2023 College Football Storylines to Be Thankful For
Hopefully for a lot of you, this Thanksgiving week is about food, football and family.
Regardless, this time of year is also when we reflect on the things we are most thankful for. That includes within the sport of college football. Each and every season, there are intriguing, fun and captivating storylines that we get to enjoy.
From the Pac-12's swan song to more than a few surprise teams playing exceptionally well and a fascinating Heisman race, it's time to run through the college football storylines we're most grateful for in 2023.
We Might Have an Intriguing Heisman Race
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In recent years, the Heisman Trophy has been all but wrapped up a few weeks before the December ceremony.
For the most part, the ceremonies awarding past winners such as Caleb Williams, Bryce Young, Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield came without too much intrigue or drama.
But the 2023 race just might be one of the more interesting and closest ones yet. At the midpoint of the season, it looked like it was going to be Washington QB Michael Penix Jr., with fellow potential CFP signal-callers like FSU's Jordan Travis, Michigan's J.J. McCarthy and Oregon's Bo Nix also in the mix.
In recent weeks, though, we've seen these odds shift dramatically, mainly thanks to the incredible form of LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Against Florida on Nov. 12, he put up 606 total yards of offense with five touchdowns. He also became the first quarterback in FBS history to notch 350 yards passing and 200 yards on the ground in a single game.
Daniels flashed a Heisman pose celebration during the game, and Tigers head coach Brian Kelly made the case for his quarterback to win the award afterward.
"If [Daniels] didn't win [the Heisman Trophy] tonight he has got to be the leading candidate," he told reporters. "Unless the Heisman is just about popularity. If you want to be the most popular then fine, but he is the best player in college football.
"He did something tonight that no one has ever done. If that doesn't make you the leading candidate, then maybe the Heisman isn't really for the best player."
Last week against Georgia State, Daniels went 25-of-30 passing with 413 yards, a season-high six touchdowns and zero interceptions. He added 96 yards rushing with another two scores on the ground.
Daniels has the best odds (-120) to win the award, per DraftKings. It'll be interesting to see if Nix (+140) and Penix Jr. (+650) will get a jolt when either or both of them play in the Pac-12 title game next month.
LSU is set to take on Texas A&M on Saturday, which will be Daniels' last game of the season. If he takes home the award, it'll also break the trend of the Heisman going to a player on a team in contention for a conference or national title.
A Few Teams Will End Long Bowl Droughts This Season
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Reaching six wins and making it to a bowl game is an achievement for any team in college football. For some teams in 2023, we saw some programs that hadn't reached a bowl in quite awhile do so, which is always fun to see.
For starters, Texas State is going bowling for the first time in program history under first-year head coach G.J. Kinne. The Bobcats transitioned to the FBS in 2012. Although Texas State went 7-5 in 2014, thanks to the NCAA's two-year transition period for teams that move into the FBS not being eligible to participate in bowl games, it wasn't able to play in one.
UNLV is also going bowling for the first time in 10 years, as the Rebels are having a remarkable 9-2 season under first-year head coach Barry Odom. UNLV also punched its ticket to host its first-ever Mountain West Conference title game with a 32-27 victory over Air Force last week.
New Mexico State has also earned back-to-back bowl berths for the first time since 1959-60. Head coach Jerry Kill led the Aggies to a 7-6 mark in 2022, and he now has his team sitting at 9-3 and coming off a huge 31-10 upset victory at Auburn last week.
Arizona is going to a bowl game for the first time in five years, and Georgia Tech reached bowl eligibility for the first time since 2018 with a 31-22 win over Syracuse last week.
Pac-12 Swan Song Has Been Incredible
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Of course the Pac-12's final season as a conference as we know it had to be one of its greatest seasons ever.
For starters, it has two legitimate playoff contenders in both 11-0 Washington and 10-1 Oregon, whose one loss came against the Huskies last month. And the teams' respective head coaches, Kalen DeBoer and Dan Lanning, are both still in their second seasons at their schools.
Washington and Oregon are the headliners, but the conference is quite deep elsewhere. There are five other teams sitting with seven or more wins. Arizona and Oregon State are both 8-3, with real shots at reaching nine or 10 wins on the season.
Both feats are impressive, especially considering the Wildcats' rise over the last two years. Head coach Jedd Fisch went 6-18 in his first two seasons before leading them to an 8-3 mark this year.
Arizona can also make it into its first-ever Pac-12 title game if Oregon State upsets Oregon this week. This year is also on pace to be the Wildcats' best since the 10-4 mark under Rich Rodriguez in 2014.
Oregon State, which reached nine 10 wins for only the second time in school history last season, is also 8-3 so far. All three of the Beavers' losses to Washington State, Arizona and Washington have come by three points or less.
USC, Utah and UCLA all have seven wins on the year. Colorado is a disappointing 4-7, but Deion Sanders brought a renewed excitement and energy surrounding a historically bad program in just a season.
Oh, not to mention Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix are legitimate Heisman contenders, USC's Caleb Williams is a top-five NFL draft prospect, and Wazzu QB Cameron Ward is fifth in the nation in passing yards (3,426) with 22 touchdowns and five interceptions.
The conference also boasts 1,000-yard receivers such as Oregon's Troy Franklin and Washington's Rome Odunze, and 1,000-yard rushers in Cal's Jaydn Ott and Oregon State's Damien Martinez.
Yeah, I'd say the Pac-12 is having one heck of a year. It's only fitting that it comes in the last season of its existence before most of its members break away to the new Big Ten.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Watching Surprise Contenders Defy Expectations Has Been a Blast
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You love to see college football programs do better than they are expected to in a given season. But there have been a few teams that have emerged as legitimate contenders in 2023, even if they really weren't expected to.
We mentioned Arizona and UNLV previously, but both fall into this category. The Rebels finished below-.500 for nine straight seasons before Barry Odom's turnaround. The Wildcats were predicted to finish eighth in the conference by the preseason media poll.
Instead, Arizona can play in the conference title game vs. Washington with a win over Arizona State and Oregon State upsetting Oregon this week.
Louisville is a legitimate contender to win the ACC this year in Jeff Brohm's first season as head coach. The former Cardinals quarterback has led his team to a 10-1 mark, and it will play for its first-ever ACC title against Florida State next week.
Speaking of first-year coaches at their respective schools, Jamey Chadwell has wasted no time winning big at Liberty. The Flames are 11-0 with a road game against a 3-8 UTEP standing in the way of a first-ever perfect regular season since moving to the FBS in 2018.
A win over another surprise contender in New Mexico State would give Liberty a C-USA title in its very first season within the conference.
And we have to include James Madison here. The Dukes are 10-1 on the season, with just one loss to App State in overtime last week.
Although JMU can't participate in a bowl game this season due to the NCAA's two-year transition period rule that prohibits postseason play, it has solidified itself as favorite to win the Sun Belt next season.
The Dukes, who moved up to the FBS just last season, have improved dramatically from their 8-3 mark last season.
Colorado's Descent from Fast Start Was Fascinating
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It's still pretty incredible that despite starting out 3-0 on the season and taking the college football world by storm, Colorado will finish 2023 without even making a bowl.
The Buffaloes became college football's Cinderella story after defeating the defending Big 12 champions TCU in Week 1. They then beat Nebraska and rival Colorado State in back-to-back weeks.
Colorado was ranked as high as 18th in the country at one point, but it fell 42-6 at Oregon and dropped a second consecutive loss, 48-41, to USC. Following a 27-24 win at Arizona State, the wheels fell off in Boulder.
The Buffs enter Saturday's regular-season finale at Utah riding a five-game losing streak, which dates back to a 46-43 loss to Stanford in double overtime on Oct. 13. The Buffs led the Cardinal 29-0 at halftime before they stormed back to win just their second game of the season.
Including that one, Colorado has lost four one-score games to USC, Oregon State and Arizona this year.
"We're so close is what I told the team but yet so far," Sanders told KXAN after the loss to Arizona. "We just simply, truly don't know how to win yet and it's not for lack of effort, not for lack of coaching with the staff and the support staff. … Everybody around is doing a phenomenal job. We just can't get over that hump."
Despite having star players like quarterback Shedeur Sanders, running back Dylan Edwards, receiver Xavier Weaver and cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter on its roster, Colorado struggled badly in the trenches.
The Buffs have given up the most sacks (54) of any team in the country. The lack of line depth showed throughout the season, so Sanders will have to build some depth there both with recruiting and the transfer portal this offseason.
Still, there were a lot of positives in his first season at Colorado, despite the disappointing finish. Bringing a historically struggling program renewed national attention paired with record-setting attendance numbers is a positive step.
Last Year of 4-Team Playoff System Might Finally Have Some Drama
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Since the four-team playoff came into existence in 2014, the final quartet have been awarded berths without a ton of drama or teams being seemingly left out.
Sure, TCU and Baylor being omitted in 2014 thanks to the Big 12's silly "co-champions" moniker was memorable. Ohio State's 2017 team could also have had an argument for a bid.
For the most part, the criteria has been relatively simple: Don't have two losses, either win or play in your conference title game and finish either unbeaten or with just one loss.
As things stand, though, there's a real possibility for multiple one-loss teams all worthy of a bid to be left in limbo in the end. Each team in the top five is undefeated: Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, Washington and Florida State.
Behind them, Oregon, Texas, Alabama and Louisville have just one loss. If all four of these teams win their respective Pac-12, Big 12, SEC and ACC championship games, what happens to the one-loss Georgia, FSU, Washington teams from there? What does the committee do with an Alabama team that beats Georgia but lost to a one-loss conference championship Texas team? How much does Seminoles starting quarterback Jordan Travis' injury impact FSU's ranking?
As you can see, there are a ton of scenarios that could play out between now and Selection Sunday which could cause some major chaos. And this will make the 12-team playoff coming next season even more inviting. Bring it on.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
