The Crimson Tide will need new players to step up.
Football for spring is ended. We’ve closed the transfer portal. June is printed on the calendar. Are you aware of the meaning of that? The arrival of college football is rapidly approaching. We got it through the most difficult part of the offseason and it has now been five months since Michigan defeated Washington in the national championship game in Houston. The only thing keeping us going to the finish line now that we’ve passed the halfway mark is excitement. Alabama football’s season is ready; the college football season will begin in less than three months. The excitement of watching the Crimson Tides play their first game is palpable.
Due to the numerous changes that the game will see in 2024, the college football season of that year is anticipated to be one of the most thrilling in recent memory. First, let’s talk about the enlarged College Football Playoff. It will be intriguing to watch how the new 12-team College Football Playoff develops in its inaugural season. Eight extra teams making the playoffs will make a big difference now that the four-team playoff era is finished.
First of all, college football fans can breathe a little bit easier during the regular season. There’s no worse feeling as a fan than seeing your team lose a huge game in the first weeks of the season before conference play even starts. In the four-team playoff era, that’s as demoralizing as it gets. You know that one more loss is the nail in the coffin, and even with one loss (or in Florida State’s case, zero), there is no guarantee that you will make it. Now, power five teams that go 10-2 should be pretty safe, and even some 9-3 teams will likely be able to make it.
The other big change is more football and a longer season. The College Football Playoff committee recently released the schedule for the 2024 playoff, and it is going to be an exciting month. Instead of three total playoff games played in the span of a week, we will get to see 11 games spread out over the span of a month. That is going to be a lot of fun.
Another huge change to the college football world this year will be with the new conferences. The Pac-12 is gone as everyone except for Oregon State and Washington State found a new home. USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington are now in the Big Ten, Cal and Stanford moved to the ACC, and Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah are in the Big 12.
The Big 12 did lose two teams, however, as Oklahoma and Texas are making the move over to the SEC.
All in all, big changes are coming to college football, and it should make for an exciting season. Things are going to look different, and not everyone is a fan of the new changes, but there is going to more football and more good matchups. That’s a plus.
