Halfway through the college football season, preseason No. 1 Georgia has yet to put together a complete game and perennial power Alabama is still looking to get back on track from stunning loss to Vanderbilt under first-year coach Kalen DeBoer.
Preseason No. 7 team Notre Dame suffered an inexplicable home loss to Northern Illinois, and a much-anticipated season for Ole Miss has been derailed by a pair of SEC losses. Preseason top-10 teams such as Michigan and Florida State have taken a step (or several steps) back, and predicted Big 12 champion Utah has hit the skids.
Meanwhile, schools such as Iowa State, Indiana, BYU and Pitt are unbeaten, as are both Army and Navy. It's been both chaotic and cathartic. Amid the mayhem of conference realignment, college football's on-field product is delivering with unexpected storylines and a level of parity that has infused drama and uncertainty into how the field will look for the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff.
CBS Sports opens each season with our staff breaking down its picks for the College Football Playoff, national champion, Coach of the Year and Heisman Trophy winner. But we are human, and even we can get things wrong. There was even a shakeup in our All-America selections on our midseason team.
That's why we're back at the halfway point of the season with a handful of second-chance expert picks. Here's how we believe the rest of the 2024 college football season will play out.
College Football Playoff predictions
Top four conference champions (first-round byes)
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Rest of field (Nos. 5-12)
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2024 national champion
Ohio State: Competitive depth and coaching are key to surviving the gauntlet that will be the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes have competitive depth at nearly every position, with high-end talent that is potentially generational (like Jeremiah Smith) but also some seasoned veterans can provide that leadership when times get tough in the postseason (like Emeka Egbuka or TreVeyon Henderson). The biggest key here will be coaching, but my bet is that the all-star staff of Ryan Day, Chip Kelly and Jim Knowles will be fully in sync come playoff time. The team should be well seasoned by then after enduring tough tests on the road like last week's loss to Oregon and the Week 10 showdown at Penn State. -- Chip Patterson (also Tom Fornelli, Jerry Palm, Shehan Jeyarajah)
Texas: Texas is the most complete team in the country, at least through the first half of the season. Coach Steve Sarkisian has spent three years transforming his program into one that can compete -- and win -- in the SEC. The defensive line is actually better after losing high draft choices Byron Murphy and T'Vondre Sweat to the NFL. Sark has shown why he's the best play caller in the game. Watch the Horns and the offense resembles Bill Walsh's West Coast attack which, run properly, is brutally efficient. How many schools are so talented that their best quarterback has been on the bench? Sark has expertly handled the quarterback room after Quinn Ewers got hurt, then got his job back after despite Arch Manning prospering in his absence. Texas has all the tools to win the SEC and the national championship. -- Dennis Dodd (also Will Backus, Richard Johnson)
Georgia: Georgia showed its true capability in the second half of its Week 1 win over Clemson and again demonstrated its elite potential during a loss to Alabama with a furious second half rally. Those glimpses of greatness have been overshadowed by otherwise lackadaisical performances early in SEC play. But the Bulldogs are not a finished product yet, and the ingredients for a championship team are still there. The fact that UGA is enduring more adversity than it has in recent years could work in coach Kirby Smart's favor. Georgia isn't the obvious top dog in college football midway through the season, and that will give Smart the ammunition he needs to motivate his team to consistently reach the elite potential that we've seen in spurts. -- David Cobb
Midseason Coach of the Year
Ryan Day, Ohio State: I know it seems a bit contrarian to go with Ryan Day as my Coach of the Year the week after Oregon handed him yet another top five loss, but that only adds to the narrative. It was a one-point defeat on the road that Ohio State nearly won and it's not as if the Buckeyes were overmatched. They're still my pick to win the Big Ten, and a legit national title contender. If the Buckeyes win out, as I expect them to, Day will get the deserved recognition for it. -- Fornelli
Mike Elko, Texas A&M: Mike Elko has Texas A&M at 3-0 in SEC play, which is something predecessor Jimbo Fisher never accomplished in his six seasons. The Aggies faltered out of the gate against Notre Dame but have gritted their way to five straight wins since then, emerging as surprise contenders for a College Football Playoff spot. Elko had the courage to give quarterback Conner Weigman another shot after he missed three games due to injury, and the early returns are promising. The Aggies have a great rushing attack, and Weigman appears to give some juice in the passing game. Elko turned things around quickly at Duke, and he appears to be doing the same thing at A&M. If the Aggies reach the CFP in the immediate aftermath of the Fisher trainwreck, it would be the ultimate testament to Elko's coaching acumen. -- Cobb (also Patterson)
Kalani Sitake, BYU: When I say no one expected BYU to be in the Big 12 title race, I mean no one. I remember at Big 12 media days, the conversations I had were around whether BYU could even make a bowl game to save Sitake's job. Instead, the Cougars have blasted their way from No. 13 in the preseason Big 12 poll to the front of the Big 12 championship race. Despite facing a tough schedule, the Cougars are a perfect 6-0 with two ranked wins and a 3-0 conference start. Looking forward, the rest of the schedule is fairly manageable with no ranked teams remaining until the Big 12 title game. There's a chance that the Cougs might even have a serious shot as an at-large team for the College Football playoff. Sitake made a massive gamble by betting on internal improvement as a second-year Big 12 program and taking only a handful of transfers. No one has pressed more right buttons and he deserves all of his flowers. And furthermore, everyone in Provo is thrilled the beloved Sitake come through. -- Jeyarajah (also Palm)
Steve Sarkisian, Texas: Sark hasn't just re-tooled this Texas team, he's reloaded it into a unit that (Georgia result pending) looks better than last year. That comes despite departures to the NFL at running back, wide receiver and defensive line among others. The strength of the Horns is again up front, but on offense led by All-American left tackle Kelvin Banks. He's also managed the quarterback situation adeptly going back to Ewers despite fans clamoring for Arch Manning. Coach of the year isn't just a pat on the head award for a coach that overachieves, it can be given to the coach of a great team that maintains or improves. -- Johnson
Matt Campbell, Iowa State: Campbell used to get mentioned for every major coaching search. Now it looks like the former Toledo head man might be a lifer in Ames. There are few coaches who do more with less. Since Bill Snyder stepped down, Iowa State has a case as the ultimate developmental program. The quarterback, Rocco Becht, couldn't even get a sniff from the school that just inducted his dad into its hall of fame, West Virginia. There is little NIL money to speak of. At the halfway point, Iowa State is undefeated for the first time since 1938. The program that hasn't won a conference title since 1912 is in the driver's seat -- along with BYU -- to play in the Big 12 Championship Game in the first year of the 16-team configuration. -- Dodd
Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State: Dillingham probably isn't going to take Arizona State to any sort of championship in his second year -- although, given the chaotic state of the Big 12, it isn't entirely out of the question -- but that shouldn't discount the miracle he's performing in Tempe. He inherited an awful situation, given the position Herm Edwards put the program in with his poor results on the field and NCAA violations off of it, and already has the Sun Devils one game away from bowl eligibility at the midway point. To illustrate Dillingham's impact: ASU was projected to finish dead last in the Big 12, yet its latest win came against preseason No. 1 Utah. To me, taking a team that many viewed as a cellar-dweller and turning them into a postseason contender is much more impressive than making a national championship-caliber roster compete for national championships. -- Backus
Heisman Trophy frontrunner
Ashton Jeanty, Boise State: College football is a nostalgic sport and many Heisman Trophy voters understand their role in preserving its history with their votes. If Ashton Jeanty breaks Barry Sanders' regular season rushing record -- and that's currently the pace that he's flirting with at 208 yards per game -- then voters are not going to shy away from enshrining the Boise State running back as the most outstanding player in college football. There will be stars that are going to be closer to competing for a national championship, and certainly players who are carrying more buzz when it comes to the NFL Draft, but to ignore Jeanty's run at a record that has stood 36 years would be a disservice. -- Patterson (also Fornelli, Palm, Jeyarajah, Johnson, Cobb, Backus)
Dillon Gabriel, Oregon: In his sixth season Gabriel has emerged as the ultimate run-pass threat who is making all the right decisions. Go check his rushing touchdown against Ohio State. The lefthander showed no fear in the biggest game of the season and should be atop everyone's Heisman list. With his third team, Gabriel is nearly a lock to end up as the No. 2 career passing leader of all-time. If he averages 380 passing yards the rest of the season he will pass Houston's Case Keenum for No. 1. Gabriel chased schools in his career -- this is his third -- now he's chasing a national championship for the first time. -- Dodd
