With Week 0 looming, it’s time to fully dive in on our predictions for the 2024 college football season. Here is a look at who will win each conference championship game, who will make the CFP and who will advance into each round. Our national championship prediction is going to be on here as well.
Conference championship games
Sun Belt
James Madison Dukes over Appalachian State Mountaineers
Bob Chesney takes over a JMU team that would’ve won the Sun Belt last year if they were eligible at 11-2. This year, they’ll be back with a vengeance and finally beat out the Appalachian State Mountaineers to win the East. They’ll beat the defending champion Troy Trojans, also led by a first-year head coach in Gerad Parker.
MAC
Miami (Ohio) RedHawks over Toledo Rockets
Chuck Martin is poised to lead Miami (OH) to its second straight Mid-American Conference championship. This year, despite no divisions, the rematch will be the same, as Jason Candle will have Toledo back in the title game. Miami just has more talent, so they’ll win.
C-USA
Liberty Flames over Jacksonville State Gamecocks
Picking up where Hugh Freeze left off, Jamey Chadwell has Liberty as arguably the best college football Group of Five team with Kaidon Salter as his quarterback. In a rebranded but bad Conference-USA, they’ll beat a good Jacksonville State Gamecocks team led by Rich Rodriguez because their offense is more cutting-edge.
Mountain West
UNLV Runnin’ Rebels over Boise State Broncos
The four best teams in the MWC all have new head coaches, so Barry Odom, entering his second year after a 9-5 season, will use chemistry and experience to win the league championship. By default, the Boise State Broncos will get in for Spencer Danielson’s first full season, but losing Bush Hamden will hurt them.
American
Memphis Tigers over USF Bulls
Everybody is talking about the UTSA Roadrunners, but smart money is on Alex Golesh taking the South Florida Bulls to another level in the American Athletic Conference. Still, Memphis is the best Group of Five team this year, though, so while they face UTSA on the road and have a tough slate, they’ll get through it to be the CFP selection from these leagues.
ACC
Clemson Tigers over Florida State Seminoles
What is there to talk about really? Nobody can debate these are the two best teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and this is one with a lot on the table, as the College Football Playoff may just take one team from this league. However, Clemson’s chemistry will outweigh FSU’s talent this year, and Dabo Swinney’s coaching will help even more. After being left for dead, they make the CFP.
Big 12
Utah Utes over Kansas State Wildcats
Kyle Whittingham’s physical style of play perfectly positions Utah to run through the Big 12, a league based on finesse and scoring. This new-look league won’t be ready for the Utes, and that will help them dominate. Entering his sixth season, Chris Klieman has a very good Kansas State team that will contend, but Utah wins it.
Big Ten
Oregon Ducks over Penn State Nittany Lions
No, this isn’t crazy. The Ohio State Buckeyes reeling from the Ryan Day issues, so they will lose to Penn State on the road and the Michigan Wolverines for a fourth straight year. Michigan is inexperienced and so will lose at Oregon. With Michigan not playing Penn State, that gives them the inside track to the B1G title game. But newcomer Oregon will win it all as the league’s best team.
SEC
Georgia Bulldogs over LSU Tigers
Kirby Smart’s talent will just overwhelm the new-look SEC and lead UGA to a dominating win over LSU in the Southeastern Conference championship game. Still, Brian Kelly will have the Tigers better off by improving the defense and maintaining the offense, so the talent will propel his team back to the matchup.
College Football Playoff First Four Out
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Marcus Smart Freeman will lead Notre Dame to another 10-2 record, but they will have a couple of critical slip-ups that the CFP committee won’t be able to look past given their questionable strength of schedule. As a result, they will be the top-ranked team on the outside looking in.
Florida State Seminoles
Losing to Clemson will be enough to keep FSU out of the College Football Playoff. The ‘Noles couldn’t get in when they were undefeated, and the committee will like the ACC even less this year, so they will cry and scream again, but the truth is they won’t belong, just like they didn’t last year.
Texas A&M Aggies
Mike Elko and A&M are the surprise team of college football. They will finish 9-3, ironically, with a loss to Notre Dame, but their quality losses will keep them within earshot of the CFP. Unfortunately for them, they’ll just miss it, but it’ll be a huge first step for the program Elko is building.
Iowa Hawkeyes
This is one of those years where Kirk Ferentz will have one of the better teams in college football with Iowa. The problem is, they have arguably the easiest Big Ten schedules. They’ll lose to Ohio State on the road and to one more team, either the Wisconsin Badgers at home or UCLA Bruins on the road, and it’ll keep them out.
College Football Playoff Picks
Round 1
No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers OVER No. 12 Memphis
At 11-1 in the SEC, the Vols will easily be the best team in the nation to not get an automatic first-round bye. They won’t care, though, as they’ll get to host a Group of Five team at Neyland Stadium, in this case their cross-state rival. As a result, after the layoff, Josh Heupel’s team will win easily.
No. 11 Alabama Crimson Tide OVER No. 6 Penn State
Alabama is going to be the only three-loss team in there because of their schedule strength and value. They’ll prove they belong early by dominating Penn State in Happy Valley. This all comes down to Kalen DeBoer’s team having more talent and James Franklin’s team getting a higher seed by default.
No. 7 LSU OVER No. 10 Ohio State
Losing to Georgia in the title game will make LSU a lower seed than even the Vols, but they’ll still get an Ohio State team with serious issues at home. As a result, Kelly’s team will dominate and reach the quarterfinals, proving he does have the program where it needs to be.
No. 8 Michigan Wolverines OVER No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels
Despite losing key talent and having a new head coach, Michigan is well-positioned to host a College Football Playoff game. Ole Miss is going to be a wild ride with Lane Kiffin and all the transfers, but they’ll get to the event with that talent before losing to a more disciplined team on the road in the first round.
Quarterfinals
FIESTA BOWL
Tennessee OVER No. 4 Utah
UT, as the best team to advance, will face the worst auto-bid team, which will be the Big 12 champion. Utah will get the game closer to home in Arizona, but it won’t matter. Vol fans travel, and Heupel has more talent, so they will dominate this game as well.
SUGAR BOWL
No. 3 Clemson OVER Alabama
Welcome to a revitalization of the legendary College Football Playoff rivalry. Swinney gets his revenge on all skeptics by pulling off a stunner over Bama in the Peach Bowl after multiple weeks to prepare. Kalen DeBoer’s issues with Jalen Milroe will present themselves.
ROSE BOWL
No. 2 Oregon OVER LSU
Kelly and LSU still will have defensive issues, and Oregon is built like an SEC team under Dan Lanning, largely thanks to NIL. As a result, the Big Ten champs will win this game to advance to the semifinals, and they will do it by being the more physical team, ironically.
PEACH BOWL
No. 1 Georgia OVER Michigan
While Michigan can get past Ole Miss, they just don’t have the talent to go too far, and the chemistry just isn’t there this year. As a result, when they run into Georgia in Atlanta, they’ll get blown out of the water. In this moment, UGA will look like it’s establishing an Alabama type dynasty.
Semifinals
Orange Bowl
Georgia OVER Clemson
Two programs on the decline in college football will meet in the semifinals, ironically, but this is the furthest the loser will go ever again under his current head coach. Georgia has the better team and more talent than Clemson, so they’ll do enough to advance.
Cotton Bowl
Tennessee OVER Oregon
Ironically, as the physical team, Oregon will lose a postseason game to the team with the cutting-edge offense. Usually the roles are the opposite. However, the Vols are physical, and Nico Iamaleava remains a generational quarterback, so UT wins this one in a dogfight.
National championship
Tennessee OVER Georgia
In a revenge game after losing in the regular season, Tennessee will be crowned national champions in the first year of the expanded College Football Playoff. Josh Heupel will do it behind Iamaleava’s arm and being deceptively physical. This will mark the end of an era of the sport with UGA, Clemson and Bama and mark a new rise in the 2020s.
