Tag: 2024 College Football Season

Nebraska legacy Dylan Raiola is most likely true freshman QB to start in 2024

It wouldn’t be that surprising if it were to happen.

It isn’t very often that a true freshman is thrust into the starting job on day one, but the Nebraska Cornhuskers might give it a shot this upcoming season.

Dylan Raiola, the Huskers five-star quarterback signee could very well find himself as the day one starter when Nebraska opens the season on Aug. 31 against the UTEP Miners. This will be a tuneup before they face off with former Big 8/Big 12 rival Colorado Buffaloes.

This spring we saw a glimpse of what could be in the future of the Huskers and head coach Matt Rhule might be tempted to roll with him. He looked electric in the spring game which is promising for a team that lacked explosive plays. The Huskers were second-worst in plays of 10+ yards (127) only ahead of the Iowa Hawkeyes (107).

CBS Sports recently listed Raiola as No. 1 among true freshman quarterbacks who could start in 2024.

What CBS Says…

Raiola will step into an interesting situation in his first season as hopes to kickstart a program in search of the postseason bowl bid since 2016, not to mention trying to revitalize one of college football’s worst passing offenses last season. It’s a difficult task but one certainly ripe with opportunities for a young, talented signal-caller as the Cornhuskers will host five of their first six opponents at home in Lincoln, two of which include games against UTEP and Northern Iowa.

Dylan Raiola highlights from Nebraska’s spring game

Projected Nebraska Cornhuskers QB Depth Chart

  • Dylan Raiola, True Freshman
  • Heinrich Haarberg, Redshirt Junior
  • Daniel Kaelin, True Freshman

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Nebraska legacy Dylan Raiola is most likely true freshman QB to start in 2024

It wouldn’t be that surprising if it were to happen.

It isn’t very often that a true freshman is thrust into the starting job on day one, but the Nebraska Cornhuskers might give it a shot this upcoming season.

Dylan Raiola, the Huskers five-star quarterback signee could very well find himself as the day one starter when Nebraska opens the season on Aug. 31 against the UTEP Miners. This will be a tuneup before they face off with former Big 8/Big 12 rival Colorado Buffaloes.

This spring we saw a glimpse of what could be in the future of the Huskers and head coach Matt Rhule might be tempted to roll with him. He looked electric in the spring game which is promising for a team that lacked explosive plays. The Huskers were second-worst in plays of 10+ yards (127) only ahead of the Iowa Hawkeyes (107).

CBS Sports recently listed Raiola as No. 1 among true freshman quarterbacks who could start in 2024.

What CBS Says…

Raiola will step into an interesting situation in his first season as hopes to kickstart a program in search of the postseason bowl bid since 2016, not to mention trying to revitalize one of college football’s worst passing offenses last season. It’s a difficult task but one certainly ripe with opportunities for a young, talented signal-caller as the Cornhuskers will host five of their first six opponents at home in Lincoln, two of which include games against UTEP and Northern Iowa.

Dylan Raiola highlights from Nebraska’s spring game

Projected Nebraska Cornhuskers QB Depth Chart

  • Dylan Raiola, True Freshman
  • Heinrich Haarberg, Redshirt Junior
  • Daniel Kaelin, True Freshman

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Fifth Quarter doesn’t include Duke’s Maalik Murphy among top-50 FBS quarterbacks for 2024

NCAAF Nation released a list of the top 50 quarterbacks ahead of the 2024 college football season, and Duke’s Maalik Murphy was notably absent.

NCAAF Nation released a list of the top 50 college football quarterbacks ahead of the 2024 season on Tuesday, and new Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy didn’t make the cut.

Murphy, the highest-rated quarterback prospect to ever commit to the Blue Devils, transferred to Durham this winter after two years with the Texas Longhorns. He earned the backup role over popular freshman Archie Manning last season and started two games while Quinn Ewers dealt with an injury.

In the first start against BYU, Murphy threw for 170 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-6 rout. He also lifted Texas to an overtime victory over Kansas State the following week with a career-high 248 yards.

He finished his redshirt freshman season with 477 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions after completing 40 of his 71 passes (56.3%).

It might make sense to not rank a quarterback with two starts and 477 career passing yards inside the top 50 because he was a four-star prospect two years ago. However, Nebraska true freshman Dylan Raiola made the list without ever throwing a pass, and USC quarterback Miller Moss cracked the top 40 after one breakout performance in the Holiday Bowl last year.

It wasn’t anti-ACC bias, either. 10 different starting quarterbacks from the conference made the top 50, including five in the top 25. Miami transfer Cameron Ward finished the highest at eighth with NC State’s Grayson McCall (14th), Virginia Tech’s Kyron Drones (18th), Georgia Tech’s Haynes King (21st), and Florida State‘s DJ Uiagalelei (25th) notably included.

ESPN releases FPI rankings for 2024 college football season, where is Duke?

ESPN released its Football Power Index for the 2024 season and weighed in on preseason expectations in the ACC and across the country.

ESPN released its preseason Football Power Index rankings for the 2024 college football season this week, finally calculating its expectations for the first year of the [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] era.

The Blue Devils finished with an FPI rating of 2.3, projecting them as the 52nd-best team in the country and the 10th-best team in the ACC. The formula gives Duke a projected record of 6.1-6.0 (the 12.1 total likely comes down to rounding) and a 60.3% chance to go bowling.

After back-to-back seasons with at least eight wins, the projection sounds a little tepid, but with a new head coach and a transfer quarterback, it makes sense that FPI is hesitant on such unknowns.

However, the rankings seem low on the ACC as a whole. No teams in the conference finished in the top 10, including defending champion Florida State after an undefeated regular season in 2023.

Check out Duke Wire’s early ACC power rankings for the 2024 college football season here.

By little surprise, the Georgia Bulldogs took the top spot after winning two of the last three national championships. Oregon, Texas, Ohio State, and Alabama rounded out the rest of the top five.

Texas football ranks No. 5 in KFord preseason power ratings

One analytics model has Texas football in the Top 5.

The Texas Longhorns project as a Top 5 team in another metric. Kelley Ford’s analytics model ranks the Longhorns as the No. 5 team in the KFord preseason ratings.

Ford states the model rates teams based on the following characteristics: “Points per game above or below FBS average. Power rankings designed to be purely predictive, or forward looking. Not a resume metric.”

Texas ranks No. 5 with a score of 26.2 behind the Georgia Bulldogs (32.9), Ohio State Buckeyes (28.7), Oregon Ducks (27.2) and Alabama Crimson Tide (27.1).

Several of Texas’ opponents rank in the Top 30 of the ratings. Georgia is the top team, followed by the No. 7 Michigan Wolverines, No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners, No. 16 Texas A&M Aggies, No. 24 Florida Gators and No. 28 Kentucky Wildcats.

The ratings provide a different perspective on how good Oklahoma and Florida could be in the 2024 season. Both have the talent to surprise, but face perhaps the two most difficult schedules in the SEC.

Texas A&M is also viewed highly in the metric at around where they should be based on high talent level.

The Longhorns do have a favorable schedule, but it appears they will face some of the better teams in the country. Nevertheless, they project to be one of the top teams as well in the upcoming season.

Duke football will play Northwestern on national television in September

The Blue Devils play the Wildcats on the road in the second game of the season on September 6 and Duke fans across the country can tune in.

Duke football will play Northwestern in the second game of the 2024 season on September 6, and Thursday revealed the game would be aired on FS1 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time.

The official game time also revealed the game would be moved to Friday. It will be the Blue Devils’ second consecutive Friday game after the first game will be played against Elon on August 30.

Duke played Northwestern at home in 2023, a 38-14 victory decided by 268 team rushing yards. The Blue Devils averaged 6.7 yards per attempt on the ground against the Wildcats, but Duke’s two leading rushers (former quarterback Riley Leonard with 97 yards and running back Jordan Waters with 65) both departed the program for the transfer portal.

The Blue Devils also learned they’d play Florida State on national television, a 7:00 p.m. game on ESPN2 on October 18, on the same day.

Duke’s season opener against Elon, also a night game at 7:30 p.m., will air on the ACC Network.

More game times will be revealed at later dates.

Duke football game against Florida State will be broadcast on ESPN2

The Blue Devils will host Florida State on the night of October 18, and new head coach Manny Diaz’s team will play on national television.

Duke football will play at least one football game on national television in 2024.

The Blue Devils will host Florida State at 7 p.m. on October 18, and ESPN announced on Thursday that the game would be televised on ESPN2.

The Seminoles went undefeated in the 2023 regular season and won the conference championship game, but the Blue Devils gave them all they could handle in their home stadium last fall.

Duke built a 17-7 lead early in the second quarter and led by three points at halftime, but an injury to quarterback Riley Leonard helped the Seminoles mount a massive comeback for an 18-point victory.

However, both teams will look quite different in 2024. Leonard and former Duke head coach Mike Elko both left for different programs, and Florida State lost stars like edge rusher Jared Verse, wide receiver Keon Coleman, and quarterback Jordan Travis to the NFL.

In their place, the Seminoles and new quarterback DJ Uiagalelei (yes, the former Clemson Tiger) will battle new Duke passer Maalik Murphy.

The game will be Duke’s seventh game of the season and the Blue Devils’ third conference battle of the 2024 season.

One coach indicates SEC might have to acclimate to Texas, Oklahoma

This coach might be more confident about Texas than many Longhorns faithful.

One anonymous coach has stirred controversy over recent comments in praise of the Texas Longhorns. The coach suggested to Athlon Sports’ college football preview magazine that it might take time for the SEC to get used to playing Texas.

The coach seemed to be high on the Oklahoma Sooners‘ chances too. Here’s what he said about the teams’ move to the SEC.

ā€œI think thereā€™s a tendency to look at the expansion from the point of view of the new programs having to acclimate to the league, but this might be the other way around. You can’t compare Texas and OU to those A&M and Mizzou programs that came in.

They’re gonna pair the ‘Bama receiver transfer (Isaiah Bond) with their other five-stars and probably won’t miss much at this position.”

The list of “other five-stars” includes 10 of the 247Sports composite five-star players from the last three seasons. That list doesn’t include Ryan Wingo, who looks five-star caliber this offseason.

The coach adds Oklahoma in with Texas, indicating both teams could be set up for great success in the new conference. The recruiting bump that Texas A&M enjoyed after being perhaps the third best option in the Big 12 South division is evident. Even so, Texas and Oklahoma are already enjoying a tremendous recruiting boost as they head to the new league.

Nobody reasonable is under the illusion that Texas will “run the SEC,” but last year’s performance against the conference’s champion on the road indicates the Longhorns’ individual game ceiling.

Another publication releases post-spring college football top 25 rankings

Another poll has Texas ranked No. 3 heading into the 2024 season.

The Texas Longhorns crack another top 25 poll following spring football. Once again, Texas is given a No. 3 ranking in the nation.

On3 Sports’ Jesse Simonton ranked the top teams out of spring camp. The list is fairly ranked. Here’s a look at eleven Power Four teams who would make the playoff on the list.

  1. Georgia Bulldogs (SEC champion)
  2. Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten champion)
  3. Texas Longhorns
  4. Alabama Crimson Tide
  5. Oregon Ducks
  6. Ole Miss Rebels
  7. Michigan Wolverines
  8. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
  9. Florida State Seminoles (ACC champion)
  10. Missouri Tigers
  11. Utah Utes (Big 12 champion)

Simonton is higher on Alabama than Ole Miss, though the Rebels might have a more complete starting lineup. Still, new Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer has been a much better big game coach than Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin. The Rebels have the ability to make a deep run, but Kiffin and company will need to prove they can compete with teams like Georgia, Alabama and Texas.

Florida State is viewed highly and rightfully so. I would rank them as high as No. 8 with more confidence than I have in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Quarterback could be the difference for both Notre Dame and Florida State in regard to how far both teams go in 2024.

Utah looks to be the clear favorite in the Big 12 though some would give that distinction to the Oklahoma State Cowboys and Kansas State Wildcats. There’s something to be said for knowing how to get to a Big 12 title game. The game has included K-State or Oklahoma State each of the last three seasons, and the teams are familiar with many of their Big 12 foes. Still, the return of Cam Rising is invaluable for the Utes.

Outside of the above teams, other SEC programs rank in the following order: Tennessee (14), LSU (16), Oklahoma (17) and Texas A&M (23). Should one of the teams catch fire, they could make the College Football Playoff.

Texas A&M’s schedule lends itself to a potential 10-win season, but having SEC beside its name should give it the benefit of the doubt in a playoff hunt should the team go 10-2. In contrast, Oklahoma’s schedule is such that 9-3 might get the team into the playoff.

Other notable rankings see the Nebraska Cornhuskers rank at No. 24 while NC State ranks behind Oklahoma at No. 18. Neither Nebraska nor NC State should be expected to make the playoff, but eight win seasons seem achievable for both teams.

Penn State (12), Clemson (13) and Miami (15) rank just outside the Top 10 ahead of prove-it seasons for all three teams. We’ll learn if Clemson and Miami are contenders in Week 1 when the two teams face SEC foes in Georgia and Florida.

Texas has top-ranked newcomer class with five-star WR Ryan Wingo leading the way

Texas’ incoming talent was ranked as the No. 1 class of newcomers across college football.

When it comes to the 2024 college football season, the Texas Longhorns have a lot to be excited about. The losses on offense were well documented with so much talent going to the NFL, but Steve Sarkisian and the coaching staff did a masterful job of replacing those players through recruiting and the transfer portal.

Coming off a 12-2 season in which the Burnt Orange won the Big 12 title and earned a spot in the College Football Playoffs, the expectations are sky high for this team. They have consistently received preseason rankings that range from No. 2 to No. 4. As they head towards their first season in the vaunted SEC, UT will have plenty of opportunity to prove they were worth every bit of the praise they have received.

A big reason for the high rankings is the incoming class of newcomers. From five-star freshmen to experienced transfers, the Horns are poised for another big run. Recently, ESPN ranked Texas’ class of newcomers at No. 1.

Texas Longhorns take top spot

Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK

Last cycle’s recruiting class landed at No. 5 overall according to 247Sports overall class rankings. When it comes to impact freshmen, both five-star wide receiver Ryan Wingo and defensive end Colin Simmons are expected to be the cream of the crop. Wingo showed up consistently during spring football with a pair of touchdowns, including a 56-yard catch and run to the end zone.

When it comes to the transfers, wide receiver Isaiah Bond and safety Andrew Mukuba are among the top players coming in. Bond will lead a talented trio of transfers at wide receiver for Quinn Ewers to get the rock to. Houston transfer Matthew Golden and Oregon State transfer Silas Bolden should see plenty of action. Sark double-dipped at Alabama when he brought tight end Amari Niblack to replace J.T. Sanders.

Defensively, keep an eye on the aforementioned Mukuba and UTSA edge rusher Trey Moore. He joins an incoming class of defensive linemen that includes DT Tiaoalii Savea (Arizona), DT Bill Northon (Arizona), and Jermayne Lole (Louisville).

The top 10 newcomer classes in college football

Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK
  1. Texas Longhorns
  2. Ohio State Buckeyes
  3. Ole Miss Rebels
  4. Miami Hurricanes
  5. Oregon Ducks
  6. Alabama Crimson Tide
  7. Texas A&M Aggies
  8. Colorado Buffaloes
  9. Oklahoma Sooners
  10. Auburn Tigers

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