed to register a single sack as a team.

The Longhorns need to be able to put more pressure on the quarterback. A reloaded defensive line looks like it should be able to do that. And the Longhorns need to be able to cover better. A Playoff team becomes a legitimate title contender if that happens.

4. Is Oregon the class of the Big Ten?

Dillon Gabriel is the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy (+700 at FanDuel). Oregon is the favorite to win the Big Ten, according to FPI. The Ducks are No. 3 in preseason SP+. And one of the biggest games on the entire college football schedule next season takes place in Eugene.

Oregon is expected to be a title contender. Coach Dan Lanning is entering Year 3 as a head coach, replacing a Heisman finalist at quarterback, replacing a record-breaking wide receiver, replacing a dynamic leading rusher, and replacing a Rimington Trophy-winning center.

There is so much hype surrounding this team. Can the Ducks, who blew it against Oregon State in 2022 and then came up short against Washington twice last year, live up to expectations?

Related reading: Are the Oregon Ducks as good as we think?

3. Is Ryan Day actually in any danger?

Ohio State arguably has more pressure on it than any other team in the country this season. The Buckeyes are +325 to win the national championship at ESPN Bet. Only Georgia has shorter odds. They’re absolutely loaded with talent at the skill positions on offense and have what should be one of the country’s best defenses.

They also have a head coach who is 40-0 against every Big Ten school not named Michigan to begin his career. Four of his 8 career losses have come in the postseason.

Three have come to Michigan.

The Buckeyes have lost 3 straight times to their bitter rivals, and last season that loss was extra painful. After a 15-0 season last fall, Michigan has become the gold standard of the Big Ten. And Day has a massive question looming over him.

“If he can’t beat Michigan this year when he’s got probably the best team in the country … he oughta be gone,” Paul Finebaum said on ESPN recently. “It’s as simple as that.”

It’s actually not that simple. A loss to Michigan wouldn’t, on its own, eliminate Ohio State from the Playoff picture and therefore wouldn’t hinder Ohio State’s quest for a national championship. If the Buckeyes lost to Michigan, won the Big Ten, and then won a title, would Day really be in any danger? Probably not.

But what if Ohio State beats a lesser Michigan team and falters in the Playoff? What if Ohio State loses at Oregon during the regular season and is denied a Big Ten title? What if James Franklin and Penn State finally break the streak? Is Ryan Day actually in danger or is this all just a media fabrication to get us through talking season?

Ohio State has to be perfect right away. The standard is so high. Can Day get his team to meet it week in and week out?

2. Will Georgia win another national title?

This is one of the most talent-rich teams in the country, coached by one of the best football coaches in the country, and quarterbacked by one of the best quarterbacks in the country. Georgia is angry after the way its 2023 season ended. And Georgia will be battle-tested throughout the 2024 season, with road trips to Alabama, Texas, and Ole Miss.

The Bulldogs will be in the Playoff picture. Even a multi-loss Georgia team will be in the Playoff picture. Can they make it 3 titles in 4 years? Can they handle that kind of pressure? Especially after the offseason they’ve had? With a rebuilt crop of skill talent and another defensive reload, this could be Kirby Smart’s best coaching job yet if the Bulldogs take the crown back.

1. How does Kalen DeBoer handle *gestures hands aimlessly in the air* all the stuff?

Players always knew where Nick Saban would be on the practice field. They knew the straw hat when they saw it. DeBoer caught Malachi Moore by surprise several times early on, popping up behind him when he wasn’t expecting the head coach to be so close. He said the best thing DeBoer has done is come in and be himself.

It’s hard to replace a legend. It’s harder to replace the greatest coach the sport has ever seen.

“I understand there’s only one Coach Saban. There will only ever be one Coach Saban,” DeBoer said at SEC Media Days. “This program is special, and I guess I just take it as a great honor to be the one that gets to do everything we can to carry on the great tradition.”

All season long, DeBoer will be inundated with questions about Saban. He’ll be compared to Saban. His record will be held up against Saban’s. Alabama will be under the hottest of spotlights because of the guy who isn’t coaching the team anymore. On top of that, the Tide have a superstar at quarterback and one of the best offensive minds in the sport calling the shots. They have a defensive standard to uphold. They have a punishing schedule to work through.

After leading Washington to the College Football Playoff last season, DeBoer has stepped into a full-blown circus in Tuscaloosa. And we’ll be watching every single step he takes.