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As spring practice is finishing up, the 2024 college football season begins to inch closer. There's no league in college football with more massive storylines developing than the SEC. After winning a non-SEC national title last season for the first time since 2018, the league is looking to rebound. But there are some massive changes that could alter the season entirely. Here are five stories to watch.
Top 5 storylines in the SEC ahead of 2024 college football season
5. Can Ole Miss and/or Mizzou keep it up?
A season ago, Ole Miss and Missouri each won 11 games. To say that's unusual for either would be an understatement. In fact, Ole Miss had never won 11 games in a season. It had been since 2014 when Mizzou had done so.
But can Lane Kiffin and/or Eli Drinkwitz keep these performances going? An 11-win season would probably land one or both teams in the new CFP.
But is that even a legitimate possibility in a league with Alabama Georgia, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, etc? Well, Lane Kiffin can still pull it off.
4. Georgia's bounce back
Georgia had the misfortune to end up No. 5 in the CFP standings despite a perfect regular season and a loss only to CFP bound Alabama.
Georgia was coming off back-to-back CFP wins following the 2021 and 2022 season. But with the run interrupted, can Kirby Smart and Georgia bounce back?
The new CFP format (more on that below) will certainly play a role. It's hard to imagine a Georgia team losing more than two games heading into the CFP.
With a new-look CFP, a 10-2 Georgia team would almost certainly get a CFP bid. Then again, in the absence of division play, facing more teams that have aligned in the Western Division can also test Georgia's run.
3. The 12-team CFP
In 2023, one of the biggest stories in college football was defending champion Georgia being left out of the College Football Playoff despite losing only to CFP-bound Alabama in the league title game. The good news for the league is that it won't happen again.
The bad news is that it's hard to figure out exactly how the 12 team format of the CFP will impact the league.
At least, it seems that the SEC will safely place two teams in a 12 team field. A third team certainly doesn't seem impossible. But the various hiccups of the new CFP will become apparent only as the situation plays out.
Now, whoever team #13 is will be angry, just as team #5 was in 2023, and team #3 used to be in the one-game playoff era. But the SEC is most likely to benefit from the new format.
2. New look Alabama
Nick Saban took over as the head coach at Alabama in 2007. Six national championships later, Saban has retired and the Tide rolls on.
New coach Kalen DeBoer doesn't just have to follow a coach as much as he follows a legend. The type of success that Saban had is probably not repeatable in the NIL and transfer portal era.
That said, DeBoer can't afford to let Alabama slip too far. His opening SEC season includes two new threats to the league crown, as well as the new-look CFP situation.
In a 12-team field, will even a CFP bid be enough to make Alabama fans happy? The 2024 season promises to be an interesting period of adjustment.
1.The entry of Texas and Oklahoma
For the first time since 2012, when Texas A&M and Missouri joined the league, the SEC makes another shift. While old timers can still remember the 12-team SEC, the league will swell to a full 16 teams with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma in 2024.
The entries matter for more reasons than just being two more teams—they'll change the competitive balance of the league. Texas, of course, was in the CFP a season ago, while Oklahoma made the CFP four times between 2015 and 2019.
The SEC's division schedule is a thing of the past. Time will tell whether Texas and Oklahoma will squeeze out some of the older league members from CFP bids.
What do you think is the biggest story of the upcoming SEC football season? Let us hear from you below in the comments section!
