A new normal for NCAA college football | Centre County Gazette

Welcome to the 2024 version of NCAA college football. Things are a bit different.

The Big Ten will have 18 teams with the addition of USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon.

The Big 12 will have 16 schools, and the SEC will add Oklahoma and Texas.

The Atlantic Coast Conference will have 17 schools, including Stanford and Cal, while the Pacific-12 Conference will have two schools — Washington State and Oregon State.

The other PAC-12 schools — Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah — will play in the Big 12.

There will be three independents — Notre Dame, UConn and UMass. However, Notre Dame does have a five-game arrangement with the ACC.

Finally, there are 62 teams that make up the “Group of 5,” which will have a standing in the playoffs.

The NCAA Football Playoff will invite 12 teams to compete in this year’s tournament. The five highest ranked conference champions will receive automatic bids. The four highest ranked conference champs will be seeded one through four and receive a bye. The next seven highest ranked teams will be seeded 5-12 and play in the first round at the home of the highest seeded team. For example, No. 5 will host No. 12 and No. 6 will host No. 11, etc.

The quarterfinals will be played at the New Year’s Six Bowl sites, while the semifinals will be played at two of those sites on a rotating basis.

The championship will be played at a neutral site chosen by bids.

If the tournament had been played last year, No. 10 Penn State would have played at No. 7 Ohio State in the first round, and Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama would have had byes.

Whew!

Oh, and don’t forget how the NILs and transfer portals have affected the game and how they will increasingly affect it in the future. 

So what does all this mean for Penn State?

Most immediately, it boils down to the Nittany Lions’ schedule.

There is no longer any Big Ten East, and the conference will have a non-divisional schedule for the first time since 2010. The Nittany Lions will no longer be facing Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, Maryland, Indiana and Rutgers every year and then hoping for a shot at the conference championship game.

Be careful of what you wish for, however, because the team might not be facing the Wolverines and Buckeyes every year, but there are other guys out there that are just as tough.

Penn State’s schedule this season, for example, includes home games against Bowling Green, Kent State, Illinois, UCLA, Ohio State, Washington and Maryland. The away games are against West Virginia, USC, Wisconsin, Purdue and Minnesota. 

No Michigan, sure, but there are no off weeks in that schedule, and every week is critical with a spot in the 12-team playoff hanging in the balance.

The Lions seem to also have made good use of the transfer portal this year.

Incoming talent includes highly regarded WR Julian Fleming from Ohio State, OT Nolan Rucci from Wisconsin, CB AJ Harris from Georgia, CB Janen Kimber from Florida and kicker…