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It’s finally here. Well, almost anyway. Though Week 0 and its matchups will be just the appetizer, the full seven-course meal of the college football season is nearly ready to be served. So, before kickoff officially takes place, it’s time for our first college football power rankings of the 2024 season.
1. Georgia Bulldogs
If not for an upset in the SEC Championship Game last year against Alabama, Georgia football could have at least been playing for its third straight national title. This is a program that has lost just two games in the last three seasons. And while you shouldn’t necessarily base things off previous seasons, you most certainly can to some degree with a program like the one Kirby Smart has built in Athens.
We all know the talent level with Georgia football and how deep it is at nearly every position. This is a program that just rebuilds every year now. They have one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Carson Beck to prove this. The biggest challenge for the Bulldogs this season will be a brutal schedule that consists of facing five teams ranked in the top 15.
2. Oregon Ducks
Most have Ohio State, now the Ducks' Big Ten rival, in the No. 2 spot. Not us. But the margin of difference between these two teams is pretty small. Oregon football has nearly every position loaded with talent, especially on the offensive side. They’re deep at receiver and running back and boast one of the better offensive lines in the country. That, combined with the addition of transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel, gives the Ducks the edge for the No. 2 spot in our college football power rankings. Maybe the only real question mark coming into the season for Oregon will be producing a consistent pass rush.
3. Ohio State Buckeyes
The pressure is mounting for Ryan Day this season. All the offseason changes he made to his staff and roster should be evident of that. The Buckeyes are 56-8 under Day, but if a fourth straight loss to Michigan occurs, Ohio State brass may have no other choice than to dismiss him. The good news is, Ohio State is absolutely loaded with talent thanks to not only recruiting but also serious transfer portal additions, like running back Quinshon Judkins, safety Caleb Downs, and quarterback Will Howard.
How will Howard differ from Kyle McCord from last season, though? That’s the ultimate question, along with some concerns about the offensive line. Adding Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator sure is intriguing.
4. Texas Longhorns
Texas football hangs on at No. 4 in our college football power rankings, but just barely. The Longhorns face a new set of challenges this season, entering the SEC from the Big 12. However, they have a ton of momentum coming with them after winning their first conference title since 2009 and making the College Football Playoff final four. Texas did lose quite a bit to the NFL, but that may not matter thanks to what looks to be transfer portal replacements.
What nearly caused the Longhorns to drop in these power rankings was that they have now lost two of their running backs—CJ Baxter and Christian Clark—for the season in camp. Mind you, the team was already set to have a new stable of backs this season. Now that room has gotten much thinner with less experience and without its initial starter (Baxter).
5. Ole Miss Rebels
All the cards seem to be falling in Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss' favor heading into the 2024 season. Not that the Rebels play them in the regular season this year anyway, but Ole Miss football doesn’t have to face Alabama and Nick Saban. But even if they did, or do in the SEC Championship Game, they have one of the best rosters, if not the best roster, in program history to compete against them.
Kiffin has assembled what feels like a playoff-ready team in Oxford. His and his staff's work in the transfer portal has been remarkable. The defense added some major pieces in defensive tackle Walter Nolen, Princely Umanmielen, and linebacker Chris Paul Jr. They’ll hope to complement the offense, which already had talented quarterback Jaxson Dart and receivers Tre Harris and Jordan Watkins.
6. Alabama Crimson Tide
How does one predict the 2024 Alabama football team? It’s more difficult than some would expect. Alabama still boasts a boatload of talent that most programs would kill for, though it did take a little bit of a hit once Nick Saban retired. And that’s the real crux of attempting to figure out this year’s Alabama team. The transition phase for the Crimson Tide will be unlike possibly any other for a team in college football this season.
However, it’s hard not to like Saban’s replacement in former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer. He’ll still have quarterback Jalen Milroe, a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, to work with, though on defense there will be some questions regarding the secondary that stem even from last season. Uploading a whole new team scheme may prove to be a daunting task in Year 1, where there might be hiccups along the way. It doesn’t help that Alabama will face five preseason top 25 teams, with four of those in their last six games.
7. Penn State Nittany Lions
Penn State football, much like Ole Miss, feels like it’s always been the bridesmaid and never the bride. Well, with a 12-team expanded playoff field this season, the Nittany Lions could finally be able to start dress shopping. Like most groups under head coach James Franklin, the 2024 one feels it has enough pieces in place to be a playoff team.
However, a lot of that will be determined by how the offense pans out under new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. He’ll be tasked with getting the best version out of highly touted quarterback Drew Allar. Also, last year’s No. 3 scoring defense will be under new coordinator Tom Allen due to Manny Diaz departing for the Duke head coaching position. This defense will have to figure out how to replace Adisa Isaac and Chop Robinson.
8. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
When you consider that Marcus Freeman is just 38 years old and in his first head coaching position—at one of the most prestigious programs in the country, mind you—and he’s 19-7, that’s beyond impressive. The roster he’ll be working with this season should help him find more wins. The Irish will be moving on from one former ACC quarterback in Sam Hartman to Riley Leonard. Should he remain injury-free, he could help Notre Dame football make a playoff run, especially coupled with a strong defense with potential high-round draft prospects.
9. Michigan Wolverines
It’s really difficult to say if Michigan football is deserving of being in the top 10 college football power rankings. Sure, they’re coming off a national championship, but hardly any of that team resides on the 2024 squad. The Wolverines have just five returning starters, with only one of those in tight end Colston Loveland on offense. However, this year’s team does boast five players in ESPN’s top 100 preseason player rankings, including defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, cornerback Will Johnson, running back Donovan Edwards, and Loveland. That should at least help first-time head coach Sherrone Moore as he takes over for Jim Harbaugh full time.
10. Miami Hurricanes
Perhaps this is way too bullish, but the Hurricanes, on paper at least, feel like they have a top 10 roster and coaching staff to go with it. It’s because of transfer portal additions like quarterback Cam Ward and Damien Martinez, plus a completely overhauled defensive front, that makes the case for Miami deserving a top ranking. Then you couple that with the impressive recruiting under Mario Cristobal. The biggest obstacle for Miami (FL) football, however, is one thing: overcoming expectations and getting out of its own way. Outside of question marks in their secondary, there isn’t one position that Miami feels particularly weak at entering the season. They’re built to finally take over the ACC.
11. Missouri Tigers
Can Missouri recreate the magic from last season that earned them their first 11-win season since 2014? Head coach Eli Drinkwitz is certainly hoping for such. When you have a quarterback and receiver combo of Brady Cook and Luther Burden III, who stands to be one of the best receivers in the nation, that’s a good start.
Missouri football hasn’t produced back-to-back double-digit win seasons since 2013 and 2014, so it’s easy to see why some are skeptical of another highly successful season. Drinkwitz did hit the portal pretty hard to make up for any losses and improve the talent on this year’s roster. Another good sign for the Tigers is that they’ll have one of the easier schedules in the SEC, with No. 5 Alabama being the highest-ranked opponent they face. If they can take advantage of that, an SEC title berth may be in store.
12. Florida State Seminoles
Most have Florida State football in the top 10, and while that could very well be deserved, the Seminoles, at least in comparison to the teams ahead of them on this list, have way more uncertainty about them. There are a lot of key contributors to last year’s team that are gone, either to the NFL or to other teams this year. The offense is set to look at least a shade different under new transfer quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, who replaces Jordan Travis. Gone also are talented wide receivers Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson. The Seminoles will likely be looking to their backfield a lot this season, which isn’t a bad thing.
Deep down, this was a team that was grounded by their impressive defense last season. Expect their defensive front and secondary to lead this side of the ball and keep teams from scoring.
13. Utah Utes
One of the more successful programs over the last decade has been Utah football. The Utes have won nine or more games in seven out of the last 10 seasons while under head coach Kyle Whittingham. Even with a move to the Big 12 Conference this year, it looks to be another good team ready to compete.
Besides Whittingham’s excellent coaching, particularly on the defensive side, returning will be stud quarterback Cam Rising, who missed all of last season recovering from ACL surgery. His return, along with some other key talent additions, makes the Utes a favorite to win the Big 12 in Year 1.
14. Tennessee Volunteers
There’s a lot of steam coming out of Knoxville, as the Volunteers, believe it or not, have expectations to be one of the 12 teams to make the College Football Playoff. Most of those expectations reside in new starting quarterback and former five-star Nico Iamaleava. The belief is that he will be leading the Volunteers back to the explosiveness they had just two seasons ago.
But defensively, Tennessee shouldn’t be forgotten. This is a group that continues to get better every season under coordinator Tim Banks. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he’ll have one of the SEC’s best defensive fronts with potential first-round draft pick James Pearce Jr. leading it.
15. Clemson Tigers
Three years post-College Football Playoff berth and falling under double-digit wins has put the Clemson Tigers as a top 15 team in our college football power rankings. Most would be okay with that, but this was a top three, top five team for years. Dabo Swinney keeps shaking off the naysayers, however, insisting this is still one of the best programs in the country. And it very well could be, though it has yet to prove itself as of late.
Cade Klubnik will once again be behind center and is hoping for a breakout season. What would help his case would be if Clemson could produce the once NFL-caliber type of receivers they used to pump out what seemed like every other season. We’ll see what this year’s group is made of real quick, though. They’ll face Georgia, NC State, and Florida State in three of their first five games.
16. LSU Tigers
Is this group of Tigers ready for a return to the SEC title again? Eh, that’s debatable. Last year’s team had one of the worst defenses in the country. Their offense, led by what turned out to be three first-round picks in Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers, and Brian Thomas Jr., turned them into a 10-win team.
This is a tall order for head coach Brian Kelly to replace, who didn’t really do much to fix the defense through portal acquisitions. He did bring in former Missouri defensive coordinator Blake Baker to hopefully fix things. The Tigers do feel a little bit better about themselves offensively, with quarterback Garrett Nussmeier set to take the reins. He’ll have to get on board with what is mostly a new group of wide receivers, with last year’s Kyren Lacy returning and set to take over as WR1.
17. Kansas State Wildcats
One of the mainstays of the Big 12 has the second-best odds of winning the conference this season, especially with the departures of Texas and Oklahoma. Kansas State, coached by Chris Klieman, may just be one of the more underrated teams in the entire country.
Watch out for the Wildcats offensively this year as talented sophomore Avery Johnson takes over for Will Howard, who left for Ohio State. The dual-threat quarterback makes for what could be one of the best rushing attacks in the Big 12. Even if the Wildcats don’t win every game they play, they won’t make it easy on anybody that plays them.
18. Oklahoma Sooners
After winning just six games in Year 1, Brent Venables made most things right last year. The Sooners once again hit 10 wins and beat Texas. That would make about any Sooners fan happy. But expectations are much larger than that in Norman. The question is, can first-year quarterback Jackson Arnold shoulder that responsibility? Another year of Venables' defensive system and promising skill position players hope to help.
Perhaps expectations may have to be a bit tempered, though, with the schedule that Oklahoma has. Now in the SEC, they’ll have the pleasure of meeting five preseason ranked teams in Tennessee, Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU. That’s not even including a trip to the plains to face Auburn.
19. NC State Wolfpack
One of the most overlooked teams has to be the NC State Wolfpack. Yeah, they’re in a lot of other college football power rankings, but even then, they might not be getting the credit they deserve.
Under Dave Doeren, who has been with the program since 2013, the team has won eight or more games in seven seasons. Sure, they’ve yet to hit that double-digit mark since 2002, their only one in history, but still, it’s impressive nonetheless. Doeren does hope that can change this season with one of the more talented groups he’s had yet.
One of the biggest additions is quarterback Grayson McCall, who was a prolific passer and was a three-time Sun Belt Player of the Year. But he’s just one of several new offensive additions that gave the unit a massive facelift. Perhaps the biggest question for the Wolfpack might be replacing All-American Payton Wilson on what was the No. 29 ranked total defense last season. Watch out if this team gets past Tennessee early in the season.
20. Oklahoma State Cowboys
Head coach Mike Gundy may have performed one of the better coaching jobs of his career last season. After starting the season 2-0, the Cowboys quickly dropped two, including one to South Alabama, where they scored just seven points. Then they proceeded to rattle off seven out of eight and make it to the Big 12 Championship Game.
With Texas and Oklahoma gone, the Cowboys have just as good a shot as anyone—probably better even—to win their first Big 12 title since 2011. They still have talented running back Ollie Gordon. The question remains with seventh-year quarterback Alan Bowman and if he can finally lead the team offensively.
21. Texas A&M Aggies
There’s perhaps no team in the country like the Texas A&M Aggies. This has been a program that hasn’t won anything since the first World War, yet it has had every resource available to be at the top of the league every season. For whatever reason, though, the Aggies just can’t get it right with the coach. Enter Mike Elko.
Surely if Elko, who turned around a non-football school like Duke in two years, can do the same for Texas A&M. Though that type of belief has been given before. With the staff comes attrition, which no doubt the Aggies lost some of their talent to the transfer portal. But they did gain some as well, such as defensive lineman Nic Scourton out of Purdue, who led the Big Ten in sacks last season. He joins an already stellar cast.
The only question then becomes: Can Connor Weigman be the guy at quarterback and stay healthy? The Aggies couldn’t stay healthy at the position last year. Maybe if these things come together, this team might surprise some people.
22. Arizona Wildcats
Jedd Fisch leaving for the Washington job put a big damper on the Wildcats' college football power rankings. Last year’s team was mighty impressive, which you don’t typically hear that word thrown around a lot for Arizona football. After their 10-win total from last season was more than they’ve had in the past four seasons combined.
Brent Brennan could easily come in and take over where Fisch left off, as there are plenty of pieces to win again, not to mention vie for the Big 12 title in the team’s first season. Arizona has two of the best college football players on their offensive roster in quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan.
23. USC Trojans
Not much love is being thrown at USC this season. There are some that claim the Trojans could fall so hard that it could cost Lincoln Riley his job. Others believe USC could make a few surprises throughout the season, albeit their first in Big Ten play.
At least for Riley, he has a suitable replacement at quarterback for Caleb Williams in Miller Moss, who earned the starting job. But when you talk about USC’s question marks, it falls back on their defense, always.
Riley brings in D’Anton Lynn from UCLA, who produced one of the better defenses in the country last year. Should we expect a complete facelift to this unit in Year 1? No, but any sort of improvement would do, which wouldn’t be too hard. Last year, they ranked tied for 123rd in FBS in points per game (34.9) and yards per game (438.8), and ranked 121st in the country in plays of 20-plus yards allowed (68), per On3.
24. Kansas Jayhawks
Another beneficiary of the Sooners and Longhorns' departure is Kansas, which may even deserve to be higher in our college football power rankings. When you realize what the Kansas football program has gone through in the past, lying in the doldrums, credit must be given to head coach Lance Leipold.
Before Leipold arrived in 2021, this was a program that hadn’t produced a winning season in 15 years and won no more than five games in any of those seasons. Yeah, you read that right. So, the fact that Kansas is even being considered for any top 25 ranking now is beyond remarkable.
If the Jayhawks hope to succeed and contend for a Big 12 title this year, it will come through Jalon Daniels and him staying healthy. If that happens, the skill position players around him make Kansas a real threat in the Big 12.
25. Iowa Hawkeyes
The Hawkeyes deserve to be on the list simply for how impressive their defense was last year and likely will be again this season. But boy, oh boy, is that offense going to need to show improvement. Last year, Iowa was more than offensively challenged. They were the worst in the Big Ten in yards per game (235.4), yards per play (3.95), and first downs per game (12.80). Now they just have to hope that a healthy Cade McNamara can come in and make up for that this season. Surely he’s better than the total QBR the team sported last year (19.4).
