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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN senior writer
After much coaching and player turnover throughout the winter and spring, rosters are largely set for the 2024 season, and our Future Power Rankings series will conclude with an overview of teams designed to provide the most complete predictions for both the short term and the season beyond.
Just to be clear, FPR is do not have Instead of predicting a single year, we aim to predict the best that college football will have in the coming year. three While personnel situations for the seasons (2024, 2025, 2026) continue to be in flux, FPR must consider what is known at this point about both current players and committed freshmen, while also noting the track record of coaches, units and the team as a whole.
The 2024 season will be a historic one for realignment entries, as the SEC (Texas, Oklahoma), Big Ten (USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington), Big 12 (Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado) and ACC (SMU, California, Stanford) will all add new members. Teams that move around the league typically struggle in year one, but the three-year projections go beyond the short-term outlook.
There's also been big changes in college football's upper echelons. Nick Saban, arguably the sport's greatest coach, retired in January after winning seven national titles, including six at Alabama. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL after leading the Wolverines to their first national title since 1997. Of the College Football Playoff's final four teams, three (Alabama, Michigan and Washington) are changing coaches, and the other (Texas) is set to move conferences.
Past FPR rankings for quarterback, defense, and offense can help inform overall team rankings, but other factors like coaching continuity and recent performance also help. Oklahoma State is not ranked in any of the top three, but it is included in the team overview. Finally, let's look at the latest FPR team rankings.
Let's take a look at the new top 25.
2024 Future QB Rankings: Four
2024 Future Defense Rankings: 1
2024 Future Offensive Rankings: 3
2023 Future Team Rankings: 1
