Before the kickoff of the first game of the 2024 season, we always knew this would be a turning point in the 150-plus year history of college football. The combination of massive conference realignment and the expansion of the College Football Playoff shifted the landscape in ways that figured to make the sport unrecognizable.
Yet, here we sit at the midpoint of the season and college football feels surprisingly, and pleasantly, comfortable.
Sure, there are big-picture issues: NCAA governance; the prospects of employment for athletes through the House settlement; conferences and schools are suing each other; and a general consternation over what the sport might look like in 5-10 years.
But step back from the dizzying ledge of what is unknown and focus on what is in front of our faces, because the heart of college football is beating strong in 2024 and we’ve got a great season on our hands.
The players and coaches sacrificing their time and energy for each other and their schools in this very moment are not concerned with media rights deals or automatic bids. The Vanderbilt students who marched goalposts down Broadway in downtown Nashville after beating Alabama haven’t double-checked to see what the TV rating market share was for one of the biggest wins in school history. And across the country there are former students who, for the first time in 2024, took their children to a game to begin passing on the passion of college football to the next generation. And it is highly unlikely anyone in that family considered the latest 16-slide power presentation on the latest super league proposal from their seats in Section 212.
A half-decade ago, a power-conference commissioner stopped me in a line of questioning in the midst of a…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-storylines-to-watch-over-second-half-of-2024-season-as-unlikely-stars-drive-cfp-heisman-talk/
Author : Chip Patterson
Publish date : 2024-10-17 19:28:57
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