The biggest storylines of the 2023 college football season.
Who is No. 2?
Georgia is the unanimous pick as the preseason No. 1.
A loaded team despite ample NFL defections, it is looking to be the first school to three-peat since the creation of the Associated Press poll in 1936.
The biggest threat to the Bulldogs’ run at history is debatable.
Some point to Michigan having its best team since Jim Harbaugh’s arrival in Ann Arbor in 2015.
Others like Michigan’s bitter rival, Ohio State, and its lethal core of skill position stars.
SEC West duo LSU and Alabama can’t be dismissed, nor can USC and Heisman Trophy front-runner Caleb Williams.
Florida State, with a star-studded defense led by projected top-five NFL draft pick Jared Verse at defensive end and a dynamic dual threat quarterback in Jordan Travis, is considered a contender.
The field to stake a claim to No. 2 is wide open.
A new, flashy era in Boulder
After making Jackson State a winner, with a 27-6 record and a pair of SWAC titles in three seasons, Deion Sanders is taking his flair and histrionics to Colorado. It’s a difficult job.
The Buffaloes have one 10-win season in the past 21 years and are 24-42 over the past six seasons.
Sanders, though, has already upgraded the talent level with the nation’s No. 1 transfer class according to 247Sports.com, and brought with him a strong and experienced coaching staff.
Don’t expect magic immediately for Coach Prime.
Colorado’s schedule is difficult, with road games against TCU (to start the season), Oregon and Utah, and challenging home dates against USC and Oregon State.
A bowl game would be a successful start.
An uncertain future for the sport
This is the storyline of the season, considering all the movement over the summer from the Pac-12. Starting in 2024-25, the Big 12 will add Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah, while the Big Ten will take Oregon and Washington.
Also next year, Oklahoma and Texas are set to move from the Big 12 to the SEC, while USC and UCLA will abandon the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.
The Pac-12 may no longer exist soon.
There is an Aug. 30 meeting of conference commissioners when there could be changes made to the expanded, 12-team playoff in terms of automatic bids.
The ACC finds itself in a precarious position, with its college football brand hurting.
Florida State president Richard McCullough recently told his board of trustees that the university would have to “very seriously” consider leaving the ACC barring a change to the conference’s revenue distribution model.
There is almost certain to be more changes in terms of the structure of the power leagues. 2023 is very much the end of an era in college football.
A crowded QB room in Austin
Texas has two elite prospects, a fan base starved for success and a coach who has to get this right.
Quinn Ewers may have been anointed the Longhorns’ starting quarterback in the spring by head coach Steve Sarkisian, but it would be foolish to think the competition is over, particularly if Ewers doesn’t play well early on.
True freshman Arch Manning, the nephew of Super-Bowl winning quarterbacks Eli and Peyton Manning and the top-rated prospect in the country, is waiting in the wings.
There won’t be much patience, given the Longhorns’ 13-12 record under Sarkisian.
Uncertainty for Alabama
It is bizarre to see so many questions in Tuscaloosa, or for the Crimson Tide to start the season ranked so low (for them): fifth in the Associated Press poll.
You have to go back to 2009 to find Alabama outside of the top three at this juncture.
But the doubts are understandable.
Nick Saban lost two of the sport’s premier players in quarterback Bryce Young and linebacker Will Anderson Jr.
There is a three-way competition for the starter under center, and no clear game-changer at one of the skill positions.
There is obviously a ton of talent in place, and edge rusher Dallas Turner has superstar potential. Still, there are legitimate doubts around this program for the first time in what feels like decades.
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