The 2024 college football season is underway. Week Zero featured just four FBS games on Saturday before most teams get started in Week One, which will begin on Thursday night and run through Monday evening.
Game No. 1 of the college football season gave us our first upset, as No. 10 Florida State was defeated by unranked [autotag]ACC[/autotag] foe Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland. The Seminoles fell by a final score of 24-21, as the Yellow Jackets made a field goal as time expired. If the first day of games is any indication, we could be in for a chaotic season in 2024.
It’s now game week for the Oklahoma Sooners, as they’ll host Temple in their first game of the season. The Owls will come to town on Friday night for a 6 p.m. kickoff. Normally, programs like Oklahoma would like to avoid chaos, as they’ve typically been favored in most games in the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag]. As one of college football’s premiere blue-blood programs, regularly among the best in the country, the word upset is not something the Sooners like to hear.
But the game has changed. OU is now a member of the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] and is no longer the biggest fish in a relatively small pond. Instead, the Sooners are a big fish in an ocean filled with plenty of other big fish.
In addition, the postseason in college football has changed. The [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] has expanded from four to 12 teams, with the four highest-rated conference champions earning first-rounds byes.
Chaos might help the Sooners for the first time, as there will be plenty of teams hovering around the 10-15 rankings, hoping they won’t be left on the doorstep of the [autotag]CFP[/autotag]. Oklahoma could be one of them. A 2007-style year where unpredictability reigns supreme in college football would be something that could benefit OU.
The Sooners are facing a brutal schedule in Year 1 in the SEC. Home games against Tennessee and Alabama are mixed in with road contests against Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU. Not to mention the annual neutral-site [autotag]Red River Rivalry[/autotag] matchup against Texas. The other conference games aren’t gimmes either, as contests at Auburn and at home against South Carolina will test the Sooners at all levels. It’s also imperative that Oklahoma goes undefeated in nonconference action, as well with home games against Temple, Houston, Tulane, and Maine.
Needless to say, going 12-0 or 11-1, the normal expectations in Norman, will be a difficult mountain to climb. Oklahoma isn’t favored to win the conference, or even to play in the conference title game. The SEC tests your program every week, a change from the Big 12. Instead, if the Sooners are at their best in 2024, they will likely be hovering in the hunt for a playoff berth.
That’s where the chaos comes in. If the Florida State loss is just the beginning of something bigger, Oklahoma could slip in and steal a playoff spot, provided that they take care of business on their end. The Sooners will need higher-ranked teams to lose two or even three games in the 12-team playoff format. This is because that’s likely where Oklahoma will be as well. That’s where “SEC-bias” could also help OU, as playing in the sport’s strongest conference and going, let’s say 9-3, with their difficult schedule could push them in over other 9-3 or even 10-2 teams.
College football’s unpredictable nature is one of the best things about the sport. Typically, it’s been something Sooner fans have hoped to avoid, as simply winning all of their games has been enough to get OU where they need to be. However, with the move to the SEC, there will be setbacks and rough outings. Chaos across the sport this season is something Sooner Nation should root for and embrace in 2024.
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