CFW Farewell – A season full of memories
‘I’ll take with me the memories
to be my sunshine after the rain’
“It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday”
When the final AP Poll was released last Tuesday afternoon, to no one’s surprise, Ohio State was the No. 1 team in the country.
When the preseason AP Poll was released back in August, Georgia was the No. 1 team in the country.
That preseason poll prompted USA Today sportswriter Chandler Hoefle to write, “Why is Georgia football ranked No. 1 and not Ohio State? Because of Carson Beck.” How right Hoefle was. Without Beck, Georgia was not a No. 1 team. Notre Dame proved that in the CFP quarterfinals.
That same preseason poll prompted ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum to say, “I don’t think it takes any imagination to say that Ohio State should be the preseason No. 1.”
Obviously, there was a lot of respect for Ohio State at preseason. But what Ohio State couldn’t claim at preseason, the Buckeyes firmly established at the end of the season – Ohio State was No. 1.
A few weeks into the season, Texas replaced Georgia at the No. 1 spot, followed by Oregon replacing Texas. Oregon remained in the No. 1 spot until the College Football Playoff was over. In the playoff, Ohio State beat both Oregon and Texas. Then the Buckeyes capped it off, beating Notre Dame, 34-23, in the title game.
So, Ohio State, who many thought should be No. 1 at preseason, became No. 1 at the end of the season. Sometimes, you have to go around Robin Hood’s barn to get there.
The full AP Top 10 at preseason consisted of 1. Georgia, 2. Ohio State, 3. Oregon, 4. Texas, 5. Alabama, 6. Ole Miss, 7. Notre Dame, 8. Penn State, 9. Michigan and 10. Florida State. Only six of those teams were in the Top 10 at the end of the season. Two teams (Michigan and Florida State) were no shows. Two more (Alabama and Ole Miss) were close but no bananas.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane and review how the 2024 season played out.
In what has become known in college football as “Week 0,” we got our first shock of the season. That shock came from Dublin, Ireland, where Georgia Tech met Florida State in the season’s opener. The Seminoles were heavily favored. But upstart Georgia Tech kicked a 44-yard field goal as the game ended to upset Florida State 24-21. It was the first loss of what would become a 10-loss season for Florida State.
After the FSU loss, ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum said, “The best part about this season is maybe FSU fans will quit talking about last season.”
On the same day, playing in Reno, Nevada, SMU narrowly avoided what would have been the other upset of the day. Trailing Nevada, 24-23, in the closing minutes of the game, SMU scored a touchdown with 1:18 remaining on the clock to beat the Wolf Pack, 29-24. It was the first win of what would become an 11-win season for SMU.
So much for Week 0. The following week – Labor Day Weekend – was the week everyone was waiting for. But for the most part, the games of Week 1 were boring, frustrating and lacking in excitement. Georgia, Notre Dame and Miami (Florida) all won their games over Clemson, Texas A&M and Florida respectively.
Before Florida’s embarrassing loss to Miami (41-17), former Gators’ coach Steve Spurrier predicted Florida would win between 8 and 10 games in 2024. As it turned out, the “Head Ball Coach” was right. After Florida’s embarrassing loss to Miami, college football blogger and analyst Barrett Sallee predicted the Gators would only win 1 or 2 games in 2024. As it turned out, Sallee was way off the mark.
The most exciting game of Week 1 was USC’s 27-20 win over LSU. The biggest shock of Week1 was Vanderbilt’s 34-27 (OT) win over Virginia Tech. And by the way, Florida State (0-2) lost again. This time to Boston College. USA Today sportswriter Matt Hayes wrote, “FSU has become FIU.”
During Week 2’s action, the SEC got its groove back, for the most part, while Notre Dame’s groove was missing in action. In the shocker of Week 2, Northern Illinois surprised Notre Dame, 16-14. It would turn out to be Notre Dame’s only loss during the regular season.
In the Game of the Week, Texas stunned Michigan, 31-12. Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers established himself as an early frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy. The most exciting game in Week 2 was Oregon’s 37-34 win over Boise State.
“How do you say goodbye to what we had?
The good times that made us laugh, outweigh the bad”
The drama of Week 3 took place in the two Columbias. In one Columbia, Missouri held on to down Boston College, 27-21. In the other Columbia, South Carolina jumped out to a 17-0 lead over LSU. The Gamecocks maintained a lead over LSU until the 1:12 mark in the fourth quarter. That’s when LSU, trailing South Carolina 33-29, scored, went ahead, and held on to beat the Gamecocks, 36-33.
There was also drama in Lexington, Kentucky in Week 3. Georgia and Carson Beck struggled. In the end, the Dawgs edged Kentucky, 13-12. Meanwhile in Orlando, UCF trailed TCU 28-7 in the third quarter. The Knights rallied to beat the Horned Frogs, 35-34.
After Florida lost to Texas A&M, 33-20, everyone thought Billy Napier was going to get fired. He wasn’t.
In Austin, Longhorns’ quarterback Quinn Ewers was replaced by Arch Manning, after Ewers suffered a game-ending arm injury in the second quarter. Texas beat UTSA, 56-7.
In Week 4, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel had a happy homecoming. In Norman, Oklahoma, where Heupel played his college football, undefeated Tennessee defeated undefeated Oklahoma, 25-15. Meanwhile USC coach Lincoln Riley proved he can’t win for losing. In Ann Arbor, USC lost to Michigan, 27-24. The Wolverines scored a touchdown with 0:37 remaining in the game to beat the Trojans, 27-24.
The stunner in Week 4 took place in Chapel Hill. And it was a stunner. James Madison shocked North Carolina, 70-50 – in football, not basketball. The two quarterbacks passed for a combined total of 860 yards. The two teams combined for 1,227 total yards. The Tar Heels’ loss to James Madison was the beginning of the end for Mack Brown. Brown would be fired at season’s end.
The most exciting game of Week 4 took place in Boulder. Colorado trailed Baylor, 31-24, in the closing seconds of the game. The Buffaloes scored a touchdown as time expired on a Hail Mary pass from Shedeur Sanders to LaJohntay Wester. Colorado beat Baylor in overtime, 38-31 (OT).
Perhaps the season’s wildest, craziest and most exciting and unbelievable game took place in Week 5. It was a tale of two halves between Alabama and Georgia. Alabama won the first half, 30-7. Georgia rallied in the second half, outscoring Alabama, 27-3. With 2:31 remaining in the game, Georgia led Alabama, 34-33. But, just 13 seconds later, thanks to a 75-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Milroe to Ryan Williams, Alabama went back on top, 41-34. The excitement wasn’t over. Georgia was driving again. However, in the waning seconds, Alabama defensive back Zabien Brown intercepted a Carson Beck pass in the end zone. The Crimson Tide won, 41-34.
Penn State, Notre Dame and Indiana all won over Illinois, Louisville and Maryland respectively. Indiana was 5-0.
“I thought we’d get to see forever
But forever’s gone away
It’s hard to say goodbye to yesterday”
In Week 6, we learned that Vandy isn’t candy anymore. And did we ever. Vanderbilt handed Alabama its first loss of the season. The Commodores beat the Tide for the first time in 40 years. Vanderbilt stunned Alabama, 40-35. In another SEC upset, Arkansas knocked off Tennessee, 19-14. Trailing to the Vols, 14-13, Arkansas scored its winning touchdown with 1:17 remaining in the game. It was Tennessee’s first loss of the season.
In the week’s two most exciting games, Miami (Florida) beat California, 39-38, and Syracuse beat UNLV, 44-41 (OT). Trailing Cal, 38-18 in the fourth quarter, Miami scored three touchdowns in the final 10 minutes of the game. Meanwhile, Syracuse scored a touchdown with 0:23 remaining to tie UNLV, 38-38. This after UNLV had just scored 2 minutes earlier to go up 38-31. Ultimately, Syracuse won in overtime, 44-41 (OT). Miami remained undefeated, while UNLV suffered its first loss.
Texas A&M, Ohio State and Ole Miss all won over Missouri, Iowa and South Carolina respectively.
Swamp Mama and I spent most of Week 6 in Mystic, Connecticut. We had fun with my U. S. Navy buddies and their wives at our annual gathering. We’ve been rendezvousing annually since 2015 at various locations around the country. The guys worked together in Edzell, Scotland, in 1972-73.
Week 7 was four overtimes and a funeral. The overtimes occurred in Los Angeles, Champaign, Knoxville and Baton Rouge.
USC missed its field goal, while Penn State made its field goal. Penn State beat USC, 33-30 (OT). In overtime, Purdue went for two and failed. Illinois beat the Boilers, 50-49 (OT). It was a wild finish. Between them, Illinois and Purdue scored 56 points in the final 22 minutes of regulation. Florida tied Tennessee, 17-17, with 0:29 remaining on the clock. Tennessee beat the Gatos in overtime, 23-17 (OT). Trailing Ole Miss, 23-16, LSU scored with 0:27 remaining to tie the Magnolias, 23-23. LSU beat Ole Miss, 29-26 (OT).
The funeral service took place in Eugene, Oregon. Oregon buried Ohio State, 32-31. In a back-and-forth game, the lead changed hands no less than eight times. There was almost another funeral in Tuscaloosa. But Alabama held on to edge South Carolina, 27-25.
Texas and Kansas State both won, beating Oklahoma and Colorado respectively.
Georgia and Tennessee won the two big games of Week 8. Georgia beat Texas, 30-15. Neither Carson Beck nor Quinn Ewers played well. Georgia won in spite of Beck throwing three interceptions. In a game plagued by penalties (26) and turnovers (5), Tennessee beat Alabama, 24-17. The star of the game was Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson who rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns.
Indiana stunned everyone, putting 56 points on the board against Nebraska. The Hoosiers beat the Huskers, 56-7. Indiana was 7-0.
Miami (Florida), LSU and Illinois all won, beating Louisville, Arkansas and Michigan respectively.
The Joke of the Week in Week 8: “Florida State is suing the College Football Playoff for expansion to 128 teams.”
“I don’t know where this road is going to lead
All I know is where we’ve been
And what we’ve been through”
Going into Week 9, LSU was one of two SEC teams undefeated in conference play. Not anymore. Texas A&M beat LSU, 38-23. Now, Texas A&M was the only SEC team undefeated in conference play.
Going into Week 9, Navy was undefeated. Not anymore. Notre Dame crushed Navy, 51-14.
SMU survived Duke. The Mustangs beat the Dookies, 28-27 (OT). The score was 21-21 at the end of regulation. In OT, Duke went for two and came up short. Texas had a close call with Vanderbilt. The Longhorns beat the Commodores, 27-24.
Oregon, Penn State and Alabama all won, beating Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri respectively.
Penn State, Iowa State and Pitt fell from the undefeated ranks in Week 10. Penn State lost to Ohio State, 20-13, as James Franklin lost to the Buckeyes for the eighth-straight year. Iowa State lost to Texas Tech, 23-22. Tech scored a touchdown with 0:20 remaining in the game. Pitt fell to SMU, 48-25.
Texas A&M and Clemson suffered their first losses in conference play. Texas A&M was rocked by South Carolina, 44-20. Louisville took care of Clemson, 33-21.
Miami (Florida), Ole Miss and Indiana cruised in Week 10. Miami dumped Duke, 53-31. Cam Ward passed for 400 yards. Ole Miss tarnished Arkansas, 63-31. Jaxson Dart passed for 515 yards. Indiana tanked Michigan State, 47-10. Kurtis Rourke threw four touchdown passes. Indiana was 9-0. Unheard of.
The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party took place in Week 10. Georgia rallied with two touchdowns in the final four minutes to beat Florida, 34-20.
Oregon and UCLA both won, beating Michigan and Nebraska respectively.
Meanwhile, after Florida State fell to 1-8, Noles coach Mike Norvell said, “We will have this program back to where it’s supposed to be in a very short time.”
In Week 11, Carson Beck was a wreck, while Garrett Nussmeier was a nightmare. Georgia lost to Ole Miss, 28-10, as Beck stumbled, fumbled and bumbled. Georgia had three turnovers. Beck was responsible for all three. LSU fell to Alabama, 42-13, as Nussmeier was responsible for all three of LSU’s turnovers.
Cam Ward passed for 348 yards and three touchdowns, but Miami lost to Georgia Tech, 28-23.
Colorado, Indiana and Missouri all won, beating Texas Tech, Michigan and Oklahoma respectively. Indiana was 10-0.
“And if we get to see tomorrow
I hope it’s worth all the wait
It’s hard to say goodbye to yesterday”
Week 12 saw BYU and Tennessee lose, while Oregon and Texas got a scare. Kansas handed BYU its first loss of the season. The Jayhawks beat the Cougars, 17-13. Georgia dealt Tennessee its second loss. The Dawgs beat the Vols, 31-17. Carson Beck bounced back, passing for 347 yards and two touchdowns.
In Madison, Oregon trailed Wisconsin, 13-6, in the fourth quarter. The Ducks rallied, beating the Badgers, 16-13. Texas couldn’t shake Arkansas, but the Longhorns hung on to beat the Hogs, 20-10. Quinn Ewers didn’t look good. CBS Sports columnist Will Backus wrote, “Quinn Ewers has become a problem for Texas.”
Arizona State, Clemson and South Carolina all won, beating Kansas State, Pitt and Missouri respectively.
It was blowouts, upsets and “Are you kidding me?” in Week 13.
Let’s get to the “Are you kidding me,” first – Oklahoma beat Alabama. The Sooners not only beat Alabama, they beat the Tide, 24-3. Alabama kicked a field goal in the first quarter and never scored again for the remainder of the game. But Oklahoma did. Alabama suffered its third loss.
In the highly anticipated game in the Big Ten, Ohio State blew out Indiana, 38-15. Indiana had less than 100 yards rushing and less than 100 yards passing. The Hoosiers were no longer an undefeated team. Neither was Army. The Cadets fell to Notre Dame. The Irish crushed Army, 49-15.
Arizona State downed BYU, 28-23. The country was getting to know ASU running back Cam Skattebo. He rushed for 147 yards. Penn State got a serious scare from Minnesota. The Nittany Lions got by the Gophers, 26-25.
Billy Napier was becoming more and more popular in Gainesville. And rightfully so. Florida upset Ole Miss, 24-17.
There was another “Are you kidding me?” in Week 13. Illinois, trailing Rutgers 31-30, scored a touchdown and a safety in the final 4 seconds of the game to beat Rutgers, 38-31.
Louisville, Nebraska and Duke all won, beating Pitt, Wisconsin and Virginia Tech respectively.
Week 14 was family, friends, food, fun and football. After all, that’s what Thanksgiving is.
Thanksgiving Week was full of excitement and surprises – an eight-overtime game, upsets, brawls and a surprising announcement from a well-known coach.
Georgia Tech surprisingly took Georgia to eight overtimes before the Yellow Jackets finally fell to the Dawgs, 44-42. Nebraska lost to Iowa in an all too familiar way. A costly turnover followed by a field goal late in the game gave Iowa a 13-10 win over Nebraska.
Then there were the shock waves out of Columbus, Ohio. Michigan, playing outstanding defense, stunned Ohio State, 13-10. The loss knocked Ohio State out of the Big Ten championship game but not out of the College Football Playoff. A brawl broke out on the field after the game. Police used pepper spray to help break it up.
Trailing Clemson 14-7, South Carolina scored 10 points in the final 7 minutes of the game to upset the Tigers, 17-14. In a wild game in Syracuse, it was misery for Miami (Florida). Syracuse upset the Canes, 42-38.
In a trio of intrastate games in Week 14, Texas beat Texas A&M, 17-7, Florida downed Florida State, 31-11 and Indiana clobbered Purdue, 66-0. A minor brawl broke out on the field following the Florida-Florida State game.
Other brawls occurred during or after the Auburn-Alabama, Missouri-Arkansas, Arizona-Arizona State, South Carolina-Clemson and North Carolina-NC State games, among others. It must have been the leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner.
Iowa State and Oregon both won, beating Kansas State and Washington respectively.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of Thanksgiving Weekend came out of Orlando. UCF head coach Gus Malzahn announced he was resigning from his job at UCF to become Mike Norvell’s offensive coordinator at Florida State.
The next day, West Virginia announced that head coach Neal Brown had been fired. I broke open a bottle of wine.
And I’ll take with me the memories
To be my sunshine after the rain
It’s hard to say goodbye to yesterday”
The conference championship games and the announcement of the 12 teams selected for the College Football Playoff dominated Week 15 – a week that was Beckless in Atlanta, saw glee in Dallas and anger in Alabama. Plus, there was Frost in Orlando.
Georgia beat Texas, 22-16, in the SEC championship game without the play of Carson Beck in the second half. On the last play of the first half, Beck went down with an arm injury. Clemson kicked a 56-yard field goal as time expired to beat SMU, 34-31, to win the ACC title game. Cam Skattebo was the star of the Big 12 title game. He rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns, as Arizona State downed Iowa State, 45-19. The other conference championship games played out as expected.
In spite of its loss to Clemson, SMU still made the College Football Playoff. That news brought glee to Dallas and anger from Alabama fans. The Tide didn’t make the playoff.
For the second-straight weekend, a big surprise came out of Orlando. UCF announced that former Knights’ coach Scott Frost would replace Gus Malzahn as UCF’s new head coach.
Week 16 brought us the Army-Navy game, the Heisman Trophy presentation and the season’s first bowl game.
In the Army-Navy game Navy quarterback Blake Horvath was sensational, while Army quarterback Bryson Daily was a flop. Navy upset Army, 31-13. Horvath passed for 107 yards and two touchdowns. He rushed for 204 yards and two more touchdowns. Daily was 7-for-16, passing for only 65 yards and no touchdowns. He threw three interceptions. On the ground, Daily only rushed for 52 yards and no touchdowns. His longest run was 5 yards.
Colorado receiver and defensive back Travis Hunter won the Heisman Trophy. Hunter beat out Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty and Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the balloting.
South Alabama won the first bowl game of the 2024 season. The Jaguars beat Western Michigan, 30-23, in the Veterans Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama.
West Virginia pulled a UCF and hired a former Mountaineer coach to replace Neal Brown. Rich Rodriguez was named WVU’s new head coach.
The College Football Playoff began in Week 17 – March Madness in December. In the four first-round games, the Big Ten was the big winner. In spite of Indiana losing to Notre Dame, 27-17, Penn State topped SMU, 38-10, and Ohio State pummeled Tennessee, 42-17. Texas beat Clemson in the other game, 38-24.
Before the Notre Dame-Indiana game, Hoosiers’ coach Curt Cignetti boasted, “We don’t just beat Top 25 teams, we brat the shit out of them. On the College GameDay set, Nick Saban responded to Cignetti’s statement, “One thing you didn’t learn from me is talking all the shit you talk.” Cignetti was on Saban’s staff at Alabama from 2007 to 2010.
Florida beat Tulane, 33-8, in the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa. The Gators ended their season with a 4-game winning streak and an 8-5 record. The “Head Ball Coach” was right.
“How do you say goodbye to what we had?
The good times that made us laugh, outweigh the bad”
Three days in Week 18 – December 26-28 – brought us three of the wildest, craziest and dizziest days of college football. Sixteen bowl games compacted into three days. The games gave us a combination of madness and happiness. They were thrilling, exciting and nail biting. They were wacky and record breaking.
In the Sports Bowl in Detroit, it took six overtimes for Toledo to beat Pitt, 48-46. The six overtimes set a record for the most overtimes in an FBS postseason bowl or playoff game. The previous record – 5 overtimes – was just set two days earlier in the Hawaii Bowl.
Navy quarterback Blake Horvath went wild again. This time in the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas. Horvath had a 95-yard touchdown run in Navy’s 21-20 upset over Oklahoma. In all, Horvath rushed for 155 yards and two touchdowns. He also passed for 92 yards.
When did you ever hear of a bowl game being delayed by lightning in December? It happened in the Birmingham Bowl. After the 30-minute delay, Vanderbilt beat Georgia Tech, 35-27.
In the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord went wild passing for 453 yards and five touchdowns. The teams went wild too, racking up 1,068 total yards. Syracuse beat Washington State, 52-35.
The second half of the Las Vegas Bowl was enough to make you dizzy. USC, trailing Texas A&M, 24-7, scored three unanswered touchdowns to take a 28-24 lead late in the game. Then the Aggies went back up, 31-28. But it wasn’t over yet. USC scored a touchdown with 8 seconds remaining on the clock to beat Texas A&M, 35-31.
Happy Huskers – Nebraska won the Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium, beating Boston College, 20-15. Nebraska was playing in its first bowl game since 2016, and the Huskers won their first bowl game since 2015. Welcome back Herbie.
These days, many players opt out of bowl games to enter the transfer portal or the NFL draft. In the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando, Miami (Florida) quarterback Cam Ward played the first half but opted out of the second half. Iowa State beat Miami, 42-41.
East Carolina and NC State took the name of their bowl – the Military Bowl – seriously. A major brawl broke out near the end of the game. Eight players were ejected, and a referee got a bloodied face. I don’t know who won the battle, but East Carolina won the war, 26-21. The warfare resumes August 28 when the two teams open their seasons against each other.
That was a brief summary of the wacky three days of bowl games from December 26-28.
The College Football Playoff resumed in Week 19 with the quarterfinal games. And there were five more bowl games.
In the bowl games, we learned that the CFP selection committee got it right, Brady Cook likes bowl games and Shane Beamer has a short fuse and lacks a sense of humor. Alabama lost to Michigan 19-13 in the ReliaQuest Bowl, proving the Tide did not belong in the College Football Playoff.
In 2023, Missouri quarterback Brady Cook put on quite a show, leading his Tigers to a Cotton Bowl win over Ohio State. Cook did the same thing again in December, leading his Tigers to a Music City Bowl win over Iowa, 27-24. Cook not only likes bowl games, but he also likes beating Big Ten teams.
Unfortunately, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer couldn’t beat a Big Ten team. Illinois downed the Gamecocks in the Citrus Bowl, 21-17. Beamer couldn’t beat Illinois coach Bret Bielema either. Bielema got the best of Beamer, taunting, haunting and flaunting the South Carolina coach. Beamer couldn’t handle Bielema’s antics and threw a hissy fit on the field.
In the College Football Playoff quarterfinal games, the Rose Bowl was a dud. Ohio State slammed Oregon, 41-21. The Fiesta Bowl wasn’t much better. Penn State crushed Boise State, 31-14.
The Cotton Bowl, however, was exciting. Texas beat Arizona State, 39-31 (2OT). Arizona State may have lost the game, but Sun Devils running back Cam Skattebo was the star of the game. Skattebo rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns. He caught 8 passes for 99 yards. And he threw a 42-yard touchdown pass. The referees, however, were not the stars of the game. They screwed Arizona State when they reversed their decision on a targeting call – a targeting call that was targeting. Sounds like a little hanky-panky to me.
In the one-day delayed Sugar Bowl game, Notre Dame beat Georgia, 23-10.
The semifinal games of the College Football Playoff were played during Week 20. Both games were classics. The Notre Dame-Penn State game went back-and-forth, with the Irish winning, 27-24. Ohio State and Texas were tied 14-14 until 7 minutes to go in their game. That’s when the Buckeyes went up 21-14. In the closing minutes, Texas was on the Ohio State goal line. But Quinn Ewers fumbled and Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer returned the fumble for a touchdown with 2:13 to go in the game. The Buckeyes won, 28-14.
Meanwhile, former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck announced he will be transferring to Miami for the 2025 season.
“I thought we’d get to see forever
But forever’s gone away
It’s hard to say goodbye to yesterday”
Week 21 was a rest week while we were anticipating the national championship game. Colorado coach Deion Sanders and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones were warming up to each other. Paul Finebaum said that Quinn Ewers would make a good placeholder for point after attempts in the NFL.
And finally, in Week 22, Ohio State won the national championship. The Buckeyes beat Notre Dame, 34-23.
So again, the AP Top 10 at preseason consisted of 1. Georgia, 2. Ohio State, 3. Oregon, 4. Texas, 5. Alabama, 6. Ole Miss, 7. Notre Dame, 8. Penn State, 9. Michigan and 10. Florida State.
The AP Top 10 at the end of the season consisted of 1. Ohio State, 2. Notre Dame, 3. Oregon, 4. Texas, 5. Penn State, 6. Georgia, 7. Arizona State, 8. Boise State, 9. Tennessee and 10. Indiana.
Georgia fell from 1 to 6, Ohio State moved up from 2 to 1, Oregon and Texas remained the same at 3 and 4 respectively, Alabama fell from 5 to 17, Ole Miss fell from 6 to 11, Notre Dame moved up from 7 to 2, Penn State moved up from 8 to 5, Michigan fell from 9 to 29 and Florida State fell from 10 to who knows where. The Noles just disappeared. They fell off the face of the earth.
Of the 30 first-year coaches in 2024, Boise State’s Spencer Danielson had the best record at 12-2. Danielson was followed by Indiana’s Curt Cignetti at 11-2 and Syracuse’s Fran Brown at 10-3. The worst of the first-year coaches was Mississippi State’s Jeffy Lebby at 2-10.
Next season, 27 FBS schools will have new head coaches. Twenty-two at Group of Five schools and five at Power Four schools. The Power Four schools who will have new coaches in 2025 are North Carolina and Wake Forest in the ACC, UCF and West Virginia in the Big 12 and Purdue in the Big Ten.
Of the five Power Four schools with new coaches, the three most interesting and intriguing are former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick at North Carolina, former UCF and Nebraska coach Scott Frost back at UCF and former West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez back at West Virginia. Stay tuned!
This past season, 16 coaches were fired and four resigned/stepped down. Seven schools lost their coaches to higher profile schools.
Five of the top quarterbacks this past season were transfer portal quarterbacks – Dillon Gabriel (Oklahoma to Oregon), Cam Ward (Washington State to Miami), Will Howard (Kansas State to Ohio State), Kyle McCord (Ohio State to Syracuse) and Riley Leonard (Duke to Notre Dame). The two best quarterbacks who didn’t transfer were Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Ole Miss’s Jaxson Dart. But Sanders and Dart had transferred earlier in their college careers. None of those quarterbacks return for the 2025 season. Also not returning in 2025 is Army’s Bryson Daily. Daily set a record for the most rushing touchdowns in a season by a quarterback – 32. He also rushed for 1,659 yards.
Highly rated quarterbacks at preseason who you could say had a disappointing season were Georgia’s Carson Beck, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, USC’s Miller Moss and Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava. Beck and Moss took note of the success of the transfer quarterbacks above. Both will be back in 2025 but at different schools – Beck at Miami (Florida) and Moss at Louisville. Iamaleava is holding firm at Tennessee. Ewers and Milroe are off to the NFL.
Quarterback play will be exciting in the SEC next season. Look at this list of quarterbacks returning in 2025 – LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Florida’s D.J. Lagway, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, Texas’ Arch Manning, Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia, Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava, Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed and Arkansas’ Taylen Green.
Other good quarterbacks returning in 2025 are Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, Iowa State’s Rocco Becht, Penn State’s Drew Allar, Navy’s Blake Horvath, Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola, Illinois’ Luke Altmyer, Texas Tech’s Behren Morton, TCU’s Josh Hoover, Kansas State’s Avery Johnson, Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson, Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt and BYU’s Jake Retzlaff.
Running backs who lived up to their preseason hype in 2024 included Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton and Ohio State’s Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson.
Running backs who surfaced to have good seasons in 2024 were Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo and Penn State’s Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. All seven of the above running backs are off to the NFL.
The running back flop in 2024 – Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon.
“I thought we’d get to see forever
But forever’s gone away
It’s hard to say goodbye to yesterday”
Following a seven-month lull, the 2025 season will commence on Saturday, August 23, in Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland – Iowa State vs. Kansas State – Rocco Becht vs. Avery Johnson. It should be a good one.
College football’s traditional opening weekend – Labor Day Weekend – runs from Thursday, August 28 to Monday, September 1. It should be one of the best, if not the best, opening weekends in college football history. Look at this lineup of openers – LSU at Clemson, Notre Dame at Miami (Florida), Alabama at Florida State, Georgia Tech at Colorado (the two teams who shared the 1990 national championship), Syracuse vs. Tennessee in Atlanta, Virginia Tech vs. South Carolina in Atlanta, East Carolina at NC State (the brawl resumes) and Texas at Ohio State (could be No. 1 vs. No. 2). Then on Labor Day night, it is the debut of Bill Belichick coaching college football – TCU at North Carolina.
The excitement falls off in Week 2. The two best games are Baylor at SMU and Michigan at Oklahoma.
Week 3 picks back up with five good games – Texas A&M at Notre Dame, Wisconsin at Alabama, Pitt at West Virginia, Florida at LSU and Georgia at Tennessee.
The “Way-To-Early” polls for the 2025 season are already out – hot off the press. Here’s the consensus Top 4 teams for 2025: 1. Texas, 2. Ohio State, 3. Penn State, 4. Georgia. Stay tuned!
Just 208 days until August 23.
Next season’s national championship game will be played January 19, 2026, in Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The following season, the national title game will be played January 25, 2027, in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Hail and farewell. During the 2024 season, we lost several good friends – some related to football, some not. Each of them left us with good memories. We won’t forget basketball player Frank Selvy (91); actress Gena Rowlands (94); TV personality and game show host Peter Marshall (98); singer-songwriter Maurice Williams (86); television talk show host Phil Donohue (88), and singer and actor James Darren (88).
Also, Brazilian musician Sergio Mendes (83); actor James Earl Jones (93); singer, songwriter and actor J.D. Souther (78); singer, songwriter and author Billy Edd Wheeler (91); author Nelson DeMille (81); NFL running back Mercury Morris (77); British actress Maggie Smith (89); singer, songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson (88); MLB player and manager Pete Rose (83); MLB pitcher Luis Tiant (83), and actress, singer and dancer Mitzi Gaynor (93).
Also, MLB pitcher Fernando Valenzuela (63); singer and actor Jack Jones (86); Grateful Dead founding member Phil Lesh (84); music icon Quincy Jones (91); USC and Los Angeles Rams football coach John Robinson (89); Notre Dame football coach Gerry Faust (89); St. John’s basketball coach Lou Carnesecca (99); college football coach Dana Dimel (62); MLB outfielder Rocky Colavito (91), and singer-songwriter Michael Brewer (80).
Also, MLB left fielder Rickey Henderson (65); television sportscaster Greg Gumbel (78); 39th U.S. President Jimmy Carter (100); British actress Olivia Hussey (73); actress and singer Linda Lavin (87); singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer Peter Yarrow (86); singer Anita Bryant (84); soul singer Sam Moore (89); Colorado football coach Bill McCartney (84), and MLB catcher and sportscaster Bob Uecker (90).
“It’s hard for me to say goodbye to yesterday”
Touchdown Tom
January 27, 2025
https://collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
“It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye” is an R&B song written by Motown husband-and-wife songwriting team Freddie Perren and Christine Yarian for the 1975 film Cooley High. In the film, the song is performed by Motown artist G.C. Cameron, whose rendition peaked at No. 38 on the Billboard’s R&B singles chart in 1975. Sixteen years later, the contemporary R&B Motown group Boyz II Men recorded the song in an a cappella rendition. Released as a single in 1991, the Boyz II Men recording peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. The recording was included on Boyz II Men’s first album. The music video for the song featured footage of Jim Henson, Sammy Davis Jr. and Gilda Radner who had died recently.
(The next CFW – 2025 Introduction – will be posted Monday morning, August 4.)
P.S.
Not exactly college football related, but in late-January, as college football fans were putting the lid on another great season and shifting their attention to college basketball, the number one song in the country…
…80 years ago, this week in 1945, was “Don’t Fence Me In” by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters
…75 years ago, this week in 1950, was “Rag Mop” by The Ames Brothers
…70 years ago, this week in 1955, was “Let Me Go Lover” by Joan Weber, and “Hearts Of Stone” by The Fontaine Sisters with Billy Vaughn’s Orchestra
…65 years ago, this week in 1960, was “Running Bear” by Johnny Preston, and “Teen Angel” by Mark Dinning
…60 years ago, this week in 1965, was “Downtown” by Petula Clark, and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” by The Righteous Brothers
…55 years ago, this week in 1970, was “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” by B.J. Thomas, and “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5”
…50 years ago, this week in 1975, was “Please Mr. Postman” by The Carpenters, and “Laughter In The Rain” by Neil Sedaka
…45 years ago, this week in 1980, was “Rock With You” by Michael Jackson, and “Do That To Me One More Time” by Captain and Tennille
…40 years ago, this week in 1985, was “I Want To Know What Love Is” by Foreigner
…35 years ago, this week in 1990, was “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You” by Michael Bolton
