NCAA Football Season Kicks off With Serious Changes: New Alignments, Preseason Polling

Saturday saw the beginning of the NCAA football season, with what is dubbed Week #0. Serving as something of a preview of the schedule, three Division-1 games were played, including what has become the college football tradition of the kickoff taking place in Dublin, Ireland.

The 2024 season sees some seismic changes to the football landscape, adding to the now regular upheaval from the voluminous transfer portal movers leaving colleges at the mercy of a style of free agency. There is a new post-season system, some massive conference realignments, and a feeling of guesswork with many teams that have had extensive roster shifts.

With all of this change taking place we’ll go through a rundown of the new-look system, the results from Saturday, and the opening poll rankings to start the year.

Playoff System

In an effort to stem the annual outrage of teams being bypassed for the championship playoff, this year sees an expansion from the 4-team format to a 12-team setup (Now the outrage will be heard from schools outside of the top-10 that get passed over). The new arrangement will see the champions from the 5 major conferences receiving automatic bids in the playoff, with the remaining seven positions filled by the next ranked teams.

The top four schools receive a bye in the first round. The remaining eight play each other based on seedings, with the higher-ranked team receiving the home stadium of its choice (on campus or the largest venue in its region).

From there the bracket remains in place to the championship game.

Conference Realignment

This has been a drastic offseason that saw a flood of schools changing conferences, including no fewer than 10 leaving the Pac-12. After 108 years the Pacific Coast Conference is dissolved entirely. The two teams abandoned as a result - Oregon State and Washington State - will play a schedule with teams from the Mountain West Conference, though not officially members of the MWC. Here is how the conferences will look going into next week’s official start of the season.

SOUTHEAST CONFERENCE

Joining: Oklahoma, Texas
Leaving: (None)

What is arguable the most powerful of the conferences adds two powerhouses to its roster, expanding to 16 teams in total. As is usually the case there could be numerous schools eligible for the post-season from the SEC, with the main question being whether the attrition of a built-in tough schedule affect teams from qualifying.

BIG TEN

Joining: Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington
Leaving: (None)

Becoming one of the misnomers in the new configuration, the Big-10 expands to 18 schools and looks to challenge the SEC for dominance. Michigan will have a severe test defending its championship after an amicable divorce with head coach Jim Harbaugh (now coaching San Diego in the NFL) concerning possible violations delivering punishment to the program.

ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE

Joining: California, SMU, Stanford
Leaving: None

The second conference in need of a name change, considering two teams from Cali join the lineup. The ACC is vying to remain competitive as it is divided between strong schools regularly ranked, and also-rans. The hope is that the West Coast schools deliver a wider media footprint and more revenue. The question remains how long the disgruntled FSU program might stay in place.

BIG TWELVE

Joining: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah
Leaving: Oklahoma, Texas

These four are not likely to replace the loss of those two schools, but they may keep things intact. Utah has established itself as a strong competitor and Colorado is going through a rebirth under Dion Sanders, but doubtful it will be enough to fill that void.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Joining: Army, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, U. Alabama-Birmingham, UT San Antonio
Leaving: SMU

Possibly the conference with the biggest makeover, this smaller group is vying for relevancy. The loss of Southern Methodist is balanced out with two other Texas schools to remain entrenched in that state.

Week #0

Despite NCAA rules dictating the season begins on Labor Day weekend, Saturday was the annual Dublin contest. The NCAA created a dispensation for itself allowing for international play one week early. Also for games played in Hawaii. And…also for two other contests, somehow, with a Division-2 matchup.

Georgia Tech 24 - Florida State 21

The Irish and traveling fans saw a close matchup as the #10-ranked Seminoles lost in its bid to shake off the humiliation it suffered in last year’s playoff drubbing at the hands of Georgia. The game was close throughout as the Seminoles were not as explosive offensively and Georgia Tech grinding out lengthy drives. Things were tied at the half and a scoreless 3rd quarter led to a back and forth 4th. A last-minute field goal on the final drive was the deciding factor. FSU is clearly a different team from last season, as its defense is not as much of a force, with the Yellow Jackets outgaining them by nearly 100 yards on the ground as Tech kept the FSU running backs in check with just barely 3 yards per carry.

SMU 29 - Nevada 24

Another enjoyable matchup in Reno saw a battle that had Nevada stretch a lead to 11 late in the 3rd before the Mustangs mounted a final-quarter surge. Midway through SMU had a 98-yard drive, including a 49-yard play to get within three points, then moments later they added a safety. They went ahead with just over a minute with a 35-yard pass to seal the road win.

WEEK #1

The season kicks off with several compelling matchups. Certainly top-lining the schedule will be #1 Georgia hosting Clemson, beginning the year at #14. Other key games to watch:

#19 Miami reestablishes the state rivalry with the Florida Gators.
#7 Notre Dame travels to #20 Texas A&M.
On Sunday #23 vUSC is on the road to Death Valley with #13 LSU
Labor Day delivers the ACC matchup with Boston College going to Tallahassee to face FSU.

The Preseason Poll

Along with the departure of coach Harbaugh, the Wolverines lost 12 players to the NFL draft, leading to them being ranked the lowest by a defending champion since 2011. The Georgia Bulldogs were the overwhelming choice to maintain top-tier status. Alabama enters a season without longtime champion coach Nick Saban.

Beyond the top-5 everything else is a crapshoot, as most teams are sporting fresh lineups and look to deliver parity; things will need a few weeks to establish a better read. (First-place votes in parenthesis.)