The 2024 college football season is winding down, and so far, the new playoff format has added more emotional juice than I had anticipated before the season. The new format has created some incredibly important matchups this weekend, and made the conference title games in the first weekend of December essentially elimination games for most of the teams involved.
On top of that, the introduction of the transfer portal, allowing players to essentially become free agents after the season, along with players now LEGALLY allowed to be paid for their name, image, and likeness (NIL, for short), has created a degree of parity that was unforeseen. General thought had been the portal and NIL would favor the mighty. Instead, we are on the cusp of a twelve team playoff that might not include Clemson, Alabama, or Michigan.
In short, this is fun! Here are the latest rankings, as of Tuesday night:
1. Oregon, Big Ten, 11-0
2. Ohio State, Big Ten, 10-1
3. Texas, SEC, 10-1
4. Penn State, Big Ten, 10-1
5. Notre Dame, FBS Independent, 10-1
6. Miami, ACC, 10-1
7. Georgia, SEC, 9-2
8. Tennessee, SEC, 9-2
9. SMU, ACC, 10-1
10. Indiana, Big Ten, 10-1
11. Boise State, Mountain West, 10-1
12. Clemson, ACC, 9-2
13. Alabama, SEC, 8-3
14. Ole Miss, SEC, 8-3
15. South Carolina, SEC, 8-3
16. Arizona State, Big 12, 9-2
17. Tulane, American, 9-2
18. Iowa State, Big 12, 9-2
19. BYU, Big 12, 9-2
20. Texas A&M, SEC, 8-3
21. Missouri, SEC, 8-3
22. UNLV, Mountain West, 9-2
23. Illinois, Big Ten, 8-3
24. Kansas State, Big 12, 8-3
25. Colorado, Big 12, 8-3
A few quick observations before I go eat my turkey and dressing:
Texas and Texas A&M is the crown jewel of a huge weekend of college football.
Amazingly, the Aggies, despite three losses, control their own destiny to get into the postseason. With a win over the Longhorns on Saturday night, and then a win in the SEC Title Game the next week against Georgia, the Aggies will secure a playoff berth and likely top four seed. Meanwhile, Texas needs a win to stay on course and keep their lack of schedule strength out of the discussion among the playoff selection committee. Bottom line, beyond playoff implications, is that having this game back in our lives for the first time since 2011 is outstanding, and you need to be a Saudi prince too afford tickets for your family. It’s the hottest ticket in the history of college football, with a “get in the building” prices of nearly $700 for a single ticket.
Could the Big XII get left out of the dance?
The wildest thing about the latest rankings is Tulane sneaking up to 17th overall. Why is that significant? Well, the top five conference title winners get automatic bids, with the top four of those teams getting a first round bye. The thought process was clearly that the Power Four champions would get those byes and the best Group of Five champion (like, say Boise State in the Mountain West, or Tulane in the American) would get that fifth conference champion bid. Essentially, that last champion slot was a consolation prize for the “little guys.” Well, don’t look now, but if Tulane wins out, and Boise State wins out, and the Big XII remains the mess that it is (best team is 16th rated Arizona State), we could see three Power Four champions and two Group of Five champions in the dance. Now THAT would be chaos!
What do we think of these first round matchups?
The first round matchups in the twelve team playoff are on college campuses. As of right now the matchups would look like this:
12 Arizona State at 5 Ohio State
9 Tennessee at 8 Georgia
11 Indiana at 6 Penn State
10 SMU at 7 Notre Dame
Those are all phenomenal venues to host playoff games, particularly with a chance of snow at three of them. My only complaint would be reprising intra-conference matchups in the SEC (Tennessee-Georgia) and Big Ten (Indiana-Penn State). Swap Tennessee and Indiana around, and let’s go!
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
