Tag: 2024 College Football Season

Notre Dame-Texas A&M named second-best game in Week 1

A lot of people will be watching.

The stakes will be high for both Notre Dame and Texas A&M in Week 1 of the 2024 season. While a loss for either team won’t necessarily kill their seasons, it will make the rest of their seasons more challenging. That’s why many people will have their eyes on this game.

College Football Alerts has released what it believes to be the top games for the first full week of college football this season. To the surprise of few if any, the game between the Irish and the Aggies made the list. In fact, only game in all of college football was ranked higher:

Taking a look at this list, it’s appropriate. The only game higher on the list, the one between Georgia and Clemson, is the only one that features two teams collectively ranked higher in the national preseason poll.

So if you’re a college football fan and only watch two games this coming weekend, make it the ones involving the Bulldogs, Tigers, Irish and Aggies.

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ACC Network releases its hype video for the 2024 college football season

College football finally returned on Saturday with two ACC teams kicking it off, and ACC Network got everyone ready with a hype video.

The 2024 college football season finally got underway on Saturday, and the year appropriately began within the ACC.

Florida State and Georgia Tech traveled to Dublin for the first game on the national schedule, and ACC Network made sure fans around the conference were ready for the sport’s return.

The network released its annual introductory video on Saturday, set to the Shaboozy song “Last of My Kind,” to get everyone more excited than they already were. All 17 teams in the conference made at least one appearance in the montage, including new members California, Stanford, and SMU.

Duke fans could see the iconic Blue Devils mascot in the opening seconds and a short clip of defensive end Wesley Williams later on in the compilation. The crowds of Wallace Wade Stadium even made an appearance near the end.

Duke football is now less than a week away with the Blue Devils playing Elon at home next Friday.

Three Wisconsin Badgers land on The Athletic’s top 100 transfers list

Three Wisconsin Badgers land on The Athletic’s top 100 transfers list

The Wisconsin football team added a ton of talent in the transfer portal following the 2023 season and The Athletic included three Badgers players in their top 100 transfers.

Linebacker John Pius came in as the highest-ranked Wisconsin addition, coming in as the No. 29 overall transfer. Pius transferred to Madison in the offseason after three seasons at William & Mary, most recently recording 53 total tackles, including 9.0 sacks, during the 2023 campaign. Wisconsin struggled to get to the opposing quarterback last year and Pius will look to help change that in 2024.

The next Badger to appear on the list is quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who was announced as the team’s starter last week. Van Dyke was listed as the No. 35 overall transfer, joining Wisconsin after compiling 7,469 passing yards and 54 touchdowns over three seasons as the starter with Miami.

Finally, right behind Van Dyke, interior linebacker Jaheim Thomas was listed as the No. 36 overall transfer. Thomas spent the first three years of his collegiate career under head coach Luke Fickell at Cincinnati, before registering 90 total tackles, including 6.5 sacks, with Arkansas in 2023. Now reunited with Fickell and defensive coordinator Mike Tressel in Madison, Thomas will attempt to take another step up with the Badgers.

What does USA TODAY Sports think Auburn’s record will be in 2024?

Will Auburn take a step forward in 2024? Here’s a look at what USA TODAY Sports expects.

Auburn football is set to kick off the 2024 season in just a matter of days with some looming optimism about what the team can do. In year two of the [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] era, the Tigers look to turn around their bad luck after three consecutive losing seasons.

Many outlets have posted their predictions for the upcoming season. Thursday, USA TODAY Sports posted what it thinks each team in college football will do, giving its thoughts on how the conferences will shape up.

It predicts that Auburn will end with a 7-5 record and go 3-5 in conference. That prediction placed it 11th in the SEC, in front of Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt.

The breakdown of the conference described this record as being a bounce back for Freeze in year two on the Plains. While much of the general public might not think so, it would be something that the Tigers have not had since 2020: a winning record.

USA TODAY Sports predicts the Georgia Bulldogs to be atop the conference with an 11-1 overall record and a 7-1 conference record. Right behind them are the Texas Longhorns at 10-2 (6-2).

Auburn fans will soon find out whether the experts are correct when their team takes the field on Aug. 31 to face the Alabama A&M Bulldogs at 6:30 p.m. CST in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Tyler on Twitter @traley34

Duke football ranks almost last in the ACC in 247Sports’ Talent Composite score

247Sports updated its Talent Composite rating, grading every college football program on the players’ star ratings, and Duke isn’t very high.

247Sports updated its Talent Composite scores on Thursday, grading every college football program based on the star ratings of its players, and the Duke Blue Devils nearly brought up the rear in the ACC.

The Blue Devils finished 16th out of 17 ACC teams in the ranking, coming in 70th nationally. Only Wake Forest (71st) finished lower.

First-year head coach Manny Diaz might inherit a team with 17 wins over the last two seasons, but most of the talent that brought that success isn’t at Wallace Wade Stadium this year. Left tackle Graham Barton went to the NFL, as did All-ACC defensive lineman DeWayne Carter, and quarterback Riley Leonard and edge rusher RJ Oben transferred to Notre Dame.

Only four of the 80 Duke football players on 247Sports’ website have more than three stars to their name, the fewest of any program in the conference.

Among those four-star talents, however, is new quarterback Maalik Murphy, who transferred from Texas this winter and officially won the starting job this week. Edge rusher VJ Anthony, offensive lineman James Pogorelc (a Stanford transfer), and freshman wide receiver Chase Tyler are the only other four-star talents in the building.

Duke gets the 2024 season underway against Elon on August 30.

Where did Duke football end up in ESPN’s 2024 college football bowl projections?

ESPN released its 2024 bowl projections on Wednesday, and only one of the two writers had the Blue Devils reach the postseason.

ESPN writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach released their 2024 bowl projections for the college football season on Wednesday, but only one of them had the Blue Devils in the postseason.

Bonagura had Duke in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl playing against Memphis while Schlabach didn’t have the Blue Devils anywhere on his lineup.

Schlabach’s pessimism follows a national pattern of analysts and writers seeing the glass in Durham as half-empty. A CBS Sports panel earlier this week had multiple writers rank the Blue Devils as the worst team in the ACC, and the website’s bowl projections didn’t include Duke either.

After 17 wins over the last two seasons, stock seems to be low in the first year of the Manny Diaz era. If you ask ESPN FPI, the Blue Devils are expected to win 6.1 games, so the team really is sitting right on the edge of bowl eligibility.

Diaz and new starting quarterback Maalik Murphy start their journey to six wins against Elon on August 30.

Where did Duke finish in the USA TODAY Sports college football re-rank?

USA TODAY Sports released its NCAA re-rank on Tuesday, ranking the FBS from 1-134. Where did the Duke Blue Devils finish?

USA TODAY Sports’ Paul Myerberg released the college football re-rank on Tuesday, slotting each FBS program somewhere between first and 134th in the country ahead of the 2024 season.

The Duke Blue Devils, who won 17 games over the past two years, finished just inside the top 60 at 56th.

After losing head coach Mike Elko to Texas A&M and quarterback Riley Leonard to Notre Dame, the Blue Devils brought in Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and Texas transfer Maalik Murphy to lead them forward.

While a CBS Sports panel released on Monday had some writers debating whether the Blue Devils could be the worst team in the ACC, Myerberg kept some faith in that duo. Duke came in as the 10th-highest team in the conference in Myerberg’s rankings, a little above their 11th-place finish in the preseason media poll.

Clemson, stunningly, took the top ACC spot at No. 8 overall after their worst season since 2010. Florida State, last year’s defending champion, finished 11th, and NC State, Louisville, and Virginia Tech all made the top 20.

North Carolina, despite losing first-round quarterback Drake Maye and star wideout Tez Walker, ended up more than 20 spots above the Blue Devils at 32nd.

Duke Blue Devils not included in projected bowl schedule from CBS Sports

CBS Sports released its projected bowl games for the 2024 college football season last week, and the Blue Devils didn’t make the field.

The Duke Blue Devils start a new era in 2024, but the college football world remains a little lukewarm on the Manny Diaz era.

CBS Sports updated its projected bowl schedule last week, and despite nearly a dozen ACC teams reaching the six-win barrier, the Blue Devils remained absent from the field.

Two teams from the conference, Florida State and Miami, both made the College Football Playoff in the projection. Clemson, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, NC State, Louisville, SMU, Boston College, Pittsburgh, and Wake Forest all made bowl games, but the Blue Devils did not.

As a reminder, the Panthers and Demon Deacons combined for three conference victories and seven total wins in 2023. Duke won 17 games over the past two seasons.

The Blue Devils bring a new head coach and a new starting quarterback to Wallace Wade Stadium this fall, but Diaz led some of the country’s best defenses at Penn State over the last two years and wide receiver Jordan Moore received ACC Preseason Player of the Year votes.

Where Kentucky football lands in The Athletic’s preseason ranking of all 134 FBS teams

See where the Wildcats ranked entering Week 0 in The Athletic’s ranking of all 134 FBS teams for the 2024 season.

The Athletic’s Chris Vannini unveiled his eighth annual ranking of all 134 FBS college football teams ($) with less than a week remaining until the start of the 2024 season in “Week 0.”

Dubbed The Athletic 134, Vannini ranks Kentucky at No. 44 entering the season — 11th among the 16 SEC teams entering 2024. The Wildcats placed behind Auburn (No. 34) and Florida (No. 35) in the rankings and were 12 spots below in-state rival Louisville at No. 32.

Also among SEC teams, Mark Stoops’ program was ranked one spot ahead of South Carolina at No. 45 and eight spots ahead of Arkansas at No. 52.

Ohio State topped The Athletic 134‘s Week 0 rankings, which will be updated each week throughout the season. Georgia was No. 2 with Oregon at No. 3. Texas (No. 4) and Alabama (No. 5) rounded out the top five.

Kentucky opens the season in less than two weeks, Aug. 31 against Southern Miss at Kroger Field (7:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network). Georgia is ranked No. 1 in both the AP and US LBM coaches polls entering the season. The Bulldogs head to Lexington in the third week of the season on Sept. 14 for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff.

Kentucky was unranked in the AP and coaches polls but garnered 12 votes for consideration in the coaches poll and three votes for consideration in the AP poll.

Florida State faces Georgia Tech at noon ET in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday in the first game of the 2024 season.

RELATED: Kentucky’s rigorous strength of schedule evident in Preseason US LBM Coaches Poll

Wisconsin faces SEC power in Action Network bowl prediction for 2024 season

Wisconsin faces SEC power in Action Network bowl prediction for 2024 season

The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy released his final preseason bowl predictions for the 2024 college football season on Monday.

His postseason picks come with Week 0 taking place on Saturday.

McMurphy has Wisconsin facing Texas A&M in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30 in Nashville, Tennessee. While it would mark the Badgers’ 23rd consecutive year in a bowl game, it would certainly be an underwhelming result knowing the dynamic created by the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.

Wisconsin has appeared in the Music City Bowl once before, falling to Auburn 28-14 in December of 2003. Last season’s matchup in the game was between Auburn (6-6) and Maryland (7-5), so that’s roughly where McMurphy expects Wisconsin’s record to fall in the regular season.

Luke Fickell and his squad have a rather challenging schedule in 2024, facing upper-echelon programs Alabama (home), USC (road), Penn State (home) and Oregon (home). The Badgers enter the season as underdogs in seven games, so McMurphy’s prediction isn’t a slight toward Wisconsin by any means.

Wisconsin’s 2024 campaign shapes up to be a memorable one thanks to the high number of of marquee matchups on the schedule.