The 2024 college football season is going to be different than any past seasons we have seen. Here is a brief look at the new landscape.
In addition to a new 12-team playoff, that begins Dec. 20, and ends a month later, Jan. 20, 15 teams have moved to different conferences, a major realignment shift.
Just keeping up with conference realignment is challenging, but here goes.
SMU, Cal and Stanford are now in the ACC.
The Cardinal played their first home game as a member of the ACC Friday night, losing a non-conference matchup with TCU, 34-27, in front of an announced crowd of 36,206.
Yep, the ACC now has the Cardinal and the Cardinals (Louisville).
USC and UCLA, along with Washington and Oregon, are in the Big Ten, which now has 18 members, making it the largest conference in the country.
The ACC will follow with 17, and the SEC and Big 12 also grew, each with 16 teams.
Texas and Oklahoma now call the SEC home, while Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado join the Big 12.
And the Pac-12?
Well, the Pac-12 has been decimated, and is now just Washington State and Oregon State, which have entered into a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West Conference.
With all the moves, here’s what the new Power-4 Conferences look like now.
SEC: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt.
Big 12: Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, UCF, Utah, West Virginia.
Big Ten: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin.
ACC: Boston College, California, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, NC State, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, SMU, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia tech, Wake Forest.
12-Team College Football Playoff
The long-awaited CFP will debut in 2024.
The decade-long run of the four-team playoff that started in 2014 has coincided with a financial boom for college football, more conference realignment, and the monumental changes due to name, image, and likeness (NIL).
They say bigger is better.
So, hello to the 12-team playoff.
The expanded playoffs ushers in a new era of college football, where the crowing of a national championship becomes more challenging and more rewarding.
How many of you remember back in history when college football had a split national championship?
New College Football Rules in 2024
Coaches can now communicate directly with designated players through a radio built into their helmets. This is designed to speed up the time between plays. The two-way communication will shut down 15 seconds before the play clock runs out.
College football has introduced a new rule with double two-minute warnings at the end of each half. No additional timeouts will be granted.
Having watched a few games with this new two-minute warning, I don’t like it. It just defeats the objective of speeding up the games.
Also, teams will no longer be able to call consecutive timeouts.
So much for “icing” the kickers.
Another new rule for 2024, borrowed from the NFL, will be that players and coaches can now access in-game video on tablets while on the sideline.
However, the players are restricted from viewing highlights from previous games, practice films, or “Leave it to Beaver” reruns.
Seriously, how does the NCAA regulate or enforce this?
So, as Week 1 in college football begins in earnest today, you are now up to date on all you need to know.
Until next season.
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