Sports

2024 College Football Season Kicks Off with Upsets and Stellar Stakes

Check out our review of the first couple weeks of the 2024-25 season, as well as our predictions of who will ultimately come out on top in this year’s coveted College Football National Championship.

Max Pennington, Staff Writer

October 1, 2024

Georgia Tech Celebrating After Beating Florida State

Fall has arrived and that means that it’s time for all the excitement of college football to begin! The season officially started on Aug. 29, and two weeks into the season, the drama has already started.

There’s nothing better than college football.

The Stats

Let’s take a look at how the rankings at the start of the season looked.

Football powerhouse Georgia Bulldogs started off the season with the no. 1 rank. Ohio State started at no. 2 as they look for a redemption season after having a season to forget last year. Texas, Alabama, and Notre Dame round off the top five of the Week One standings.

Some rankings that were debatable were Ole Miss at no. 6 and Michigan at no. 10. Does Ole Miss really deserve to be such a high rank after being a rather average team for so many years? And even though Michigan has lost star quarterback JJ McCarthy and Head Coach Jim Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers, do the National Champions deserve to find themselves at such a low rank?

The Outcomes

The first week flew by with almost every game going as expected. No. 1 Georgia took down no. 22 Clemson by a score of 34-3. No. 3 Texas blew out Colorado State 52-0. No. 5 Notre Dame beasted Texas A&M 23-13.

The highly anticipated game of Week One was the ranked Miami Hurricanes vs the unranked Florida Gators. It turned out to be a breeze of a game for Miami as they won 41-17. Another very exciting game was USC vs LSU where USC escaped with a win by the score of 27-20.

The Surprises

There have already been plenty of games that have resulted in an upset.

The first one took place in Week One, where the unranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the no. 9 Florida State Seminoles traveled to Ireland to play an international game. Everyone expected the Seminoles to travel back to Tallahassee with a win, but the Jackets had other ideas. After a strong fourth quarter the Yellow Jackets came back to win the game 24-21. This result dropped FSU in the rankings.

Staying with Florida State brings us to the next upset result where the Seminoles were hosting the Boston College Eagles at home. The Seminoles could not find their groove and after a strong quarterback performance from Boston College, the Eagles earned a victory 28-13 to send Florida State out of the top 25 standings.

The next upset of the season takes us to South Bend, Indiana. The no. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish took on the unranked Huskies of Northern Illinois. The Huskies had a very strong first half leading 13-7 at halftime. Both teams’ defense stood strong in the second half with only Notre Dame scoring one touchdown., until the final minute of the game when the Huskies’ kicker Kanon Woodill kicked the game-winning 35 yard field goal to lead his team to victory 16-14.

The Irish fans headed home upset.

So Who’ll Come Out on Top?

Even though the playoffs are months away, it’s already time for some predictions.

The College Football Playoffs have been expanded this year from four teams to 12 teams. The top four teams will get a bye in the first round, automatically sending them to the second round of the playoffs. I believe these teams will be the Georgia Bulldogs, Texas Longhorns, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Alabama Crimson Tide.

The 8th ranked team will play the 9th ranked team in the first round. I believe this game will be played between the Utah Utes and the Miami Hurricanes. The 5th ranked team will play the 12th ranked team. I think this game will be played between the Oregon Ducks and the LSU Tigers.

The 7th ranked team will take on the 10th ranked team. I believe the Penn State Nittany Lions will play the Oklahoma Sooners in this matchup. The final first round game is made up of the 6th ranked team and the 11th ranked team which I see being the USC Trojans versus the Michigan Wolverines.

Out of all the playoff teams, I see the Georgia Bulldogs as the strongest. I predict them to be the 2024 National Champions.

College football is so exciting, and it is in finally full swing. This season will be packed full of exciting moments. Fans will have good and bad Saturdays watching their favorite team play.

Nothing beats college football. It is so good to say that it is finally back.

About the Contributor

Max Pennington, Staff Writer

Max Pennington is a junior at South Forsyth High School and this is his second year writing with The Bird Feed. He continues writing for The Bird Feed to share about sports. He is a big fan of all sports, but soccer is his favorite. He enjoys attending Atlanta United games and watching the Premier League on TV. His favorite soccer team is Chelsea FC and he loves to cheer for them whenever they play. As a passionate soccer player he wants to have sports around his life no matter what he may be doing in the future. Max is on the school soccer team and wants to help the team in any way he can. When he is not playing soccer or going to school he likes to spend time with his friends, family and dogs. He is excited to write about the great sports teams here at South Forsyth.