The 2024 college football season is shaping up to be one of the most exciting seasons in a long time, and it’s because of all the changes that are coming to the game in 2024. Let’s start with the expanded College Football Playoff.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the first year of the new 12-team College Football Playoff goes. The four-team playoff era is over, and having eight more teams make it is going to make a huge difference.
First of all, college football fans can breathe a little bit easier during the regular season. There’s no worse feeling as a fan than seeing your team lose a huge game in the first weeks of the season before conference play even starts. In the four-team playoff era, that’s as demoralizing as it gets. You know that one more loss is the nail in the coffin, and even with one loss (or in Florida State’s case, zero), there is no guarantee that you will make it. Now, power five teams that go 10-2 should be pretty safe, and even some 9-3 teams will likely be able to make it.
The other big change is more football and a longer season. The College Football Playoff committee recently released the schedule for the 2024 playoff, and it is going to be an exciting month. Instead of three total playoff games played in the span of a week, we will get to see 11 games spread out over the span of a month. That is going to be a lot of fun.
Another huge change to the college football world this year will be with the new conferences. The Pac-12 is gone as everyone except for Oregon State and Washington State found a new home. USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington are now in the Big Ten, Cal and Stanford moved to the ACC, and Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah are in the Big 12.
The Big 12 did lose two teams, however, as Oklahoma and Texas are making the move over to the SEC.
All in all, big changes are coming to college football, and it should make for an exciting season. Things are going to look different, and not everyone is a fan of the new changes, but there is going to more football and more good matchups. That’s a plus.
A new era is beginning for Alabama football
A lot of things are changing in college football, and one of the biggest changes next season will be seeing the Alabama football team without Nick Saban. The legendary Crimson Tide head coach decided to call it a season after 2023, and Kalen DeBoer is now the head coach at Alabama. DeBoer took Washington all the way to the national title game this past season before losing to Michigan, the same team that knocked out Saban and the Tide.
With a new head coach, everyone is curious how Alabama football will fare in 2024. Kalen DeBoer is coming into a great situation and he has all the tools to be successful, but can he keep the dynasty that Saban built going? There a lot of question marks, and this first season is going to be huge.
Alabama has a lot of good talent coming back from last year’s team, so DeBoer has to have a good season in year one. First year coaches sometimes get a pass, but that isn’t quite the case here. If the Crimson Tide have a bad season, recruits might start to think that they just won’t be the same without Saban, and the dynasty could quickly fall. Year one is massive.
When a head coach leaves the program, there are bound to be some departures in the transfer portal, and Alabama football has experienced that. In total, the Crimson Tide have lost 40 players to the transfer portal, and they have only brought in 15. Alabama lost most of their top talent during the first window of the portal as just 10 of the 40 players entered during the spring window. While Alabama did lose a lot more than they gained, they did bring in some good talent as well.
One of those transfers could end up being a very valuable piece to the puzzle for the Crimson Tide next season. Here is one player that seems poised for a breakout season in 2024.
Keon Sabb, DB
Keon Sabb is getting ready for his first season with the Alabama football team, and it could be a big one. The last game that the Crimson Tide played in was actually against Sabb as he spent the first two years of his career with the Michigan football team. The Wolverines knocked Alabama out of the College Football Playoff, and Sabb made a big play in the fourth quarter of the game.
Last season showed that Keon Sabb is ready for a breakout year. That was his first season getting playing time for Michigan, and he had a solid year. He was behind some other guys on the depth chart as that Wolveries defense was loaded, but he still racked up 28 total tackles, four passes defended, 0.5 sacks and two interceptions. One was a pick six.
Keon Sabb was projected to be a starter for Michigan this season, but he decided to hit the transfer portal after Jim Harbaugh left, and now he is with the Alabama football team.
The Crimson Tide are hoping to have another punishing defense this season, and Keon Sabb should be a key player for them. He showed last year that he is ready, and the 2024 season could very well be his breakout year.
