The offseason heading into the 2022 NCAA football season has been exhausting. There has been a lot of hand-wringing about conference realignment, students transferring freely, and how NIL deals impact the sport. Check the Next NCAAF Season Betting below.
Thankfully, Week 0 will give us an 11-game slate of games on Aug. 27 that will allow everyone to get back to talking about football.
When it comes to the upcoming college football season, there is a lot of prep work to be done, whether you are making college football picks or not. With the transfer portal heating up, big names have scattered all over the country.
Several rivalry games will be renewed after long absences. Here’s a look at what to do to prepare for the next NCAAF football season.
See Which Players Have Gone Where
Looking at college football odds will show which programs have been hit the hardest by player movement.
Any Oklahoma football fan that went into a coma last November and is just waking up will be surprised at who they see under center. Former UCF standout Dillon Gabriel will be leading the Sooners.
Gabriel’s transfer was necessary after Spencer Rattler, who was a preseason Heisman Trophy favorite before last season, transferred to South Carolina.
Caleb Williams, who beat out Rattler for the job at Oklahoma last season, also left, following former coach Lincoln Reilly to Southern Cal.
Reilly’s Appeal
Reilly’s appeal ended up reaching into other programs. The Trojans were able to convince last year’s Blitenkoff Award winner, Jordan Addison, to transfer from ACC champion Pitt and join USC.
The Panthers grabbed former USC quarterback Kedon Slovis off the transfer market to replace Kenny Pickett.
There will be a lot of familiar faces around college football; you may just need to squint to see which colors they are wearing.
See Some Old Rivals Get Back Together
Looking at the NCAAF schedule, fans of eastern football will see the return of the Backyard Brawl. The series between Pitt and West Virginia has been played 104 times and dates back to 1895.
However, because of conference realignment and attitudes between schools, the game hasn’t been played since 2011.
Anyone looking for what to do to prepare for the next NCAAF schedule should appreciate this game being renewed.
NCAAF Schedule
Over the next few years, rivalries such as Oklahoma-Oklahoma State along with USC-Oregon are unlikely to continue due to scheduling.
Pitt leads the all-time series 61-40-3 between the former Big East rivals. However, the Mountaineers have won seven of the past 10 meetings.
Find Coaches Desperate to Win Games
Nebraska alum Scott Frost has had a rough homecoming. Since taking over as the Cornhuskers coach in 2018, Frost has gone 15-29 overall and 10-25 in the Big Ten play. Frost was a hot coaching candidate after he led UCF to a 13-0 record and a victory over Auburn in the Peach Bowl.
Expectations for Frost
Expectations for Frost to keep his job at Nebraska are low, as the preseason media poll tabbed the Cornhuskers to finish fifth in the Big Ten West.
The Cornhuskers open the season with a conference game against Northwestern in Ireland. Nebraska will then have games against Nort Dakota and Georgia Southern before taking on old rival Oklahoma.
If the Cornhuskers can’t collect victories during this stretch, it is unlikely the Big Ten schedule will be any kinder to them.
Keep an Eye on the Big Dates in the Always Powerful SEC
The SEC had plenty of drama between highly-paid coaches during a contentious offseason in the league’s recruiting. At the center of it were former coworkers.
Nick Saban
Alabama coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher traded barbs about the recruitment of players now that NIL deals have funneled money to players.
The Aggies had a highly-regarded recruiting class last season that was assembled in part due to a large amount of booster money flowing into the program.
Crimson Tide
The Crimson Tide are once again primed to win the SEC West and will have a hotly-contested home regular season game with Texas A&M, which was the only team to beat them in the regular season last year.
The race in the SEC West will be something to keep an eye on. Lost in all the drama is that defending College Football Playoff Georgia will once again have a strong team and not face much opposition in the SEC East.
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