When you cover college football nationally, you quickly discover that many fans across the country are convinced you hate their team. It's easy to understand why. These fans know the ins and outs of every part of their program, while those of us responsible for tracking 134 different schools can never be so informed, which comes off as disrespectful to the fan.
But I assure you that, from my vantage point, I do not hate your team. In fact, I love them. While I make no bones about being a fan of Illinois and want the Illini to win every game they play by 50 points, it has no impact on how I feel about anybody else.
I want everybody to do well because I understand there are various definitions of "doing well" for every program. Some want to win a national or conference title, while others simply hope to get to a bowl game or beat their rival. Hell, some teams are praying they can avoid a winless season. I hope every one of them achieves those goals, even if I know not all of them can.
With all that being the case, every season there are a few teams I find I'm pulling for a little bit more than the others. For 2024, these are the programs tugging the hardest at my heartstrings.
Houston
Since players can only stick around for so long -- although COVID years have done an incredible job of changing that lately -- I've always found myself becoming attached to coaches, particularly the ones who do a great job at smaller programs and never get a shot at one of the blue bloods. That attachment plays a key role in teams I root for a little harder, and it's no different this season, starting with Houston and Willie Fritz.
I was calling for Fritz to get a Power Four (then Five) job while he was winning the Sun Belt with Georgia Southern in 2014. Fritz experienced tremendous success at the FCS level with stops at Central Missouri and Sam Houston State, and he immediately brought that winning culture and fun offensive scheme to Statesboro.
Coaches who win consistently across different levels are good bets to continue winning as they move up. Just ask Kansas how Lance Liepold is working out for them.
After eight seasons at Tulane, where Fritz went 23-4 the last two years and beat USC in the Cotton Bowl, he's getting a crack at a Power Four job in Houston. The Big 12 is wide open for the foreseeable future. We don't know which, if any, will emerge as the league's dominant force. But given Fritz's successful history, don't rule out Houston.
New Mexico
I love Bronco Mendenhall teams. They're always tough and physical, but unlike many coaches who play that way, they don't mind getting creative on offense. Mendenhall's BYU teams were always fun to watch, and we shouldn't overlook that the Cougars went 39-9 in six seasons in the Mountain West under Bronco and won the league in 2006 and 2007. Things got more difficult as the Cougars went independent and began playing trickier schedules, but he won 99 games in Provo.
Mendenhall brought a similar approach to Virginia, a program long considered a sleeping giant that never consistently capitalized on its chances. He inherited a team that had been to only one bowl game in the prior eight seasons. After a record of 2-10 in his first year, Mendenhall led the Hoos to three straight bowl appearances, with only the shortened COVID season ending the run.
In 2021, Mendenhall's Cavaliers led the ACC with 516.3 yards per game, scoring 34.6 points per contest. The team was a blast to watch, but Mendenhall unexpectedly stepped down before the team's bowl game. He now returns to the sidelines at New Mexico, another program that's endured rough go of it lately.
The Lobos went to consecutive bowl games under Bob Davie in 2015 and 2016, but those are the only bowls they've played in since 2007. Given Mendenhall's history, it's only a matter of time before they're back in the postseason. While I don't anticipate it'll be this year, I'm excited to see this team exceed expectations immediately.
San Jose State
Ken Niumatalolo spent 15 seasons at Navy, where he accomplished quite a bit. He helped the Naval Academy transition from life as an independent into the American Athletic Conference, going 14-2 in conference play their first two seasons. He saw two of his quarterbacks drafted by the NFL (to be running backs), the first time that had happened for a Navy QB since Roger Staubach in 1964.
Perhaps most important, he won his first eight games against Army, extending a win streak that began under Paul Johnson to 14 games. That's Navy's longest win streak ever against its arch-rival.
But you know what he didn't do? He never left. That kind of success at Navy led to several schools sniffing around Niumatalolo over the years, including plenty from power leagues. He came very close to leaving for Arizona until a tweet from then-Arizona QB Khalil Tate and some backlash from fans ended it.
Niumatalolo was let go by Navy following a 4-8 record in 2022, the fourth losing record in five seasons for the Midshipmen. Now, after turning down previous opportunities, Niumatalolo has a head coaching gig outside the service academies, taking over a San Jose State program that showed it could succeed under previous coach Brent Brennan.
Niumatalolo will not be running the option (which bums me out a little, honestly), but if he can win in San Jose, it could lead to more than a few programs wishing he hadn't been so dang loyal to the Naval Academy.
Tennessee
No offense to Tennessee coach Josh Heupel, but while the first three teams on this list are about my affection for new coaches at new places, Heupel has nothing to do with my love for the Vols in 2024. No, there's only one man responsible for it, and I can't wait to watch him light the world on fire.
I'm talking about Nico Iamaleava.
Iamaleava appeared in only five games as a freshman last season and threw only 45 passes, but I've watched every single snap he took -- even the UTSA game, where he went 0 for 2 passing and took a four-yard loss on a sack. Everything I have seen from Nico and everything I've been told from scouts who have watched him for years leads me to believe this kid has a very high ceiling.
When you combine his skill set with the offense he'll be playing in, I am not kidding when I say I believe Iamaleava is a legitimate Heisman candidate in 2024. He can take Tennessee from "CFP at-large hopeful" to "possible SEC champion."
In a season where we don't have the no-doubt superstar quarterback, Nico could be the guy. Scratch that; Nico will be the guy.
The Pac-12 (or 'Pac-2')
This one feels mostly self-explanatory. First, at its core, college football is an incredibly silly sport, and nothing about the 2024 season reflects that more than a two-team Pac-12 consisting of Oregon State and Washington State.
More than that, though, how could you not root for these two after all that's happened? Their league fell apart around them, and when the dust settled, everybody found a home but them for reasons entirely outside their control.
I don't know what the future holds for either school, but odds are life won't be getting any easier. Because of that, I hope this 2024 season provides plenty of feel-good moments for the teams and two loyal, passionate fan bases who deserve a far better fate than they were dealt.
