Following another offseason in the “Transfer Portal Era” of College Football, rankings are shaken up as much as ever. The NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) gives new teams chances to compete that didn’t previously have that ability, and unfortunately, ruins the chances for others to be competitive. We saw things as crazy as a holdout over not receiving enough money, when Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava held out of a practice as he sought an NIL increase, and he eventually transferred to UCLA. In addition, Georgia watched their quarterback Carson Beck leave for Miami, after it became apparent he wouldn’t start even after leading his team to an expanded playoff. This season holds a lot in store, and it should be a good one.
With the fairly new 12 team playoff format, conference winners of the ACC, SEC, Big 10, and Big 12, are each guaranteed one playoff spot. A non-power conference team is guaranteed one spot as well–for example, last year’s spot Boise State–in order for more varied representation. The seven remaining spots are up to a committee to select, and the four best teams are guaranteed a bye into the quarter finals. The other big change is that the first round is now played at a team’s home stadium, removing the neutral crowd aspect that we are used to in the previous 4 team playoff format.
Potential ACC leaders this year include Florida St., SMU, Georgia Tech, University of Miami, and Louisville. Although it’s only four weeks into the season, some schools have already had major implications for and against them. FSU is coming off an extremely embarrassing year, as they went from 13-1 in 2023, to 2-10 in 2024, a fall off nobody saw coming. However, led by Boston College transfer Tommy Castellanos, the team has started the season 3-0, and beat the #8 seed Alabama in Week 1, a huge win for their resume and confidence. Georgia Tech has had two wild games to start the season so far, where they managed to beat Colorado despite turnovers in the two opening drives. They also beat Clemson on a game winning 55 yard field goal in Week 3, another big confidence booster. Miami has beaten three good teams early on- Notre Dame, USF, and the University of Florida. Even after USF snuck out wins against two ranked teams to begin the year, they weren’t enough for Carson Beck and the Hurricanes. Louisville comes into the season led by two sophomore running backs, Isaac Brown and Duke Watson, who both averaged over 7 YPC last season. If the two can stay healthy–Watson already missed a game and Brown was limited against Bowling Green–the Cards should be able to rely on them to win them some big games.
The Big 10 is on pace to be one of the best conferences in College Football once again, as they boasted the champions Ohio State last year, and along with them at the top once again are Oregon, Penn St., Michigan, and Indiana. Ohio State has had great consistency to start the year again, and have been getting comfortable production from QB Julian Sayin, freshman RB Bo Jackson, and Caden Curry, who is top 5 in all of college football in sacks. Oregon is coming off a huge win on the road at Penn State, beating them during their annual “white out,” known for one of the loudest atmospheres in not just college football, but all of American sports. Heisman hopeful Dante Moore has been excellent, and with experienced head coach Dan Lanning, this team could finally make a playoff run if they play their cards right, as they only have one ranked game left. Michigan’s passing game has been a problem this season, despite being 3-1, true freshman Bryce Underwood has been fine protecting the ball, but only has two passing touchdowns so far, both against non power 4 teams. RB Justice Haynes will play a big part in Michigan’s success, if they have much. Finally, Indiana has had a great offense so far this season, beating ranked Illinois by over 50 points already, and hope to ride the hot QB Fernando Mendoza into what should be a great matchup against Oregon.
As for the Big 12, early standout teams include Iowa St., Arizona St., Texas Tech, and BYU. Most of the Big 12 is untested, facing hardly any challenging non-conference teams, but some have still put forward solid wins to start the season. Texas Tech had a big win at Utah, mostly thanks to their dominating defense, forcing turnovers and limiting Utah to only 260 yards of offense. Iowa State beat a ranked Kansas State, at the time, but that win is proving to be unimpressive, as K-State has dropped games now to Army and Arizona, and barely beat North Dakota.
Unsurprisingly, the final power conference is most likely the best conference once again, the SEC, which is consistently featuring tons of ranked teams and playoff appearances. The schools to look out for, and there are a lot, are Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, LSU, and more. The highest ranked team as of Week 5 is Ole Miss, coming in at #5. Ole Miss lost starting quarterback Austin Simmons in week 2, but backup Trinidad Chambliss may keep the job when Simmons comes back. He has passed for over 1,000 yards in 3 games and led them to a win against LSU. Two teams that are great every year–Alabama and Georgia–have each had nice starts to the season. Concerns over the post Nick Saban Crimson Tide rose after dropping a game to FSU in week 1, but a win over Georgia showed the nation that they can still win big games. Oklahoma has been led by top transfer in the nation John Mateer, and the team has already two ranked wins under their belt, against Auburn and Michigan, but will have a very tough final 5 game stretch to end the season, with all of their opponents being ranked. Finally, the SEC team that was preseason 1 seed, Texas, was supposed to be led by Arch Manning, nephew of Eli and Peyton, but he struggled mightily against a strong Ohio St. in Week 1. Since then, he has bounced back and been better, but hasn’t played a good team since Week 1. It will be interesting to see how he responds to strong SEC defenses come October and November.
As five weeks have now played out so far this season, we’ve really gotten a look at what the playoffs could look like and who might win the Heisman. According to most betting apps and analysts, Dante Moore, Oregon QB is the favorite, and it looks like he probably will as of now. He already has 1,200 passing yards, 12 touchdowns, both on only one interception. Still riding the Oregon train, I’d have to say I think Oregon is the favorite to win the championship also- they dodge most top teams in the Big 10 and could easily get a bye in the playoffs and an undefeated season.