FILE – Georgia fans cheer during the second half of the NCAA College Football Playoff game between Georgia and TCU, Monday, Jan. 9, 2023, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
A new era has dawned in college football: some of the most famous teams in history now play in different leagues.
The postseason is also different. The College Football Playoffs are expanding from four to twelve teams, which changes the calculations in the battle for the championship.
There are also changes for some of the game’s biggest names.
Jim Harbaugh won the national championship at his alma mater, Michigan, and returned to the NFL. Nick Saban ended his coaching career with a record seven national titles and becomes an analyst for ESPN’s “College Game Day” Show. Prolific Dillon Gabriel takes his strong arm to his third school, Oregon, for his sixth and final season.
The biggest challenge for fans will be remembering which teams are in which conferences. Aside from the SEC, we are entering the era of coast-to-coast conferences.
What is guaranteed to be a wild ride begins on August 24 with four Week Zero games headlined by No. 10 Florida State vs. Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland.
Reorientation of the conference
The decline of the Pac-12 necessitated a revision of the conference map.
First, Southern California and UCLA decided to defect to the Big Ten, and then Oregon and Washington joined, so the conference now consists of 18 teams.
Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah are now part of a 16-team Big 12. Stanford and California, as well as former American Athletic Conference member SMU, are now part of a 17-team Atlantic Coast Conference.
Pac-12 holdovers Oregon State and Washington State have a Mountain West scheduling agreement. All MWC teams will play a game against one team or the other.
Texas and Oklahoma begin their long-awaited first year in the Southeastern Conference.
Army moves from an independent to a football-only member of the AAC, replacing SMU, and Kennesaw State is in Conference USA after being promoted from the Football Championship Subdivision.
College Football Playoff
The expanded playoffs will span a month, beginning on December 20-21, and could require an unprecedented 17 games from the last two remaining teams.
The 12 playoff teams consist of the five conference champions with the highest rankings by the CFP Selection Committee and the next seven highest-ranked teams.
The top four conference champions will be seeded first through fourth and receive a bye to the first round. The fifth conference champion will be seeded at their seeding or 12th if they are outside the top 12.
Teams seeded 5th through 12th will play their first-round games at the higher-seeded team’s stadium or site of their choosing. The winners will advance to the quarterfinals, which will be played at bowl sites against the top four ranked conference champions. The top-seeded teams will receive a preferred spot in the semifinals, which will be played at the Orange and Cotton Bowl.
The final will take place on January 20th at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, later than ever before.
Georgia is number 1 in the preseason
Georgia ranks No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll for the second year in a row.
The Bulldogs bring back a Heisman Trophy candidate in quarterback Carson Beck, and they are favorites to win the national title with a 3-1 record, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
The Big Ten’s top two teams in the preseason top 25 are Ohio State (No. 2) and Oregon (No. 3), and Texas and Alabama from the SEC are Nos. 4 and 5.
The coach is in your ear
Football Bowl Subdivision teams have the option to utilize coach-player communication through the helmet of a player on the field. That player is identified by a green dot on the back center line of his helmet. Communication will be turned off 15 seconds before the end of the game or when the ball is snapped, whichever comes first.
In all three NCAA divisions, teams have the option to use tablets to view only video during the game. The video can include the broadcast and camera angles from the coach’s sideline and end zone.
A question for every FBS conference
ACC: Can Clemson, coming off a four-loss season for the first time since 2011, use the momentum of a 5-0 record in 2023 to challenge Florida State?
Big Ten: Where does Michigan stand? The Wolverines have the lowest preseason ranking for a defending national champion since 2011, at No. 9.
Big 12: Can Deion Sanders, who lost eight of nine games at the end of his first season, lead Colorado to a bowl in his first year back in the conference?
SEC: Will Texas, which has its highest preseason ranking since 2009, really compete for the conference title in its first year in a much more challenging league?
AAC: Will Seth Henigan-led Memphis hold off UTSA and Tulane and win its first league title since 2019?
Conference USA: Is Liberty, which finished 13-1 with an amazing offense and a mediocre defense, the real number one team?
Mid-American: Can Miami stop Toledo from winning its third consecutive division title?
Mountain West: Will preseason favorite Boise State automatically receive a playoff spot in the Group of Five?
Sun Belt: How will James Madison, 11-2 last season, fare without Curt Cignetti and a number of top players who joined him in Indiana?
