16 teams, great deals of questions

• Bill Connelly, ESPN Staff WriterJul 24, 2024, 06:27 AM ET Close Bill Connelly is a staff writer for ESPN.com.Welcome to the 2024

college football season, where the playoff is bigger, the (staying )power conferences are, too, Nick Saban is working for ESPN and practically everybody requires new receivers (and maybe protective backs and defensive linemen, too). After a number of

years of impressive modification off the field, we’ll see a few of the fruits of that change on the field this fall, however the early list of national title favorites looks terribly familiar. Georgia blazes a trail, according to both the metrics and ESPN BET, with Ohio State, Oregon, and last year’s semifinalists– Texas and Alabama– among the Dawgs’ primary rivals. What stands in the method of these groups and the ultimate reward? What questions will they require to respond to between now and January?According to SportsOddsHistory.com, no national champ over the previous 23 seasons has begun the season with title chances worse than +5000. Could the College Football Playoff’s growth to 12 groups alter that pattern? Possibly. However while upsets might bust brackets, the very best groups are still the most likely to win three to four games and take the title. So let’s stick with the +5000 barrier: Here are the 16 teams that meet those requirements per ESPN BET. They are arranged by the number of” ifs”that need to break their way to make them champs.( As always, we’re not going to fret about barriers like injuries to stars, which could strike any group at any time. Those concerns are obvious and universal.)Dive to an’ if’tier:2|3|4|5