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Happy Holidays! Let’s review the best college football moments of 2024.
Best of 2024
Most memorable moments
While the season isn’t done, the year almost is. So let’s look back on the past 12 months:
Biggest coaching news: Nick Saban retires from Alabama. The year was loaded with coaching carousel surprises: Former Ohio coach Tim Albin took a new job less than a day after leading the Bobcats to their first MAC championship since 1968. There was also Charles Huff, who left conference champion Marshall for conference bottom feeder Southern Miss. This year saw former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh return to the NFL and — in a close second for the biggest news of the year — former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick get hired by North Carolina. But this year’s most memorable coaching news had to be Saban retiring from Alabama on Jan. 10. The departure of college football’s greatest coach kick-started a butterfly effect that impacted 38 Power 5 schools, 25 Group of 5 schools, 34 lower-level organizations, more than a dozen high schools and 10 NFL organizations.
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Best upset: Northern Illinois 16, Notre Dame 14. The Huskies blocked a 62-yard Notre Dame field goal attempt as time expired to claim their biggest win in program history at Notre Dame Stadium. Thomas Hammock, who returned to his alma mater as its coach in 2019, gave an emotional postgame interview (he had another soundbite go viral after getting dumped in french fries after the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl). The Huskies finished 8-5, but that win in Week 2 was one for the ages.
Best “College GameDay” picker: Sheamus. Timothee Chalamet knew more about football than we thought (although his way-too-early Heisman pick of SMU QB Kevin Jennings took a hit in the Mustangs’ Playoff loss to Penn State). And Shane Gillis calling Saban “Alabama Jones” at the first round of the CFP was hilarious. But the most iconic “GameDay” picker of the season was WWE star Sheamus, who was the only one to predict Georgia Tech would beat Florida State in his hometown of Dublin — the start of the Seminoles’ doomed 2-10 campaign. Sheamus also picked Notre Dame to win the national championship.
Until Saturday’s most-clicked: “Where does Vanderbilt over Alabama rank among college football’s biggest No. 1 upsets?” Until Saturday readers were so stunned by Vandy’s win against Alabama that they had to put it into the context of stunners we’ve seen in the past. Four No. 1 teams have lost to an unranked opponent and went on to win the national title (2007 LSU, 1967 USC, 1960 Minnesota and 1943 Notre Dame). That will not be the case for the 2024 Crimson Tide.
Most memorable moment, runner-up: Ohio State–Michigan flag planting. The game after “The Game,” which involved a midfield flag planting and pepper spray, is a close runner-up to the most memorable moment of the 2024 college football season.
Most memorable moment: Vanderbilt 40, Alabama 35. When I asked The Athletic college football staff members to send me their most memorable moment of 2024, there was a lot of back-and-forth about whether the Ohio State-Michigan flag planting or Vanderbilt’s upset over Alabama deserved the top honor. But the decision came down to this: It’s not every year that Vanderbilt hangs around with Alabama — let alone beats the Crimson Tide. The upset brought us one of the best characters of the 2024 season in Vandy QB Diego Pavia, who shouted in his postgame interview, “Vandy, we F—in’ turnt.”
Bowl Weekend
Games to watch
The college football bowl schedule really picks up today. Here are a few games I’ll be watching this weekend and the interesting storylines around them (all times ET):
Friday, Dec. 27
- Birmingham Bowl: Georgia Tech vs. Vanderbilt (3:30 p.m., ESPN). As noted, the Yellow Jackets and Commodores had some fun moments in 2024.
- Las Vegas Bowl: USC vs. Texas A&M (10:30 p.m., ESPN). The Trojans are returning to where they began their season (a 27-20 win against LSU at Allegiant Stadium) for their bowl game.
Saturday, Dec. 28
- Pinstripe Bowl: Boston College vs. Nebraska (Noon, ABC). The Huskers reached bowl eligibility for the first time since 2016 to snap the longest postseason drought among Power 4 teams.
- Pop-Tarts Bowl: No. 13 Miami vs. No. 18 Iowa State (3:30 p.m., ABC). It’s everyone’s favorite bowl and this year’s trophy has a fully functioning toaster on it.
- Alamo Bowl: No. 17 BYU vs. No. 23 Colorado (7:30 p.m., ABC). The porcupine at the San Antonio Zoo is siding with Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes. Unfortunately for the Cougars, the zoo animals have a pretty good track record of picking this bowl game.
Quick Snaps
Are first-round CFP blowouts avoidable? Stewart Mandel puts the results in perspective.
The “Until Saturday” podcast previews the quarterfinals on today’s episode.
What has gotten into Kirby Smart? Seth Emerson takes a look at why Georgia’s coach has changed his approach this season.
You can buy tickets to every college football game here.
For streaming info on Fubo, click here.
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(Top photo of Nick Saban: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
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