In the era of NIL and the debut of the 12-team playoff, the 2024 season was one for the record books. We had the first 2-loss team since 2007 to win a national championship, the first ever full-time two-way player to win a Heisman, and records being chased.
We saw the unbelievable season of Travis Hunter, who won the Heisman playing cornerback, and wide receiver. Ashton Jeanty, running back from Boise State had an unforgettable season, who finished only 28 yards away from breaking the record for most rushing yards in a season ever, and led Boise State to the playoff. Miami QB Cam Ward broke the record for most passing TD’s for a college career. Freshmen Jeremiah Smith and Ryan Williams made splashes at only 17 and 18 years old for their teams.
No team from the SEC finished with less than 2 loses, which was the first time since 2014. The SEC saw a Nick Saban-less Alabama go 9-4, an above .500 Vanderbilt, a first-year school play for the conference championship in Texas, and a red-hot South Carolina who won 6 straight regular season games.
Oregon, Penn State and Ohio State propelled the Big Ten, and a sleeper team coming off a 3-9 season the previous year, the Indiana Hoosiers. The Hoosiers had won 9 games during the span of 2021-2023. Then comes 2024, led by new coach Curt Cignetti, who helps lead Indiana to their best season in school history, finishing 11-2. Their only two loses? The eventual National Champion and the eventual runner-up.
2024 saw an unbelievable number of upsets, and the absolute chaotic season is why many put this season near the top of their “best seasons of all time” list. It all started on Week 0, when Georgia Tech went on to upset the 10th ranked Florida State who had high playoff hopes going into 2024. Now we know that FSU team wasn’t nearly as good, finishing 2-10, but that was an unreal upset at the time.
Notre Dame fell early in the season to an upset, with Northern Illinois coming into South Bend, and getting the massive upset 16-14. This win was NIU’s first ever win against a Top 10 opponent. An even more interesting part about this was that NIU’s head coach Thomas Hammock met up with Notre Dame’s coach Marcus Freeman to give him insight on what he did to beat Notre Dame. Freeman and the Fighting Irish went on to not lose another game until the National Championship, where they lost 34-23.
We saw Alabama beat Georgia 41-34 in an unbelievable classic, and then Alabama lost to two unranked teams, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. Ole Miss looked to be a playoff lock, and then they lost to Florida. BYU had been on absolute fire to start the season, starting 9-0 and then lost to 3-6 Kansas, who went on to beat ranked Iowa State and Colorado, becoming the first program to beat three consecutive ranked teams while having a negative record. Ohio State, the eventual national champion, lost to their rival Michigan AGAIN. There were many more upsets, but you get the idea.
The playoff was an unforgettable one, as the first 12 team playoff saw 2 teams who would have missed the 4-team format in the championship. The first round wasn’t as entertaining, with Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame and Ohio State winning in blowouts, The second round ramped up, with Ohio State beating the only undefeated team in Oregon by 20, Texas sneaked past Cam Skattebo and Arizona State in 2OT, Penn State beat Ashton Jeanty and Boise State, and Notre Dame defeated Georgia. The semifinals were two classics, with Notre Dame kicking the first ever game winning field goal in College Football Playoff history, and Ohio State winning with an 83-yard scoop and score to seal a win against Texas.
The National Championship hit, and Ohio State had a huge 31-7 lead, but Notre Dame fought back, bringing it to 31-23, and that is when Jerimiah Smith, caught a deep pass on 3rd down to seal the CFP title for the Ohio State Buckeyes, and they won 34-23.
The season was unforgettable, even in the FCS where North Dakota State reclaimed their dominance with a national title. 2024 left lots of memories for fans to remember, and now the future of college football has a high standard to keep up with, thanks to the historic year of 2024.
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