As the marching bands finalise preparations for their fight songs and players learn who they’ll face up against in Week 1, you can sense a tension sweeping colleges and towns across the nation. The start of a new season of College Football is only a week away.
The level of hype has reached an all-time high with the return of an EA Sports College Football game. Fans have had to wait ten years since the release of the beloved NCAA 14 for a new game, and now that College Football 25 has arrived, fans of the franchise and the sport could not be more excited. Many viewers and experts have pressing questions: Who will dethrone Michigan and become National Champions?
Who will win the Heisman trophy, with the last two winners, Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels, being 1 and 2 in the NFL draft? Finally, how will introducing a 12-team playoff affect all 134 schools?
Who Challenges the Wolverines for the Natty?
With Week 0 starting the season in a game between the Florida State Seminoles and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on the 24th of August in Dublin, Ireland, we look to the oddsmakers to tell us who is favourite to dethrone Michigan. Georgia is the favourite, coming in at +200, with Ohio State, Oregon and Texas closely following at +400, +650 and + 850, respectively. Remember that no team ranked number 1 at the beginning of the season has finished number 1 in 7 years. The last team to do so was Alabama in 2017, who had arguably the greatest coach of all time in college football, Nick Saban.
The Georgia Bulldogs are stacked from top to bottom under head coach Kirby Smart. Going into the season, star quarterback Carson Beck is one of the favourites to win the Heisman Trophy. As well as senior QB Carson Beck, Georgia also posts a star in Junior Malaki Starks, ranked number 10 by ESPN in the top 100 players going into the new season. Last season, he had 31 solo tackles, two interceptions and seven passes defended. He will look to improve further to secure Georgia’s status as National Champions.
College Football: Introducing the New Playoff Format
Introducing the new playoff format could see the regular powerhouses struggle more than ever. For example, teams that boast late-season surges, such as Penn State or Utah, could benefit from the new format, which will reward consistency and resilience throughout the gruelling season. This format gives the non-traditional powerhouses a genuine shot to challenge for the championship.
On the other hand, the well-known powerhouses may find this season more difficult than previous ones. Teams like Alabama, Georgia, etc, tend to cruise throughout each season, going undefeated or possibly dropping one game. The new season format will force these teams to treat every game as crucial, avoid any slip-ups in rankings and allow lower-ranked teams to move up. It’s also worth considering how this change may affect recruiting and player mentalities going into the season.
Some players from high-ranking programmes might transfer to lower-ranked programmes with easier playoff schedules, aiming to guarantee post-season opportunities. Analysts are already anticipating this season to be the most exciting yet gruelling we have ever seen, with adaptability and toughness becoming more critical than ever.
Jayden Daniels to the NFL, Who’s Next in Line for the Heisman?
With the new season approaching, many people have already placed their bets on who they think will win the Heisman Trophy. Throughout the offseason, Carson Beck tied with Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers as the clear-cut favourites. Surprisingly, Oregon Quarterback Dillon Gabriel is now a +750 favourite to win the Heisman. This year’s Heisman race is expected to primarily feature QBs, with the top 23 players with the highest odds being QBs. With all the rush, this race is heavily anticipated and could be swayed by the introduction of the new 12-team playoff brackets.
A personal favourite of mine to win the Heisman is Alabama’s redshirt Junior Jalen Milroe. Jalen Milroe, who finished 6th in the Heisman votes last season, will be looking to build on that result. He ranks 4th in the Trophy odds behind Dillon Gabriel, Carson Beck, and Quinn Ewers. Milroe finished last season with a 66% completion rate, throwing 2,834 yards and 23 touchdowns and rushing for an additional 531 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Unfortunately, the retirement of Nick Saban in January of this year means Milroe will have to adapt to the new Alabama Head Coach, Kalen DeBoer, who, before taking on this role, was HC of the Washington Huskies. He led the team to the National Championship last season, and newly drafted Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Michael Penix was runner-up in last year’s Heisman race. It’s safe to say Milroe and the Crimson Tide are in safe hands under DeBoer.
How the 12-Team Playoff Expansion Will Reshape College Football?
The new playoff football format is the most significant change the sport has seen in its 155-year history and will lead to arguably the most dramatic season we may have ever seen. Although the format is different, some things stay the same. The CFP committee will continue to rank the Top 25 schools in the FBS.
The 12 teams will be selected from the top 5 highest-ranked conference champions and the seven highest-ranked teams outside the champions. Another change from the 4-team structure is that there are no limits to how many teams can compete in the bracket from each conference, i.e., Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, etc. A team could lose their conference championship game if ranked highly enough but still enter the playoffs.
With the new playoff format in place, one of the most burning questions that needs to be answered is, how many losses can your team afford to take and still be in playoff contention? Based on the last ten years with the 4-team playoff format, if teams took only their second loss in the regular season, they were eliminated before the postseason had started. With the new 12-team playoffs, it looks like most teams can afford to lose 3 games and still make it into playoff contention. However, there is an exception.
That exception comes in the form of the Florida Gators. Their schedule is unlike anything we have ever seen. In their 12-game regular season, they will face the likes of Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss, etc. In 12 games, they face 8 Top 25 opponents. If Florida were to have 3 or 4 losses but 4-5 wins against the Top 25, then the committee would be able to decide whether to allow Florida in the playoff bracket despite the 3-4 losses.
Conclusion
As the new College Football season approaches, tension is palpable across campuses and towns nationwide. Fans have already tasted football this season with the release of College Football 25, adding to the already heightened anticipation.
Michigan is attempting to retain its title despite losing countless superstars, and the powerhouses of Georgia, Alabama, and Ohio State are closely following. Fans everywhere are eager to see who will dethrone Michigan and claim the Championship.
Image Credit: Cdnd, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
