Georgia, Ohio State, Florida State and Kansas State are projected to win their respective conferences next season. However, several under-the-radar teams are capable of knocking them off their pedestal ahead of the 2024 college football season. Earlier this month, Late Kick host Josh Pate disclosed his “biggest sleeper” teams in the SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 next season, and some of the names are surprising.
Pate defined “sleeper teams” as those outside the top 2-3 in their conference standings coming out of spring practice. National pundits are overlooking the four selections for various reasons. Some are coming off disappointing 2023 campaigns. Others lost talent at key positions this offseason or made coaching changes.
All teams finished outside the top three in our updated SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 power rankings. Three of the four teams are ranked No. 5 or worse in the latest projections. The top Big 12 sleeper didn’t make our post-spring top 25.
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Here is the biggest sleeper team in each Power Four conference ahead of the 2024 college football season:
Jedd Fisch left for Washington in January, but the Wildcats still have plenty of ammunition, particularly quarterback Noah Fifita, the Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year, and top receiving target Tet McMillan, a Second Team All-Pac-12 selection. New head coach Brent Brennan took San Jose State to three bowl games in the past four years, matching its total from the previous 28 seasons. There’s hope he can keep the Wildcats humming in a Big 12 without a true standout team on paper.
Pate: “Arizona has the fourth-best odds to win the Big 12. Brent Brennan is the new head coach there. Noah Fifita is still there at quarterback. Their projected win total is 7.5. The highest in the Big 12 is 9.5, Utah and Kansas State. This is the Big 12, anything can happen. This wouldn’t even be a shock. Arizona goes to Kansas State in Week 3. That’s a Friday night game. That one will introduce the world to whatever Arizona is going to be this year. Then they get a bye week, and then they go to Utah. Their two toughest games are back-to-back. If they split them, that’s great. If they were to win both of those games, then you start thinking really big with Arizona. Even if they split them, I’d still be talking that way.”
Louisville hit the 10-win mark and made an ACC Championship Game appearance during Jeff Brohm’s first season at the helm. The Cardinals aren’t sneaking up on anyone, thanks to the No. 6 transfer portal class in the nation, and landed at No. 5 in our ACC power rankings. The Cardinals are a threat to finish higher, but making that call right now puts a lot of faith in quarterback Tyler Shough, a six-year journeyman who has never thrown for more than 1,600 yards in a season.
Pate: “Louisville has the fourth-best odds to win the ACC. They’re a total wildcard this year. They landed a top-25 recruiting class. They added 32 kids in the portal. Their secondary is one of the best in the country. They’ve got Tyler Shough at quarterback. Louisville has a shot of being in the conversation at the end of the year. They have a date at Clemson on Nov. 2. They’ve got Miami on Oct. 19. Miami and Clemson both have bye weeks before they play Louisville. The Cardinals do not have a bye before they play either one of them. It’s going to be tough, but we’re not calling for them to go undefeated. This is a sleeper to keep your eye on.”
If the offensive coordinator switch that brought Andy Kotelnicki to Penn State helps Drew Allar reach the potential that made him the No. 1 quarterback prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, Penn State is a legitimate College Football Playoff contender. James Franklin’s teams consistently play good defense but have recently lacked the explosive playmaking needed to win at college football’s highest level. Penn State ranked No. 84 in the nation in passing yards per attempt (6.7) in 2023. That number needs to improve in 2024.
Pate: “Penn State is tied for the third-best odds to win the conference. This is all dependent on what Andy Kotelnicki does. He specializes in explosive pass and run games. Big chunk plays were the absolute last thing Penn State was known for last year. They can be really good defensively under Tom Allen. They went to great lengths to bolster their corner room. They lost really good talent, but they added really good talent. I’m confident in them. They’re floating just outside high-end status in college football. If the addition of Kotelnicki is the spark, they could win the Big Ten.”
It’s always nice to have two of the top players in the SEC starting on each side of the football team, and that’s the situation Josh Heupel is in with the Vols. Assuming Nico Iamaleava is the real deal at quarterback, and James Pearce has another disruptive season on defense, Tennessee is a threat to make noise in the SEC this season. There are also heightened expectations for the Vols’ budding group of running backs, with talented junior Dylan Sampson leading a room that includes Citrus Bowl star Cameron Seldon.
Pate: “Tennessee is a big-time sleeper team in the SEC. They’ve got the sixth-best odds to win the conference. Nico Iamaleava is going to be a star. I love the moves they’ve made in the wide receiver room. Their talent is underrated. So is their defensive coaching staff. They get Florida and Alabama at home. They go to Georgia late in the year. If they play good ball early, they could be in a situation where they can afford to lose later in the year and still be right in the thick of the CFP race. I hate saying that, but that’s where we are.”
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