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It's time to come out of hibernation and join the millions of college football fans in ushering in the 2024 campaign. In the immortal words of Jeff Lynne, "Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why you had to hide away for so long."
Welcome to College Football's Week Zero.
When we last wrote a college football 'weekly preview", it was prior to the 2023 College Football Playoffs and Championship, which ultimately saw Michigan roll to a 34-13 win over Washington. It was the first outright national title for Michigan since 1948. In between, the Wolverines (AP Poll) shared the 1997 title with Nebraska (Coaches'). The following year began the BCS Era.
It will be a year that begins with the absence of the head coach of the defending national champions. Jim Harbaugh went back to the NFL to take over the LA Chargers.
It will also be a year that Nick Saban won't be patrolling the sidelines after he abruptly retired on January 10.
That means two of the winningest programs in college football history, Alabama and Michigan, will have a new head coach in 2024. The Tide turn to Kalen DeBoer who left Washington for the task of filling Saban's huge shoes. The Wolverines promoted Sherrone Moore from offensive coordinator to head coach, but it's not like he's filling that role for the first time. Moore had to step in as interim head coach last season when Harbaugh was serving two different sets of 3-game suspensions.
Michigan and 'Bama are joined by 27 other teams that will open 2024 with a new head coach than the one they had on opening day a year ago.
This will also be a year that sees the College Football Playoff expand from four teams to twelve. The five highest-ranked conference champions, along with 7 at-large selections, will all be determined by the playoff committee. The four highest-ranked champions will be seeded one-through-four and receive an opening week bye.
Because the playoff has expanded, the Wolverines and the Crimson Tide may still be strong enough to make the playoffs. As of today, the playoff odds for Michigan are the 10th best (+150), and Alabama's odds are the 8th best (+100).
Kennesaw State leaves the FCS and joins Conference USA this year to be become the134th FBS team.
This is the year that trying to predict conference winners becomes extremely more difficult, thanks to massive realignment that resulted in the dissolution of the PAC-12.
Oregon and Washington followed UCLA and USC to the Big Ten; Colorado started an exodus of four other PAC-12 schools to the Big 12 as Arizona, Arizona State and Utah signed on; and the ACC followed suit by throwing a lifesaver (such as the floatation device - not the candy) to Cal and Stanford.
And just for grins and giggles, SMU left the American Conference and signed-in for no immediate financial reward to also play in the ACC.
Will this be a year that sees Florida State and Clemson ultimately leave the ACC? The College Football Playoff gave Florida State an extra push out the ACC door when they FSU a spot in the four-team playoff because QB Jordan Travis broke his leg in their penultimate game of the regular season against North Alabama. Can you imagine any other sports organization (not related to the NCAA), trying to pull off that kind of garbage? Would the NBA deny the Lakers a playoff spot because LeBron James went down with a major injury game 81 of the 82-game season? Of course not.
Florida State's response was to reload in the offseason, beginning with Oregon State transfer QB DJ Uiagalelei returns to the ACC after having played at Clemson from 2020-2022. He is just one of 17 players the Noles plucked from the portal who should find a spot on the roster in either a starter or first backup role.
The 'Noles get an early start to the season, and their ACC campaign by taking on Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland this Saturday. The Yellow Jackets are trending in the right direction under head coach, and former Ramblin' Wreck lineman, Brent Key. He took over for as interim head coach after Geoff Collins was fired in the midst of a 1-3 start in 2022 and guided the team to a 4-4 record in the remaining 8 games for a 5-7 finish. Last year, that win total improved by 2 games to 7-6.
The Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com have Florida State favored by 16.40, exceeding the 10.5-point spread. That game is also a Feature Pick this week on the website.
(all times eastern)
12:00 p.m. - Florida State vs. Georgia Tech (Dublin, Ireland), ESPN
3:30 p.m. - McNeese at Tarleton, ESPN2
4:00 p.m. Montana State at New Mexico, FS1
7:00 p.m. - North Alabama vs SEMO (Montgomery, AL), ESPN
7:30 p.m. - Florida A&M vs. Norfolk State (Atlanta), ABC
8:00 p.m. - SMU at Nevada, CBSSN
11:59 p.m. - Delaware State at Hawaii
As you can tell, the schedule above features just two games between FBS foes. It also has a very interesting matchup with FCS heavyweight Montana State traveling to FBS lightweight New Mexico and, in rare occurrence, the oddsmakers have the FCS school favored by a lot. Most sportsbooks this morning have the odds favoring the Bobcats by 11.5 points, but the computer rankings put the margin at just 0.17
The schedule also gives the FCS a lot of love with three games on major sports networks, including the MEAC-SWAC Challenge in Atlanta featuring the SWAC's Florida A&M Rattlers and the MEAC's Norfolk State Spartans. The computer likes A&M by 2.23 in that game which will be played at Center Parc Stadium.
Last season had 117 of the 133 FBS schools facing one FCS opponent, and Army played two such games for a total of 118 FBS-FCS matchups.
Of the 16 FBS schools that did NOT play a FCS program, 7 were in the B1G (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue, Wisconsin). 6 more are evenly split between the Big 12 (Houston, Oklahoma, Texas) and Pac-12 (Colorado, USC, Washington). The other three were Liberty (CUSA) , UTSA (American), and Virginia Tech (ACC).
The FBS programs were 114-4 last year against the FCS schools. Over-all, the FBS is a collective 1,800-152 (.922) since we began tracking this in 2003.
These were the FCS wins in 2023:
September 9: Idaho 33, Nevada 6
September 9: Southern Illinois 14, Northern Illinois 12
September 9: Fordham 40, Buffalo 37
September 16: Sacramento State 30, Stanford 23
In 2024, there are 121 scheduled scheduled matchups between FBS and FCS schools with 119 schools playing one such game, while Hawaii and UMass each play two.
This year, 15 schools do not play a FCS opponent and 5 are in the B1G (Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, USC and UCLA). Texas is the only school in the SEC that will not play a FCS program. The same is true for Virginia Tech in the ACC. In fact, Texas and Virginia Tech, along with Michigan and Houston, are repeats from last year's list of schools that played all FBS programs.
GEORGIA - Had won 29 straight over-all before losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship game. The school still enters 2024 with streaks of 25 straight home wins, and 15 straight true road wins.
Last: Won 63-3 over Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
Next: vs. Clemson on Saturday, August 31 in Atlanta
WASHINGTON - Had won 21 straight over-all.
Last: Lost 34-13 to Michigan in the College Football Playoff national championship game on Monday, January 8 in Houston.
Next: Hosts Weber State (FCS) on Saturday, August 31
MICHIGAN - Won 15 straight over-all. Won 24 straight conference games.
Last: 34-13 win over Washington in the College Football Playoff national championship game on Monday, January 8 in Houston.
Next: Hosts Fresno State on Saturday, August 31 (first of five straight home games)
VANDERBILT - Lost 10 straight over-all.
Last: 48-24 loss at Tennessee on Saturday, November 25.
Next: Hosts Virginia Tech on Saturday, August 31
STANFORD - Lost 9 straight home games.
Last: 56-23 home loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, November 25
Next: Hosts TCU on Friday, August 30
TEMPLE - Lost 14 straight true road games.
Last: 45-21 home loss to Memphis on Saturday, November 25
Next: Visits Oklahoma on Friday, August 30
ULM - Lost 10 straight over-all, lost 10 straight conference games.
Last: 52-21 loss at Louisiana on Saturday, November 25
Next: Hosts Jackson State (FCS) on Thursday, August 29