5 Big Questions for the 2024 College Football Season

Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines and his team react as he lifts the national championship trophy after defeating the Washington Huskies during the 2024 CFP National Championship game at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas., on Jan. 8, 2024. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

As players begin reporting to their respective campuses across the country to begin practices, college football is back! There’s plenty of hype surrounding college football this year with the return of an EA Sports NCAA football video game for the first time in a decade, but there are also a lot of teams that have high hopes with the expanded College Football Playoff this year.

The College Football Playoff is tripling in size this year, which opens the door for more than just the top conference champions to state their case. The Playoff is expanding from four to 12 teams for each of the next two seasons. It will be made up of the five highest-ranked conference champions, joined by the next seven highest-ranked teams. So the winner of the Big Ten or SEC Championship Games aren’t the only programs with hopes of chasing a championship this year.

Here are five big questions that will need answers before we can name the teams heading to the new-look College Football Playoff.

How Will Conference Moves Impact the Season?

College conference realignment has been a hot topic over the past few years as major universities change their allegiances. But no offseason has seen more seismic changes to the infrastructure of the NCAA than this one.

The Pac-12 Conference is no more. When USC and UCLA announced they were leaving for the Big Ten, Oregon and Washington quickly joined them. The travel concerns for those four universities as they join a conference that was geographically between New Jersey and Nebraska will be a challenge for every sport in the new-look Big Ten. The former Pac-12 school will have to play on the east coast, and Maryland and Rutgers will fly all the way across the country to play closer to the Pacific Ocean than their homes near the Atlantic.

Similarly, Texas and Oklahoma moving from the Big 12 to the SEC was enormous for both of those conferences. The Big 12 was able to retool their group of universities, notably bringing back Colorado. But the headlines that chase the Longhorns and Sooners as they join one of the strongest football conferences in the country will test both their teams and those they’re playing against as new rivals moving forward.

How Will Kalen DeBoer Replace Nick Saban at Alabama?

After leading the University of Washington to the NCAA Championship Game last year, Kalen DeBoer left for one of the most daunting tasks for any head coach in recent history. He is being asked to replace one of the most successful coaches in the history of college football at a program that has incredibly high expectations.

DeBoer is younger and brings a lot of energy to the sidelines. He’ll have a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback in Jalen Milroe and the usual collection of highly touted recruits on his roster this season. But Alabama always loses great players to the NFL draft, and this season is no different. With significant changes on the roster, the pressure to win early will be enormous on DeBoer both with the fans and recruits alike.

Who Will Win the Big Ten?

The University of Michigan was crowned the champions of college football at the conclusion of last season, but the new-look Big Ten is completely up for grabs. And every school in the mix to win the conference championship this year has huge questions of their own to answer.

Michigan lost a lot of players to the NFL, most notably quarterback J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy was the winningest quarterback in program history and one of the most successful in NCAA history. Replacing him under center, along with a dozen other players now playing on Sundays, won’t be easy.

Ohio State might have the best roster returning, but will have to hope Kansas State transfer Will Howard can take control at the quarterback position. Penn State hopes to challenge as well, but they lost both of their starting offensive tackles to the NFL.

Conference newcomer Oregon will have to adjust to the travel and their secondary is a concern. Washington lost their head coach, quarterback, and top receiver (among others) to the NFL. And USC will have to replace Caleb Williams, the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, at quarterback.

Can Deion Sanders Lead Colorado to the Promised Land?

Colorado returns to the Big 12, but it isn’t the conference we remember from last year. With the implosion of the Pac-12, the Big 12 has added Arizona and Arizona State. The University of Central Florida being in the Big 12 makes this another conference that, like the Big Ten, will have a lot of travel coming up this season.

After all of the hype surrounding his move to Boulder before last season, and an improved season, Prime Time hit the transfer portal hard to improve his team around some potential superstar players. His son, quarterback Shadeur Sanders, is a trendy pick for Heisman votes. And do-everything star Travis Hunter could be an impact player at receiver and one of the better corners in the entire country.

But Utah, Kansas State, TCU, Baylor, and Oklahoma State don’t care about the hype around Deion’s program. There are a handful of teams that have very legitimate hopes of making the College Football Playoff this year, so the road won’t be easy for the Buffaloes.

Head coach Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes watches as his team plays their spring game at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado., on April 27, 2024. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Can Notre Dame Make the Playoff?

The Fighting Irish will enter the season with more experience under the belt of head coach Marcus Freeman. And he’ll have more of “his” players—recruits and transfer portal grabs—making an impact this season. But with all of the conference realignment shaking up college football, there’s a great opportunity for Notre Dame to emerge as a top team in college football again this year.

There will be a lot of pressure on transfer quarterback Riley Leonard, who moves to South Bend after a nice career at Duke. He’s a mobile quarterback who brings an ability to impact the game with his legs and arm to the offense. But there are some big questions about his group of receivers that need to be answered as well.

This is a big season for Notre Dame. As the money continues to become bigger for conferences, their stubborn clinging to independence is becoming harder to cling to every year. If they can get into the College Football Playoff without needing a strong “conference” schedule, they might make the case to stay on their own for a bit longer.