Longhorns Wire’s CFB contenders and pretenders for the 2024 season

We predict which football teams can live up to their hype in 2024.

Way-too-early predictions now have way-too-early revisions heading into spring football. With the retirement of Alabama head coaching legend Nick Saban the college football landscape changed.

We looked at Jesse Simonton’s pre-spring rankings on Monday. Brad Crawford followed suit with his own rankings.

Name recognition plays a huge role in early rankings. Rankings between 21-25 of Top 25 projections are sometimes reserved for big names with high ceilings that haven’t provided much reason for a being ranked. There are a few teams on both lists that cause that reaction.

We have stated before that five teams seem like solid picks to contend in 2024. Outside of those five, it’s a guessing game. With that in mind, let’s predict which teams are legitimate contenders and which ones are fool’s gold.