2024 College Football Guide for Dummies: Everything you need to know about a wild, wacky upcoming season

Media Days have come and gone, which means the start of a new season is just around the corner. Teams will kickstart training camp soon and the longest season in CFB history — starting Aug. 24 and stretching until Jan. 20 — will be here before we know it. 

Perhaps you were hibernating at the beach all summer or maybe you’re just awaking from a coma, but the 2024 season is stalked with changes for the casuals who haven’t been paying attention. 

I’m talking crazy conference realignment. The introduction of the 12-team College Football Playoff. No Nick Saban at Alabama. The SEC no longer being on CBS. 

All that and more. 

So if you’ve been living under a rock since the end of last season, here’s a basic primer on what you need to know before the start of the 2024 state:

Who’s in what league now?

Welcome to the craziest round of conference realignment.

The 2024 season marks the official moves of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, while Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington are all members of the Big Ten now. 

The Pac-12 is just the 2-Pac, with Oregon State and Washington State playing a mismatched Mountain West schedule — while maintaining its rivalry games with Oregon (The Civil War) and Washington (The Apple Cup). 

The Big 12, which is pondering a name change, now has 16 members with the additions of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah. 

Lastly, the ACC — literally the Atlantic Coast Conference — is now a bi-coastal league with Stanford and Cal joining, plus SMU. 

A new playoff format 

This year also marks the introduction of the first 12-team College Football Playoff. 

The format features the top four highest-ranked conference winners getting a bye in the first round, with the first-round games (12 seed vs. 5 seed, 9 seed vs. 8 seed, 6 seed vs. 11 seed, 10 seed vs. 7 seed) all being played on campuses. Overall, the five highest-ranked conference champions (including the Group of 5) and the next seven highest-ranked teams will earn a spot in the 12-team bracket. 

As an Independent, the best seed Notre Dame can earn is No. 5. Also, the tournament will not be re-seeded for the quarterfinals and beyond. 

Notably, if your team is ranked No. 3 come the season’s end but didn’t win its conference championship, then they won’t be the 3-seed in the playoff field. Similarly, if your favorite team checks in at No. 12 in the final rankings they’re probably on the outside looking in — barring an undefeated G5 champion surging up the polls. 

Who are the favorites this year?

Good news! You haven’t missed much here if you’re just checking back after a wild offseason. 

The usual suspects remain the top contenders for the national championship, including Georgia, which is seeking its third title in four years, Ohio State, who has gone all-in on this offseason, and Texas. 

Alabama and Oregon have the next-highest odds, followed by Ole Miss, LSU and Florida State. 

Are any coaches on the hot seat?

While the last two coaching carousels have produced unparalleled movement across the sport, the stakes aren’t quite as high for so many coaches this fall … at least not yet. 

Miami’s Mario Cristobal, USC’s Lincoln Riley, Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman and LSU’s Brian Kelly all face significant pressure entering Year 3 — but none are at risk of being fired barring a complete collapse. 

The same can’t be said for Florida’s Billy Napier, but the Gators’ head coach has expressed optimism about his team in 2024 and he has not walked or talked like a coach destined to lose his job.

Elsewhere, Baylor head coach Dave Aranda fired both coordinators this offseason and became much more aggressive in the portal, but unless he shows marked improvement after a two-year swoon, the Bears could be in the market for new management in 2025. 

The head coach perhaps under the most pressure this fall is Arkansas’ Sam Pittman. Mr. ‘Yes Sir’ is just 11-14 the last two seasons and faces the added awkwardness of hiring former Hogs head coach Bobby Petrino as his savior offensive coordinator — or potential replacement?

A wide-open Heisman Trophy race

For the first time in three seasons, we don’t have a reigning Heisman Trophy quarterback returning for an encore. There’s no Bryce Young or Caleb Williams in 2024, and it’s very unlikely there’s even another Jayden Daniels — the overwhelming preseason favorite in 2023 who ultimately wound up winning the award. 

Dillon Gabriel and Carson Beck are early frontrunners, but Jalen Milroe, Jaxson Dart and Quinn Ewers are just as likely contenders.

Looking for a few long-shot candidates? In the new 12-team playoff format, players on 9-3, 10-2 teams could be given more serious consideration compared to past history — so the electric sophomore QB triumvirate of Kansas State’s Avery Johnson, Oklahoma’s Jackson Arnold and Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava could all merit consideration depending on how their team’s seasons unfold.

Key nuggets to know

Here’s a rundown on some other must-know details about the 2024 season:

* RIP to the SEC on CBS. This season marks Year 1 of the league’s new media rights deal with ESPN, so all SEC games will be shown on the Disney family of networks. Meanwhile, the famed theme song synonymous with the SEC stays with CBS and will now be featured before Big Ten games. 

Weird, right?

* The season starts on Aug. 24, as Week 0 features four games including Florida State and Georgia Tech in Ireland. With the extended schedule, every team has two idle dates this year. 

Speaking of schedules, conference realignment hasn’t totally sullied the non-conference slate, as the 2024 schedule features a bunch of matchups with potential College Football Playoff stakes and an all-time narrative game in Gainesville in Week 1. Texas at Michigan and Miami at Florida headline the Top 10 games.

* We saw unparalleled movement in the transfer portal this offseason, with a record number of players of players changing teams (some more than once). It’s hard to keep track of all the dizzying swaps and transfers, so here’s a rundown of the most impactful classes on the 12-team playoff including Ole Miss’ portal haul, Ohio State’s splashy additions and more. Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, Georgia tailback Trevor Etienne and Texas A&M pass rusher Nic Scourton headline the On3 Preseason All-Transfer Portal Team.

* The coaching carousel spun until mid-February when Chip Kelly bolted UCLA for the offensive coordinator job at Ohio State. That’s right, Kelly purposely took a demotion to go work for Ryan Day. Former Bruins tailback DeShaun Foster is now the head coach in Westwood — one of 15 first-year Power Conference coaches at new schools. Notables include Kalen DeBoer replacing Nick Saban at Alabama, Sherrone Moore taking over for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, Mike Elko at Texas A&M and Jedd Fisch at Washington.