College football’s 10 most meaningful games during the 2024 season drip with national interest, most of them involving preseason title contenders and programs welcoming back a host of future NFL talent. And with College Football Playoff expansion, teams can now suffer a loss — or two — and still be in good shape to be in the national championship conversation in December.
Not seeing Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh leading Alabama and Michigan, respectively, takes some getting used to, but the Crimson Tide and Wolverines will take the field with several contests of grand importance.
With the expanded Big Ten and SEC taking up most of the spots in our way-too-early top-25 rankings, much of these “meaningful” games involves programs expected to be in the thick of 2024’s playoff race. That said, much can change over the next several months coming out of spring practice with the second transfer portal window and countless position battles to address in August.
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Here are 10 games that impact the postseason picture across college football…
Is this where the nation’s longest winning streak ends for Michigan in 2024? It could be. One of the gargantuan matchups of the 2024 season is the only non-conference tilt in this ranking. However, you’re looking at two of the frontrunners to reach the expanded College Football Playoff, again. The winner of this one will have quite the résumé bonus when the selection committee meets one final time in December despite this one being played early on. The margin for error is slim the rest of the way for the loser of this game, by the way.
The winner of this SEC tilt has reached the league’s championship game in each of the past six seasons, so why would 2024 be any different? For starters, this is not the only matchup the Crimson Tide and Tigers are focused on down the stretch any longer with Oklahoma and Texas in the league, strengthening already difficult paths to Atlanta. Both of these teams will face the Sooners after playing each other the second weekend of November.
The Seminoles snapped a seven-game losing streak to Clemson with last season’s overtime win in Death Valley, a victory that catapulted Florida State to bigger and better things under coach Mike Norvell. This is one of four nationally-ranked opponents the Tigers have to deal with this fall amid one of the toughest schedules Dabo Swinney’s program has had to face in recent years as a national title contender. This is Clemson’s fifth game of the year and likely third against a top-25 team.
By SEC standards, Lane Kiffin has to appreciate what the league office did for him in 2024 as far as scheduling is concerned. The first of three games against likely top 25 teams for the Rebels, if Ole Miss can topple LSU for the second-straight season, a 7-0 start is likely heading into the open week with the playoff conversation beginning to commence. Ole Miss is one of likely four nationally-ranked teams the Tigers will battle in Brian Kelly’s third season. The loser of this game still has a shot to reach the playoff with an at-large berth.
Another seismic matchup in the Big Ten, Oregon’s trip to Ann Arbor to open November may decide first-place in the conference standings alongside Ohio State coming down the stretch with the playoff committee looking on. We’re expecting the final month of college football’s regular season in 2024 to be the most-watched month of games of all-time in the Big Ten and SEC thanks to pairings like this. Michigan leads this all-time series, 3-2, but the Ducks won the most-recent meetings in 2003 and 2007.
Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs have an arduous road in hopes of getting back to the SEC Championship Game in 2024. And if they’re still unbeaten by the time this one kicks off in Oxford, that means Georgia will have likely beaten three top 20 opponents already with quite the résumé ahead of the selection committee’s initial rankings reveal. Beating the Bulldogs or winning in Baton Rouge will assure the Rebels of a top-tier SEC finish unless there’s an unexpected toe-stubbing along the way.
Georgia-Alabama was always must see-TV during Saban’s tenure in Tuscaloosa and DeBoer’s first taste of the Bulldogs should garner expansive interest as well. We may even get the rarity of the Crimson Tide being a home underdog in September with both teams coming off an open week. If Alabama is ahead of schedule under its new regime, this could be the first of a couple games between the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide in 2024. The SEC will continue to go through Georgia and Alabama until it doesn’t in the expansion era.
It’s hard to believe this is a conference game in 2024, isn’t it? Welcome to college football’s new era. This one drips with conference championship and College Football Playoff implications given the expected strengths of two teams coming into the season with loaded rosters. Dan Lanning and Ryan Day are two coaches next in line to win their first titles if they pull the right strings in the coming years. Ohio State’s 9-1 all-time against the Ducks, the lone loss coming in Columbus during the 2021 season.
This game ranked as the No. 1 most-anticipated showdown this time a year ago ahead of the 2023 season and it delivered; two unbeatens that went wire to wire at the Big House. The stakes should be usually high in 2024 as the Buckeyes try to snap a three-game skid to their rival in hopes of getting to the Big Ten Championship Game. Playoff expansion benefits both the Buckeyes and Wolverines, by the way. Double-digit wins for either, given the schedule strength, should provide each with a golden ticket inside the top 12.
Texas beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl a couple years ago and that’s been the only meeting between the two bluebloods since the 1980s. That’s going to change over the next several years given the likelihood two annual frontrunners duke it out often as fellow conference brethren. These are two recruiting powerhouses who could be two of the SEC’s several playoff participants in 2024. The good news for the Longhorns is Georgia is likely one of only three nationally-ranked opponents that Sarkisian and his crew will have to crunch pads with later this year.
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