Welcome to a new era of college football.
The 2024-25 college football will be unlike any in the 155-year history of the sport. Sweeping changes to the power structure of conferences brought on by realignment will take effect this season, and you'll need an answer key (which we will provide).
The College Football Playoff will expand from four to 12 teams – and with that a new postseason will run through Jan. 20. Multiple blue-blood programs will change conferences. There are rule changes that will impact the field, and coaching changes from top to bottom will give the sport a fresh, new look for the future.
What do you need to know for this season? Here is a look at the changes in college football heading into 2024.
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How many teams switched conferences?
There are 134 teams in the FBS season with the addition of Kennesaw State, and those teams are scattered across their new conferences. Here is a complete guide as to how that looks. A quick reference for the 2024 season:
Power 4
| CONFERENCE | TEAMS | WHO'S IN? | WHO'S OUT? |
| ACC | 17 | Cal, Stanford, SMU | |
| Big Ten | 18 | Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington | |
| Big 12 | 16 | Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah | Oklahoma, Texas |
| SEC | 16 | Oklahoma, Texas |
Notice the Pac-12 is gone. Well, mostly. Oregon State and Washington State will still represent the two-team conference in 2024. The rest of the Power 4 – in some cases, called Core 4 – consists of 67 schools with some blue-blood programs on the move.
Oklahoma and Texas are now in the SEC. Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington joined the Big Ten. The Big 12 added four schools with Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah, and the ACC added Cal, Stanford and SMU – which had previously played in the Group of 5.
Notre Dame, UConn and UMass are the three remaining independent schools, though the Minutemen will join in the MAC in 2025.
Group of 5
| CONFERENCE | TEAMS | WHO'S IN? | WHO'S OUT? |
| American | 14 | Army | SMU |
| Conference USA | 10 | Kennesaw State |
The Sun Belt will have 14 teams, and the Mid-American Conference and Mountain West Conference have 12 teams each – which keeps the number of Group of 5 schools at 62 heading into the 2024-25 college football season.
Why are there no divisions in the Power 4?
The Big 12 and ACC did not have divisions in 2023. The Big Ten and SEC are following suit in 2024.
The SEC has had an East and West division since 1992. Now, the two best teams in the conference will play at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Dec. 7. While the two teams likely will get in the CFP anyway, a first-round bye is the prize now. Only six SEC schools – Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Florida and Missouri – played in the SEC championship game the last 10 years.
The Big Ten – which had Legends and Leaders before the East and West divisions – will not have divisions. The East champion was 10-0 against the West champion since 2015. Perhaps we will get a close game now – perhaps an Ohio State-Michigan rematch.
The downside? How will tie-breakers factor into three- and perhaps four-way regular-season ties at the end of the season with unbalanced conference schedules. Will the Big 12 or ACC championship game do more harm than good if there is an upset? There will be more playoff implications without divisions, but there undoubtedly will be more confusion.
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How will the 12-team College Football work?
The 12-team College Football Playoff, led by new executive director Richard Clark, will have several new tweaks – beginning with the qualification criteria.
The CFP is a 5/7 model. The five highest conference champions will receive automatic bids, which presumably means the Power 4 conference champions and one Group of 5 champion will get an automatic bid. Oregon State and Washington State can only receive an at-large bid.
The top four conference champions will receive a first-round bye, and the fifth champion and seven at-large bids will play the first round of playoff games on campus. The home team will be the higher-ranked seed.
From there, the quarterfinals, semifinals and CFP championship game – which is at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan. 20 — will be at the traditional New Year's Day Six bowl sites. Sporting News has full bowl projections and CFP picks, but it's anybody's guess how this first season will work.
2024-25 College Football Playoff schedule
| DATE | PLAYOFF GAME |
| Dec. 20 | First-Round CFP game |
| Dec. 21 | First-Round CFP game |
| Dec. 21 | First-Round CFP game |
| Dec. 21 | First-Round CFP game |
| Dec. 31 | Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (quarterfinal) |
| Jan. 1 | Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl (quarterfinal) |
| Jan. 1 | Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential (quarterfinal) |
| Jan. 1 | Allstate Sugar Bowl (quarterfinal) |
| Jan. 9 | Capital One Orange Bowl (semifinal) |
| Jan. 10 | Cotton Bowl Classic (semifinal) |
| Jan. 20 | CFP National championship |
Does college football have a two-minute warning now?
Yes. Last year, college football changed its clock rules so time would continue to run after a first down outside of the final two minutes of each half.
Now, the clock will stop with two minutes left in the second and fourth quarters. This will make it more difficult to run out time during the first and second half, but it also will be a way of preventing more commercial breaks after kickoffs during games.
Is helmet communication allowed in college football?
Yes. College football teams experimented with the technology during bowl season, and, perhaps in response to the Michigan sign-stealing scandal in 2023, there were changes made this season.
One player on the field for each team will be allowed to use helmet communication during games this season, and the system will shut off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock.
Sideline tablets also will be allowed this season – another wrinkle that will bring the college game closer to the NFL model.
How many new coaches are in college football?
There are 33 new coaches in the FBS this season – and that number increases to 34 if you include Kennesaw State's Brian Bohannon.
The most-notable change? Alabama coach Nick Saban – who won six of his seven national championships – retired and joined the cast of ESPN's "College GameDay". Saban was replaced by Kalen DeBoer, who led Washington to the CFP championship game last season. Speaking of national champions, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL after leading the Wolverines to a 15-0 record in 2023, and he was replaced by Sherrone Moore.
Only three active coaches – Georgia's Kirby Smart, Clemson's Dabo Swinney and North Carolina's Mack Brown (with Texas in 2005) – have won a national championship.
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Anything else new in college football?
- You're still playing EA Sports College Football 25, right?
- The transfer portal and NIL collectives will continue to evolve, and the topic of revenue isn't going away.
- Jelly Roll's "Get By" is going to burn in your brain on college football Saturdays.
- Sporting News has rankings, All-Americans and everything else you need to get prepared for the 2024-25 season.
