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themeatlife · 4 months ago

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the Meat Life College Football Preview 2024

Hey hey!

This is probably the latest and closest to the start of week 1 that I have made this post. Week 0 has already come and gone! I've been spending a lot of my spare time (outside of family time) like I did 20 years ago on the newly resurrected EA Sports College Football 25 game. I'll have a separate College Football 25 appreciation post soon, but for now I'm going to take a look at the upcoming season.

Lots of change. The Pac-12 is now the 2Pac for one last season. Lots of schools starting their first season in a different conference, Oklahoma included. And there is a new 12-team playoff debuting at the end of the season with home games for the higher ranked seeds in the opening round!

I'm going to try to keep my preview pretty much the same as before. Since there are now only four power conferences, my four categories will go well to parallel: Heisman Hopefuls, Conference Champ Predictions, College Football Playoff Predictions, and my Oklahoma Sooners Outlook. I'll follow the same format that I've followed the last few years - Frontrunners, Contenders, Darkhouses, and my prediction. For the playoff predictions, I'll do things slightly different and actually make my picks for who will make the playoff and then my national championship matchup and predicted champion.

Word of warning, this will probably be the most chalk filled preview I've ever done.

So let's get started!

Heisman Hopefuls

Dillon Gabriel emerges as the Heisman frontrunner

The Frontrunner: Dillon Gabriel - QB, Oregon The Contenders: Carson Beck - QB, Georgia; Jalen Milroe - QB, Alabama, Ollie Gordon - RB, Oklahoma State The Darkhorses: Quinn Ewers - QB, Texas; Jaxson Dart - QB, Ole Miss; Nico Iamaleava - QB, Tennessee; Shedeur Sanders - QB, Colorado the Meat Life Prediction: Dillon Gabriel - QB, Oregon

I had a conversation with some Sooner friends who found it funny that DG is now a Heisman favorite when there wasn't as much hype behind him when he was at OU. This is my take on it, Gabriel is coming off a 10-2 season at Oklahoma where he had 42 total TDs and the offense at times moved very well. The season before, OU went 6-6, DG essentially missed 2 games to injury, and there were various times where the offense looked stalled. So DG is going to Oregon with some momentum. And Oregon turned Bo Nix (who previously struggled as the starting QB at Auburn) into an NFL ready QB in the two years he was a starter. The long way of saying both Gabriel and Oregon have positive momentum to thrust DG to Heisman frontrunner status in his sixth year of college football.

Out of the others that I listed, I really like Milroe and am interested to see what new Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer will do with him. Beck is on there because Georgia is a powerhouse right now. If Gordon from OSU has a big year rushing, we could see him in New York. Ewers is on there because you have to have a Texas QB hyped so he can disappoint. The Dart and Lane Kiffin combination is good and will lead to some numbers, I'm just interested to see how Kiffin manages a team of basically free agents picked up in the transfer portal. Nico out of Tennessee has a shot under Heupel to do great things, so we'll see how that goes. Shedeur is just on there because he has the talent, but that Colorado o-line and defense will hold him back.

Power Four Conference Predictions

ACC

The Frontrunner: Florida State Seminoles The Contenders: Miami Hurricanes, Clemson Tigers, NC State Wolfpack The Darkhorses: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets the Meat Life Prediction: Miami Hurricanes

Is it cheating that we already saw one ACC game? Florida State is the defending ACC champ, but they looked nothing like a defending champion. The offense seems stale with DJ U under center. Georgia Tech on the other hand looks tough and should be in a dog fight every game. The popular pick this preseason is Miami with transfer QB Cam Ward at the helm of the offense. Clemson still has Dabo calling the shots so they will still be a contender for the conference he dominated for so many years. NC State taking the same approach as Miami with an experienced transfer Grayson McCall of Coastal Carolina fame.

No love for the new teams in the ACC though. SMU looked rough having to scratch out a win against Nevada last weekend. Stanford and Cal have not made an impact on the national or even conference scene in quite some time and probably still won't this season.

Big Ten

The Frontrunner: Oregon Ducks The Contenders: Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes, Penn State Nittany Lions The Darkhorses: Nebraska Cornhuskers, Iowa Hawkeyes the Meat Life Prediction: Oregon Ducks

This is probably the opposite of impact pick ups on the conference level. Oregon may not have won the Pac-12 in its last season, but they have all the pieces including the trigger man to win in their first season of the Big Ten. They'll get to prove it as they host Ohio State and travel to defending champ Michigan.

Michigan will be in its first season of the official Sharrone Moore era as Jim Harbaugh has moved on to the Los Angeles Chargers. They will still have the defense and run game that won the Big Ten last year. Ohio State will have transfer QB Will Howard and new OC Chip Kelly to try to get over the hump in probably the most pressure-filled season for Ryan Day since he got there. Penn State will only have to face Ohio State on the schedule this year, though they do have conference newcomer USC. And then I just put Nebraska and Iowa as dark horses because it'll be interesting to see two of the teams that benefited from the divisional format in a division-less Big Ten.

On a related note, is USC's Lincoln Riley on the hot seat? Riley's squad will have LSU in the opener and then play Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame on the schedule. Oof.

Big 12

The Frontrunner: Utah Utes The Contenders: Oklahoma State Cowboys, Kansas State Wildcats, Kansas Jayhawks, Arizona Wildcats The Darkhorses: West Virginia Mountaineers, Colorado Buffaloes the Meat Life Prediction: Utah Utes

Another former Pac-12 school getting picked as the front runner of their new conference. Utah is stacked on defense and QB Cam Rising entering his 20th year (haha) leading the offense. Arizona is also another interesting former Pac-12 team, having returning many of the same personnel they had for the bowl win against Oklahoma last season.

The stallworths of the remaining "old guard" of the Big 12 will be in contention. Ollie Gordon running the ball and 22nd year QB Alan Bowman (haha) will have OSU in a good position to contend for the conference. Kansas State's QB Avery Johnson and Kansas's QB Jalon Daniels are great stories and will keep the offenses flowing.

I feel like West Virginia always overperforms and will make the conference race interesting. And I have to put the hype train Colorado as a dark horse, but I don't believe they will go to the title game. Too many variables, even with the talent in certain spots.

SEC

The Frontrunner: Georgia Bulldogs The Contenders: Alabama Crimson Tide, Ole Miss Rebels, Texas Longhorns, Tennessee Volunteers The Darkhorses: Oklahoma Sooners, Missouri Tigers, LSU Tigers, Texas A&M Aggies the Meat Life Prediction: Georgia Bulldogs

Until anyone else can knock Georgia off, they will be the lead. So much talent, particularly on the lines of scrimmage. They took the torch from Nick Saban's Alabama dynasty from a few years ago. I do thing DeBoar will have a great team to challenge Georgia.

The rest of the field has strengths to varying degrees. On offense - Ole Miss, Tennessee, and LSU will have it cranking. Ole Miss just has a lot of great talent but most of them just got there from the transfer portal so that'll be interesting to see how they mesh. Tennessee is breaking in a new QB in Nico. LSU as well, but LSU does not have a defense.

Missouri I put on there as a dark horse mainly because they have the easiest schedule outside of Austin. A&M has talent, and has been having talent. But they are the opposite of West Virginia, constantly underperforming. And then there is Texas. Many key pieces from last year are gone but they have a ton of talent. It will be interesting for them because they have lost two RBs to injury in Christian Clark and CJ Baxter, both trying to fill the void left by Jonathan Brooks who has moved on to the NFL.

The 2024 Outlook for the Oklahoma Sooners

The Sooners break in new co-offensive coordinators in Seth Lattrell and Joe John Finley and a new defensive coordinator Zac Alley. While this might cause some pause, Lattrell is a former head coach at North Texas whose offenses ranked among the top in the country. Alley is a Venables disciple from his days at Clemson who DC's at Jacksonville State to the top third in the country in total defense. And all three are former Sooners.

Oklahoma breaks in sophomore QB Jackson Arnold, the 5-star phenom who has talent and is surrounded by talent but who will be behind a bit of an experiment in line ups at offensive line.

The defense has many familiar faces in the second and third levels and is probably the strongest unit. LB Danny Stutsman and S Billy Bowman are difference-makers and have made most of the preseason player award and All-American lists. They have a mix of established players and newcomers on the defensive line.

Looking at all of this, I think this team is a contender in the SEC. Now, the SEC didn't do any favors with the schedule. 6 ranked opponents, the most of the SEC team schedules. But as they say, diamonds are created under pressure.

I think it is realistic to say that this team goes 9-3 and be in contention for a playoff spot. I think if OU does that, the season will be a success given this is the first season in the SEC. I can easily see a case where the Sooners finish anywhere between 7-5 and 10-2, but I think 9-3 is correct. I think the losses will be Ole Miss and LSU on the road and Alabama at home. I hope I'm wrong and we go into the Alabama game undefeated and in the hunt for an SEC championship spot. But wishful thinking, I suppose.

College Football Playoff Prediction

The seeding is a bit funky since the top four seeds are the top four ranked conference winners and then the top Group of Five conference winner gets a bid (in my prediction - Boise State). The rest are just based on who I think would make it in the seeds left. This is the first year doing one of these, so I would imagine it would feel more natural every year following this one.

I'll drop my EA Sports College Football 25 appreciation post soon. I've also been working on a Christopher Nolan post that's saved in my drafts.

Enjoy the college football season, everyone!

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