Every year, a few college football teams seem to rise out of nowhere and become conference championship contenders just a year removed from being towards the bottom of the league. Last year, those teams were Arizona and West Virginia. Both of these teams came from nowhere and were fighting for a spot to compete in the Conference Championship in the final few weeks of the season.
Predicting which team will do that this year is unpredictable. Still, some key indicators are worth examining, such as coaching changes, significant transfer portal movement, and a maturing team. Here are four candidates to watch out for this year.
Colorado Buffaloes
When Coach Prime arrived in Colorado last year, he essentially overthrew his roster and started from page one with many brand-new players, including players he brought over from the FCS Jackson State. This year, they did the same thing to an extent, except this time, Deion Sanders kept the best of his team from last year. With a base of at least a few core players returning, plus the additions made in the transfer portal, Colorado is set up to be a sleeping giant this year.
The Coach Prime experiment is going to be interesting. If it works, watch for the transfer portal to explode even more than it currently is, but if they struggle, the portal may start to slow down.
Virginia Tech Hokies
Something commonly seen in college basketball but starting to become a trend in football is having a core group of players returning. In the era of the transfer portal, some teams are lucky if they see 50% of their production come back. Virginia Tech is in a league of its own.
According to ESPN, the Hokies are returning 86% of their production from their 7-6 squad last year, including 95% on the offensive side of the ball that scored at least 30 points seven times last year. It’s not hard to imagine the Hokies being one of the most dangerous offensive teams in the ACC and making a real push to compete for an ACC Title.
Northwestern Wildcats
By all accounts, Northwestern overperformed last year, going 7-5 during the regular season and finishing up with a nice win over Utah. Nobody saw this coming after all the scandals, players quitting, and a terrible season in 2022. Yet behind then-interim coach David Braun, the Wildcats found a way to be competitive and shock the college football world.
Now, with 76% of their returning production coming back last year and much more stability (so far) this offseason, Northwestern could be a sneaky surprise team that could sneak into a top three or four spot in the Big 10, particularly considering they avoid playing Oregon, USC, and Penn State.
South Florida Bulls
If any G5 college football team is in a great position to be added to a power conference, it is South Florida. Being in Tampa and already with a rival in UCF, the South Florida Bulls have been primarily held back because of their lack of success on the gridiron. But things are starting to turn around.
With 72% of their roster production returning (second in the AAC) and a lot of momentum from 2023, when they went to a bowl game for the first time since 2018, the Bulls are setting up for what could potentially be a program-changing season in 2024.
I’m not calling for this to happen, but USF plays Alabama in the season’s second week. Alabama struggled last year against the Bulls, only winning 17-3. Nothing is impossible with a new coaching staff and a lot of roster turnover.
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