From brand-new competitions to midweek matches: Connelly’s guide to enjoying

Bill Connelly, ESPN Staff WriterAug 23, 2024, 08:15 AM ET Close Costs Connelly is a staff author for ESPN.com.Forty years back, the floodgates formally opened. In June 1984, the Supreme Court ruled in NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma that the NCAA could not control all college football television contracts and limit its exposure. All of a sudden, ESPN, TBS, WGN, Raycom and others were racing to air as much football as they possibly could. And what a season for this all to start.On ESPN alone, audiences watched an apparently rebuilding BYU group upset No. 3 Pitt 20-14 with a late 50-yard touchdown pass from Robbie Bosco to Adam Haysbert in Week 1. A number of weeks later on, they saw No. 4 Texas remove Bo Jackson and preseason No. 1 Auburn. Then Doug Flutie tossed for 354 yards and 6 touchdowns in a Boston College blowout of North Carolina. Both Miami and South Carolina removed a fading Notre Dame. Navy came within a last-minute John Carney basket of doing the exact same. Vanderbilt nearly removed a 28-point deficit at No. 12 LSU however fell just brief. Iowa State nearly upset No. 2 Oklahoma. West Virginia beat Penn State for the very first time in 25 years, brimming with a field storm and the downing of goal posts.And that was just on ESPN! On other networks, audiences saw Flutie’s Hail Mary wonder over Miami, Maryland’s record-setting 31-point return against Miami, a stunning Syracuse upset of No. 1 Nebraska, No. 20 Georgia’s 26-23 upset of No. 2 Clemson and a controversial 15-15 tie in between No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Oklahoma. And in the postseason, unbeaten and unanticipated No. 1 BYU made it through 6 turnovers to knock off Michigan in the Vacation Bowl on ESPN, which, integrated with No. 4 Washington’s upset of No. 2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on NBC– thanks in part to a penalty on OU’s Sooner Schooner!– earned the Cougars perhaps the most unexpected national title the sport has produced.How were we not going to be hooked at the end of that season?Forty years after this remarkable nonsense, the college football landscape looks just a wee bit different. The year-end top 10 in 1984 featured 3 teams from the Pac-10( Washington, USC and UCLA), 3 from the Big 8 (Nebraska, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State), one from the Southwest Conference

(SMU), one from the WAC( BYU), one non-Notre Dame independent(Boston College) and just one group from either the SEC or Big 10( Florida, which was prohibited from the postseason). In 2024, we’ve got a genuine, 12-team playoff atop the sport. BYU would have needed to win 3 postseason games to secure the title (and it sufficed to do simply that ). Meanwhile, the Huge 8, SWC and Pac-10 no longer exist. The WAC dropped football and only just recently attempted to bring it back. Washington, USC, UCLA and Nebraska are all in

the Big Ten, Oklahoma remains in the SEC, Boston College and SMU are in the ACC, and the SEC and Big 10 feature 9 of the top-11 teams in the preseason AP poll.The balance of power(and the majority of the cash)has actually coalesced drastically, but college football is forever too huge and too unpleasant to consist of. We probably can not summon the mayhem of the remarkable 1984 season, however we’re always going to have fun. That’s especially real if we know where to look. Here’s a road map to coaxing the most pleasure out of this historical season.Watch the huge games(duh)Often you have to search for the fun, other times it’s staring you in the face. The phenomenon of a big game is among college football’s finest draws, and we have actually got a lot of them in 2024. Based upon preseason projections, here are three games from each week that feature (A) the greatest combined predicted SP+ratings from the two groups and(B

)a forecasted scoring margin(per SP+) under 10 points.(Games between two preseason AP top-15 groups are in bold.) Week 1: Notre Dame at Texas A&M, LSU vs. USC (Sunday), Miami at Florida. Week 1 is for finding out, and a few of the groups with the most intriguing concerns square off. We’ll find out about Notre Dame’s redesigned offensive line, Conner Weigman and the new A&M offense, remodeled defenses at LSU and USC, and which embattled coach is most likely to manage a 2024 surge, Miami’s Mario Cristobal or Florida’s Billy Napier.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Week 2: Texas at Michigan, Tennessee vs. NC State, Iowa State at Iowa. NC State gets an early spotlight opportunity, as does among the most underrated competitions in the country( Iowa-ISU). However Week 2 comes from Texas’ journey to the Big House.(Conference realignment has scrambled my brain to the point where I thought Texas-Michigan was a conference matchup on numerous occasions this offseason.

)Week 3: Texas A&M at Florida, Arizona at Kansas State, UCF at TCU. The Big 12 did a truly smart thing in scheduling numerous interesting matches in the back half of September, when the nationwide schedule isn’t rather as strong. On the other hand, A&M-Florida will either put us on Napier Fired watch or Florida Is Back watch.Week 5: Georgia at Alabama, Oklahoma at Auburn, Florida State at SMU. Alabama and Georgia have actually played each other 6 times in the past 7 seasons however 4 of those games have been played in Atlanta (either the SEC or CFP championship), one was in Indianapolis(CFP )and one came in Tuscaloosa throughout the attendance-limited 2020 COVID season. This is the very first authentic home game in this series considering that 2015. Week 6: Missouri at Texas A&M, Clemson at Florida State, SMU at Louisville. Mizzou-A & M might have significant CFP at-large stakes, however Week 6 is the biggest of the season for the ACC, with the forecasted top-two conference groups squaring off, together with 2 of the most likely dark horse contenders.Week 7: Ohio State at Oregon, Ole Miss at LSU, Oklahoma vs. Texas. Good gracious. And this list does not even consist of Penn State at USC or Florida at Tennessee. This is about as huge a week as significant college football can offer.Week 8: Georgia at Texas, Alabama at Tennessee, Kentucky at Florida.

The SEC hogs the spotlight on the 3rd Saturday in October. It’s tough to know for sure what the stakes of games like Bama-Tennessee or Kentucky-Florida will be by that point, but it’s safe to presume that Georgia-Texas will be enormous.Week 9: Missouri at Alabama, Oklahoma at Ole Miss, LSU at Texas A&M. Another all-SEC affair. Mizzou gets its best possibility to score a marquee win, OU fans go to The Grove for the first time, and while I have no idea what LSU-A & M will have in-store from a stakes perspective, this is a pretty reliably fun affair.Week 10: Ohio State at Penn State, Oregon at Michigan, Kentucky at Tennessee. The Big 10 takes the batonas November begins. Its four preseason top-10 groups square off, with Penn State attempting to beat Ohio State for the first time in 8 years and Michigan and Oregon squaring off for the first time given that Oregon’s 39-7 Big House blowout in 2007. Week 11: Georgia at Ole Miss, Alabama at LSU, Florida State at Notre Dame. Week 7 is the very first of the season’s2 genuine fencepost weekends, with Week 11 as the second. We get these three games, all of which could have major CFP bid and/or seeding implications, and we also get Oklahoma’s very first journey to Missouri given that 2010, the first Florida-Texas game given that 1940 and, of course, the Holy War(BYU at Utah). Week 12: LSU at Florida, Nebraska at

USC, UCLA at Washington. After an outrageousfive-week run, we take the foot off of the accelerator a bit here and shift into more existential vibes. All of these games might provide more angst for the loser than pleasure for the winner.Week 13: Alabama at Oklahoma, Ole Miss at Florida, Texas A&M at Auburn. Another SEC trio, led by OU’s second-huge SEC home game of the

season. Meanwhile, Florida could be on an interim coach by this point or could completely damage Ole Miss’CFP hopes. Or possibly both! Hooray, mess!Week 14: Michigan at Ohio State, Texas at Texas A&M, Oklahoma at LSU. College football can change as much as it possibly desires, however Rivalry Week is still Rivalry Week.Immerse yourself in the biggest playoff race ever For those people who invested years demanding an authentic

playoff– not merely a four-teamer that provided us one extra game– we’re going to take pleasure in the hell out of the 12-teamer we’ve been given(before it ends up being a 14-teamer, or before Greg Sankey demands seven automated SEC bids, or whatever else is on the horizon ). We’re now providing three times the amount of CFP

teams a shot at the national title, and more than one-third of FBS begins the season with at least a glimmer of playoff hope. According to the Allstate Playoff Predictor, 47 groups go into 2024 with a minimum of a 5%opportunity of making the CFP, and 71, more than half, have at least a2%chance.Do all 71 of these groups have hopes of winning the nationwide title? Naturally not. But gain access to is remarkable. We must have been doing this the whole time! Hopefully we don’t lose this when the sport’s powers try more power grabs in the future.Bask in wild conference title races With 15 touchdowns and 14 interceptions last season, can Alan Bowman provide OSU a run at the league title? Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire The majority of conferences start the season with a quite clear hierarchy. SP+provides Georgia a 31 %chance of winning the SEC for example, with only six other conference groups having a 5%possibility. In the Big Ten, Ohio State’s at 30 %, and the top-four teams combine for a 90%chance.We have actually got a couple of really democratic races, however. The Huge 12, as wide-open a power conference as you’ll ever see, features just two teams with a greater than 12% possibility(

Kansas State and Utah), while 5 more are at 5%or higher(Oklahoma State, Arizona, Iowa State, Kansas, West Virginia, TCU)and 2 others nearly struck that mark(Texas Tech Red 4 %, UCF 3%). This race could enter any variety of different directions.Then you have actually got the Sun Belt

. James Madison has the second-lowest odds for any SP +conference title favorite (22%)and is dealing with training turnover that SP+isn’t designed to account for. 3 others, meanwhile, are between 11%and 19%( App State, Troy and Louisiana), and 5 are in between 4-6%. Will a nationwide title contender emerge from either of these two conferences? Most likely not. Will that matter as we’re enjoying a wild stretch run with loads of plot twists? Absolutely not.Celebrate the remaining competitions One of the more deleterious effects of conference adjustment is the loss of a few of the sport’s connective tissue,

of games that have been played 100 times(or close to it)but won’t be played much, if at all, progressing. We lost Chaos (Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State )to this most current round, along with Texas-Texas Tech, Texas-Baylor and plenty of former Pac-12 matchups like UCLA-Cal and USC-Stanford. Others, like the Apple Cup(Washington vs. Washington State)and Civil War(Oregon vs. Oregon State), were relocated to earlier in the season with lower stakes.Rivalry Week will permanently

be something to commemorate (even if it now features brand-new “rivalries”like Cal-SMU and Oklahoma-LSU), but we’ll have plenty to take-in before then. Here are a few of my favorites, including a couple that realignment or enjoyable nonconference scheduling brought back to us.Week 1: Clemson vs. Georgia, Miami at Florida, Penn State at

West Virginia Week 2: Iowa State at Iowa, Colorado at Nebraska, Pitt at Cincinnati(the Armon Binns Bowl )Week 3: Oregon at Oregon State, Washington State at Washington, Cincinnati at Miami (Ohio), Colorado at Colorado

State, Appalachian State at East Carolina Week 4: Iowa at Minnesota, TCU at SMU Week 5: Arkansas vs. Texas A&M, Georgia Southern at Georgia State, New Mexico at NMSU Week 6: Auburn at Georgia, Navy at Air Force Week 7: Ole Miss at LSU, Florida at Tennessee Week 8: Toledo at NIU( the Tommylee Lewis Bowl)Week 9: Florida State at Miami, Kansas at Kansas State, Michigan State at Michigan Week 10: Air Force at Army, TCU at Baylor Week 11: BYU at Utah, Florida State at Notre Dame, Oklahoma at Missouri Week 12: Texas at Arkansas(it’s back!) Week 13: Stanford at Cal, USC at UCLA, Boise State at Wyoming Boise State possibly having to win

in Laramie in late November to keep a CFP area? Count me all the method in on that one.Embrace the absurdity Coach Mike Norvell and FSU will host Cal in a conference matchup this season. Doug Murray/Icon Sportswire Look, nobody asked for USC-Rutgers as a conference competition, and the sport isn’t much better off for its presence. But

we welcome whatever weirdness we get in this sport, and to be sure, there are numerous odd new conference matches this year. May also immerse ourselves into them. Here’s a sample. Week 9 is going to be … a reward? Is that the ideal word?Week 3: Stanford at Syracuse( Friday),

Cal at Florida State Week 4: Northwestern at Washington, Stanford at Clemson Week 5: Washington at Rutgers Week 6: USC at Minnesota Week 7: Minnesota at UCLA, Cal at Pitt Week 8: Oregon at Purdue(Friday ), NC State at

Cal, South Carolina at Oklahoma Week 9: Rutgers at USC, Texas

at Vanderbilt, Wake Forest at Stanford, Illinois at Oregon, Washington at Indiana Week 10: Pitt at SMU Week 11: Boston College atSMU, Maryland at Oregon, Cal at Wake Forest (Friday)Week 12: Louisville

at Stanford, Syracuse at Cal Week 13: Kentucky at Texas

Oregon playing at Purdue in a night game– just ask Ohio State how those can go– is the supreme”Invite to the Huge 10″experience right there.Try not to get blown away on Lake Michigan Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Arena is the main name ofNorthwestern’s makeshift arena on the banks of Lake Michigan. It’s where it’ll play Miami (OH), Duke, Eastern Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin before transferring to Wrigley Field to play Ohio State in Week 12 and Illinois in Week 14. This is going to be very special, though I’m dissatisfied we missed out on an” Ohio State comes to Evanston No. 1 in the CFP rankings and has to make it through 40 miles per hour winds in a small arena”scenario. Football at Wrigley is constantly quite cool, though.Watch the midweek games Let

‘s be sincere: Saturdays are absolute fire tubes in some cases. It’s impossible tomaintain with everything you want to keep up with. However midweek

games can sometimes be true blessings in that regard. You can look at groups you have actually been wishing to see more of, and once November rolls around, you can

immerse yourself in glorious MACtion.Here’s one Tuesday-to-Friday game to pay particular attention to each week.(It was actually hard limiting myself to simply one for some. )The Friday slate is awfully strong this season.Week 1: North Dakota State

at Colorado(Thursday) Week 2: Duke at Northwestern( Friday)Week 3: Arizona at Kansas State(Friday

)Week 4: South Alabama at Appalachian State(Thursday

)Week 5: Virginia Tech at Miami(

Friday )Week 6: Texas State at Troy(Thursday )Week 7: Memphis at USF(Friday) Week 8: Oregon at Purdue(Friday )Week 9: Boise State at UNLV (Friday)Week

10: Louisiana Tech at Sam Houston (Tuesday)Week

11: Appalachian State at Coastal Carolina (Thursday)Week 12: CMU at Toledo(Tuesday )Week 13: NC State at Georgia Tech( Thursday )Week 14: Memphis at Tulane (Thursday)Enjoy as much smaller-school football as you can Keep your eyes on South Dakota State. Chris Leduc/Icon Sportswire It’s one of my yearly messages: The more small-school ball you enjoy, the healthier you end up being. In my Friday sneak peek columns throughout the season, I constantly attempt to determine a minimum of one smaller-school game to keep an eye on, but in addition to some super-interesting early-season matches for highly ranked FCS teams– No. 4 Montana State at New Mexico in Week 0, No. 1 South Dakota State at Oklahoma State and No. 2 North Dakota State at Colorado in Week 1, No. 5 South Dakota at Wisconsin in Week 2– here are 2 games per week that pit groups ranked especially high in the preseason surveys. These games will rock.

I needed to include three for Week 9. Week 1: No. 3 Ferris State at No. 6 Pittsburg State(D2), No. 3 Georgetown(Kentucky )at No. 21 Montana Tech (NAIA)Week 2: No. 3 Montana at No. 22 North Dakota(FCS), No. 19 John Carroll at No. 3 Wisconsin-Whitewater (D3)

Week 3: No. 11 College of Idaho at No. 4 Montana Western(NAIA ),

No. 1 North Central at No. 15 Aurora(D3

)Week 4: No. 6 Wisconsin-La Crosse (D3)

at No. 4 Grand Valley State (D2)

, No. 2 Cortland at No. 12 Susquehanna(D3)

Week 5: No. 12 West Florida at No. 4 Grand

Valley State (D2), No. 11 Southern Illinois at No. 5South Dakota (FCS) Week 6: No. 1 North Central at No. 9Wheaton( D3), No. 1 Keiser at No. 12 St. Thomas(NAIA)

Week 7: No. 4 Montana State at No. 7 Idaho (FCS)

, No. 2 North Dakota State at No. 11 Southern

Illinois (FCS)Week 8: No. 1 South Dakota State at No. 2 North Dakota State(FCS), No. 1 Harding at No. 19 Ouachita Baptist(D2 )Week 9: No. 5 South Dakota at No. 1 South Dakota State(FCS), No. 3 Ferris State at No. 4 Grand Valley State(D2), No. 8 Bethel (Tennessee )at No. 3 Georgetown(Kentucky)(NAIA)Week 10: No. 2 Central Missouri at No. 6 Pittsburg State (D2 ), No. 2 Northwestern(Iowa) at No. 10 Morningside (NAIA)Week 11: No. 10 Sacramento State at No. 4 Montana State (FCS ), No. 3 Wisconsin-Whitewater at No. 6 Wisconsin-La Crosse(D3)Week 12: No. 3 Montana at No. 4 Montana State (FCS ), No. 2 North Dakota State at No. 5 South Dakota( FCS )Even better, adopt a small-school group Want the complete smaller-school experience? Follow a team( preferably a good one )from start to complete. Here are 5 particularly choice alternatives.1. Montana Grizzlies. Truthfully, you can’t fail with practically anybody in the Big Sky. Montana State has a devastating run game, among the very best protective players in the FCS( defensive end Brody Grebe)and a remarkable area. Idaho has among my preferred head coaches(Jason Eck)and a potential breakout QB(Jack Layne) and plays in the marvelous Kibbie Dome. Sacramento State has a mighty offensiveline and 29 wins in 3 years. Eastern Washington uses a blood red field and boasts yet another respected quarterback(Kekoa Visperas). Portland State hasn’t been fantastic of late but once fielded one of the most enjoyable and prominent teams of all time

. And I’m using an entirely wonderful Idaho State “Throwin ‘Idahoans “shirt from Homefield Garments

as I compose this.Hell, possibly just adopt the Big Sky as a whole. You can’t go wrong. However if you’re just picking one group, choose the one that made the FCS title game in 2015 and returns the guy who did this: play 0:50 Junior Bergen returns the punt 47 backyards for a TD vs. NorthDakota Junior Bergen makes a spectacular play as he weaves around the defense to return the 47-yard punt for a goal. (That was his 3rd return rating in two championship game. He would

go on toboth catch a goal pass and toss the game-winning 2-point conversion in overtime. It was one of the greatest playoff runs you’ll ever see.) 2. Central Missouri Mules. You like points, right? You like the forward pass? And terrific mascots? The Mules inspect all

packages. Quarterback Zach Zebrowski returns after throwing for a Joe Burrow-ian 5,157 yards and 61 goals and winning the Harlon Hill Award(a.k.a. the D2 Heisman

). They lost to Harding, the eventual D2 national champions, by simply one point in the playoffs, too.3. SW Oklahoma State Bulldogs. Hey, sue me, the Bulldogs

are my home town team, and they require all the assistance they can get. Their next win will be their very first because November 2022.4. Wheaton. The Thunder are great, their arena is right next to an active train track, their games had scores of 49-41, 41-34, 42-26, 36-35, 75-0, 52-6, 50-13, 61-6, 54-35, 41-34, 47-16 and 30-21 last season, and their whole offense includes giving the ball to Giovanni Weeks until he falls over. He gained at least 140 backyards from scrimmage in 11 of 12 games last season, and he’s back to both dispense and get more punishment.5. College of Idaho. I understand there is most likely some recurring Huge Sky love working in their favor, however the Yotes reached the NAIA semifinals by scoring loads of points and throwing for loads of yards, and they return enough of last year’s group to rank third in the preseason polls this year.

You will not regret pulling up a choppy live feed of a game in Simplot Stadium this fall.