With the 12-team College Football Playoff set to begin this year and Nick Saban retiring, there’s a changing of the guard in the sport. Numerous teams are in a great position to become blue bloods. Here are the five college football programs on the rise more than anybody else entering the 2024 season.
5. Georgia Tech
Don’t look now, but the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are one of the surprise programs of college football. Brent Key took over a disaster in 2022, went 7-6 in 2023 and now has a top 20 recruiting class for 2025. He also just landed blue-chip offensive lineman Josh Petty. Could this once-proud program be returning to more glory days? It’s certainly possible.
4. Northwestern
Taking over Pat Fitzgerald’s mess, David Braun led the Northwestern Wildcats to an 8-5 season in his first year. That’s better than the Nebraska Cornhuskers under Matt Rhule and Wisconsin Badgers under Luke Fickell in the same division, hence the reason neither made this list. Only the Louisville Cardinals were a bigger surprise with a first-year head coach, but their offseason has been too tumultuous.
3. Auburn
Despite three straight losses to finish last season 6-7 and the worst play-call in college football history, Hugh Freeze is still a great offensive coach, and he’s got the Auburn Tigers recruiting at an extremely high level right now. Currently, they are No. 5 nationally. As a result, they could become a powerhouse once again very quickly.
2. Ole Miss
Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels have as brash a program as Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes, but Kiffin hasn’t melted down this offseason from a PR perspective. Although Ole Miss had a similar season to the Missouri Tigers and Oregon Ducks last year, the evidence via the transfer portal suggests a huge leap this year, which is why they make the list.
1. Tennessee
Yes, after a dip in Josh Heupel’s third year, the Vols are the fastest-rising team in college football. They are about to enter a new era with a quarterback in Nico Iamaleava created in a lab to run Heupel’s offense, and they are loaded with weapons everywhere as well. Heupel finally has the roster where he needs it to be, so UT should be ready to take over.
