Big Changes Come to College Football — Here’s What You Need to Know
By Movieguide® Contributor
Big changes are coming to the 2024-25 college football season including conference restructuring and an expansion to the playoff bracket. Here’s what you need to know.
“Ten of the Pac-12’s former members begin playing in new leagues this fall. The Big Ten now has 18 teams with USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon in the fold. The ACC gets SMU and two West Coast teams in Cal and Stanford. Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah join the 16-team Big 12. Texas and Oklahoma move to a 16-team SEC,” TV Insider explained of the conference shake-ups.
With those changes, many televised games have needed an adjustment, but this means that fans will have more access to the games.
Below are what conferences will air on which network:
ABC/ESPN: SEC, ACC, Big 12, American, MAC, Sun Belt and SWAC conferences.
CBS: Saturday Big Ten matchups and several games from the Mountain West and service academies
Fox/FS1: Big Ten, Big 12 and Mountain West as well as several Friday primetime games
NBC: Notre Dame games and “weekly Saturday primetime Big Ten tilts”
truTV: 14 Mountain West games.
The CW: 11 games from Pac-12 holdouts Oregon State and Washington State
The game schedule for the first week of college football includes:
Saturday, August 24
Aer Lingus College Football Classic: Florida State vs. Georgia Tech (at Dublin), Noon/11a c, ESPNThursday, August 29
North Carolina at Minnesota, 8/7c, Fox
North Dakota State at Colorado, 8/7c, ESPNFriday, August 30
Temple at Oklahome, 7/6c, ESPN
TCU at Stanford, 10:30/9:30c, ESPNSaturday, August 31
Clemson at Georgia, Noon/11a c, ABC
Penn State at West Virginia, Noon/11a c, Fox
Akron at Ohio State, 3:30/2:30c, CBS
Miami at Florida, 3:30/2:30c, ABC
Western Kentucky at Alabama, 7/6c, ESPN
Idaho at Oregon, 7:30/6:30c, BTN
Notre Dame at Texas A&M, 7:30/6:30c, ABC
Fresno State at Michigan, 7:30/6:30c, NBC
UCLA at Hawaii, 7:30/6:30c, CBS
New Mexico at Arizona, 10:30/9:30c, ESPN
Wyoming at Arizona State, 10:30/9:30c, FS1Sunday, September 1
Modelo Vegas Kickoff Classic: USC vs. LSU (at Las Vegas), 7:30/6:30c, ABCMonday, September 2
Boston College at Florida State, 7:30/6:30c, ESPN
The College Football Playoff is expanding from a four-team bracket to a 12-team format.
“The new 12-team College Football Playoff field will include the five highest-ranked conference champions, which will receive automatic bids. The seven highest-ranked teams remaining will round out the 12-team format,” the NCAA reported. “The top four teams will receive a first-round bye to the quarterfinals.”
Movieguide® previously reported on the 2024-25 college football season:
Heading into the college football season, head coaches have a new problem to tackle as the release of EA Sports College Football eats up many players’ time.
“That’s really all we do now in our free time, we play the game,” Michigan cornerback Will Johnson — the highest-rated player in the game — told ESPN.
“When I leave here today, that’s my only goal: To get back home and play,” added LSU linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. during an SEC media day.
This sentiment is shared by nearly all of the 11,000 players who opted into EA Sports’ offer to include them in the game. Not only did the players receive at least $600 for their name and likeness but also got a free copy of the game.
Now that the game has been released, many players are finding it extremely alluring to play as themselves and as their team. However, as the college football season appears on the horizon, coaches now have to consider how the popularity of the game might impact their players in real life.
