It’s the time of year when we all assess our lives, look at things that we need to improve and resolve to take steps toward fixing those gaps over the next 12 months.
Most of us do this in some capacity; few of us follow through.
With the 2023 college football season winding down, bowls ongoing, the playoffs ahead of us and a lot to look forward to over the ’24 season and onward, teams are doing the same thing. In some cases, these are quick-turn goals that could pay off in a big way. In others, it’s a step in the right direction for a long-term thing.
If New Year’s resolutions were a real thing for the Top 25 teams in college football, what would they be?
Using the ’23 final College Football Playoff rankings, let’s take a look at what the goal for the new year should be for each of the programs.
No. 25 Kansas State Wildcats: Turn the Page
Following last year’s Big 12 championship run, 2023 wasn’t the season coach Chris Klieman wanted. It wasn’t a bad follow-up, though, but the Wildcats need to prove they are still a force in the new-look conference in ’24. That starts on offense.
With senior quarterback Will Howard in the transfer portal and favorite son Collin Klein bolting his alma mater to become the new offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, Klieman must reinvent that side of the ball.
The centerpiece, of course, will be dual-threat signal-caller Avery Johnson, who was too talented to keep off the field as a true freshman this year and showed a glimpse of what he can do in a bowl win over North Carolina State.
He needs to mesh with the new offensive coordinator and provide a look at the next wave of Wildcats offense in the Little Apple.
No. 24 SMU Mustangs: Prepare for New Environs
Coach Rhett Lashlee’s team may have gotten a look at how life in the Power Five is going to be when it took on Boston College in Thursday’s Fenway Bowl. It wasn’t pretty.
The Eagles smothered the Mustangs’ high-powered offense in a 23-14 win, and SMU is scheduled to play Boston College four times in the next six years as it makes its move to the ACC. Are the Mustangs ready? They didn’t look like it in the warm-up.
Getting injured star quarterback Preston Stone back to lead the explosive offense will be key, but SMU needs to recruit better players (from high school and the transfer portal) to make noise in the ACC.
No. 23 Liberty Flames: Keep the Stage
The 2023 season was a bit of a coming-out party for the Liberty Flames, with an undefeated run that led to a Fiesta Bowl showdown with Oregon. Yes, there was a reality check once they got to the Ducks, but this is a quality Group of Five program.
Coach Jamey Chadwell is a worthy successor to Hugh Freeze, and the Flames have a bunch of weapons returning and surrounding quarterback Kaidon Salter. While Liberty isn’t really a threat to win a national championship, this could become a sneaky-strong powerhouse in the lower levels.
With the College Football Playoff expanding next year, Liberty is poised to keep its threat of being one of the teams in the mix. They’ve already put together a strong recruiting class, and a few portal wins would be massive.
No. 22 Clemson Tigers: Join the Times, Dabo
Wake up, Dabo Swinney.
Seriously, Clemson’s approach to the transfer portal (or lack thereof) is archaic, and the sport is going to pass the proud program by if something doesn’t change. Still, it looks like the coach’s stubbornness isn’t going away anytime soon.
So far, 13 Tigers players have entered the transfer portal, and there are some good ones who did, too. Cornerback Toriano Pride (Missouri), safety Andrew Mukuba (Texas) and receiver Beaux Collins (Notre Dame) all wound up with contenders.
Still, Clemson hasn’t added anybody from the portal and doesn’t seem like it’s going to run the risk of upsetting any “culture” that may or may not exist. Meanwhile, Tigers opponents keep improving through the portal. It’s puzzling, at best.
No. 21 Tennessee Volunteers: Embrace Transition
No matter what the statistics look like, Tennessee’s defensive backfield hasn’t been very good the past three years. Now, the Vols are looking at a complete overhaul at that position.
That shouldn’t be considered a bad thing after a shutout win over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl.
Seven Vols DBs entered the transfer portal and another two starters (Jaylen McCullough and Kamal Hadden) are out of eligibility. This is going to be a youth movement in Knoxville over the next year.
Transfers Jermod McCoy (Oregon State) and Jakobe Thomas (Middle Tennessee) will factor in a major way. Freshman Rickey Gibson has the potential to be a star cornerback, and quality recruiting at the position needs to show up. Watch out for incoming freshmen Boo Carter and Kaleb Beasley, and Tennessee may not be done in the portal, either.
The back end of the defense is about to get a lot more talented (albeit inexperienced).
No. 20 Oklahoma State Cowboys: Get Ollie Some Help
Once coach Mike Gundy and the Cowboys decided to ride running back Ollie Gordon this season, they did it all the way to a Texas Bowl win over Texas A&M. Oh, and Gordon won the Doak Walker Award, which goes to the nation’s top runner, too.
Now, Gordon has announced he’s returning to Stillwater for another year, and Gundy needs to get him some help.
While quarterback Alan Bowman awaits an NCAA decision on a seventh year, Gundy needs to look to upgrade that position. Bowman was far too turnover-prone this year, and Oklahoma State was one-dimensional. Adding some weapons at receiver from the portal would be huge, too.
The Cowboys already have their offensive centerpiece, but more is needed.
No. 19 Oregon State Beavers: Find a Sense of Normalcy
There’s no question the ’23 season was a brutal one for Oregon State. This is a quality program that finished in the Top 20, only to see the college football realignment train run them over, their coach leave his alma mater for more stability and their stars head to the portal.
Jonathan Smith left for Michigan State, and assistant coach Trent Bray took over. He will lead the Beavers into the unknown as Oregon State will prepare to play four Power Five schools (Oregon, Purdue, California, Washington State) in ’24, along with Mountain West opponents.
With the Pac-12 dissolving and leaving the Beavers and Washington State Cougars without a home, the future is uncertain. They’ve got to weather this immediate deluge and get a grip on how the future looks.
No. 18 North Carolina State Wolfpack: Open Up a Little More
When you think of the Wolfpack offense under coach Dave Doeren, you don’t exactly think of a wide-open, high-octane unit that produces a ton of points. It certainly wasn’t under transfer quarterback Brennan Armstrong this past year.
But NC State hit transfer-portal gold with Grayson McCall deciding to play his final year in Raleigh after a legendary career at Coastal Carolina.
McCall is an electrifying, do-it-all player, and the Wolfpack need more playmakers around him than KC Concepcion. If they can identify them (like transfer tight end Justin Joly), it’s up to offensive coordinator Robert Anae to open things up a little more and let McCall be McCall.
No. 17 Iowa Hawkeyes: Take Offense
Kirk Ferentz has cultivated a championship-caliber defense during his time in Iowa City, and the Hawkeyes won 10 games this year during the regular season despite an inexplicably horrible offense that saw Kirk’s son, Brian, let go from his position as coordinator.
The highest win total of any team that averaged fewer than 250 total yards per game had been the UCF Knights in 2008 until Iowa somehow got 10 this year.
Now, with a new coordinator to be hired, surely the Hawkeyes will at least come out of the dark ages of run-run-pass-punt. Iowa needs to find a quarterback with a pulse in the portal and a coordinator who can move the ball. It’s essential for the program’s future.
Imagine what they’d be with a competent offense.
No. 16 Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Build Toward a ‘Home-Grown’ Leader
With how Marcus Freeman is recruiting in South Bend, there’s no question the Fighting Irish program is improving. But this will be the second consecutive season they’ve gone with a “quick fix” quarterback from the transfer portal.
That’s OK. It’s just not sustainable.
After Sam Hartman this year, the Irish have Riley Leonard coming in from Duke in ’24. That’s big news for a program that doesn’t have many viable options under center. But they finally have an elite incoming freshman in CJ Carr enrolled at Notre Dame.
Next year is Leonard’s, but the future needs to be Carr’s. That continuity could help the Irish get back to championship-level. Carr needs to learn from Leonard, get some hands-on training, and be ready to take over in 2025.
No. 15 Louisville Cardinals: Build on a Positive ’23
No matter how you look at it, this season was a major positive for the Louisville Cardinals in Jeff Brohm’s first season at his alma mater.
They won 10 games, and despite losing to Florida State in the ACC championship game and getting beaten by two touchdowns by USC’s backup quarterback in the Holiday Bowl, nobody expected they’d do what they did this year.
Even so, it’s hard to not feel like there was a lot of fool’s gold in the season. Brohm needs to continue to build a program through recruiting (which isn’t going well) and the portal (which is), but sustain things for the long haul. This was an incredibly strong first step, but Louisville isn’t an elite program yet. That’s Brohm’s charge.
No. 14 Arizona Wildcats: Believe in Yourself
This is real. After an Alamo Bowl win over Oklahoma on Thursday night got the Wildcats to 10 wins, it’s time to take a look at coach Jedd Fisch’s team and say, “They can do big things.”
With Noah Fifita at quarterback and a slew of playmakers around him, the Wildcats are set for next year’s move to the Big 12. They may not just go to new surroundings, though: They could win the dang thing.
“We’re just getting started,” Fisch told reporters at the official pregame press conference Wednesday. This is just the fourth time since 1930 they reached the 10-win mark.
You may not realize, for all the talk about the offensive juggernaut, the Wildcats are 37th nationally in total defense. This is a program built on development and exceptional recruiting finds. Moving to the Big 12 next year, the Wildcats may just be the favorite.
No. 13 LSU Tigers: Improve Self-Defense
We could say “prepare for life without Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels” here, but the Tigers are in good hands with Garrett Nussmeier taking over under center next year.
What Brian Kelly really has to do is fix the defense. He told NOLA.com’s Wilson Alexander the defense didn’t meet “our standard” this year. Basically, the Bayou Bengals had a title-winning offense and a horrific defense that finished 104th nationally, 93rd in rush defense and 103rd in pass defense.
It was brutal across the board.
Will that mean coordinator Matt House will be replaced? If he’s back, you have to think the ice is thinner than it would be during an overnight bayou cold front. It has to get fixed if LSU is going to contend for bigger things.
No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners: Get After It
Following a disastrous first season under Brent Venables, the Sooners were back to being a beast in the Big 12 this past season, but all is not resolved.
With a move to the SEC coming next year, OU simply must improve its defense, starting with a putrid pass rush that finished 119th nationally this year with just 19 regular-season sacks. That’s beyond awful, and Venables’ defenses have a rich history of pressuring QBs, so that has to change.
Young guys like incoming lineman David Stone, Dasan McCullough, Adepoju Adebawore and others somehow must transform that room. If they don’t, they’ll get obliterated in the SEC.
This was a nice first step, but it’s got to be better. They expect more in Norman.
No. 11 Ole Miss Rebels: Go Win It
If Alabama and Georgia are going to have competition to win the SEC in ’24, it’s going to come from Ole Miss. The Rebels are absolutely loaded.
Not only do they have quarterback Jaxson Dart and running back Quinshon Judkins returning and perhaps the best recruiting class coach Lane Kiffin has put together, they have torn it up in the transfer portal. Add in playmaking receiver Antwane “Juice” Wells from South Carolina, and the offense is going to churn out points.
Walter Nolen is a game-changer at defensive tackle, and Tennessee transfer Tyler Baron will be a force off the edge. The Rebels also got Vols safety Tamarion McDonald, Oklahoma safety Key Lawrence, Florida edge Princely Umanmielen and Mississippi State cornerback Decamerion Richardson to load the defense.
With this roster, anything short of a playoff appearance is a disappointment.
Catch What’s Coming Your Way
So much was made this year about redshirt freshman Drew Allar’s uneven season in his first year starting for Penn State. But the young man had very little help.
Not only did a vaunted Nittany Lions rushing attack never really get going (4.6 yards per carry), there were far too many ups and downs at wide receiver. Allar didn’t have anybody who could consistently break open a game.
Penn State didn’t finish in the top 90 in passing offense, and while KeAndre Lambert-Smith led the team with a ho-hum 673 receiving yards, no other pass-catcher eclipsed 325 yards. No other wide receiver even got to the 300-yard mark.
Coach James Franklin has to fix that. Allar has too much talent to not surround him with weapons.
It appears the Lions are going to land former Ohio State pass-catcher and 5-star prospect Julian Fleming, a Pennsylvania native, and that’s massive considering they’ve struck out so far in the portal.
They need more. Jay Maclin (Kentucky), Deion Burkes (Oklahoma), and Andre Greene Jr. (Virginia) were all targets with PSU offers who went elsewhere. Indiana transfer Jaylin Lucas is still being courted, and the Lions need more help. Will they get it for Allar?
Replace Your Heart and Soul
Out of all these New Year’s resolutions, the Missouri Tigers may have the easiest on paper, but it may wind up being the most difficult.
They’ve got to find a way to replace star running back Cody Schrader.
While this is just a former Division II player and walk-on for the Tigers, he turned into the heart and soul of coach Eli Drinkwitz’s upstart team in 2023, a group that wound up making it all the way to the Cotton Bowl to upset Ohio State.
On the surface, replacing Schrader shouldn’t be hard. There are more talented players on Mizzou’s roster right now, and the Tigers got graduate transfer Marcus Carroll from Georgia State to be next year’s “man” in the backfield.
As talented and steady as Carroll is, asking him to be Schrader—a Doak Walker Award finalist who ran for 1,499 yards and 13 scores while leading the nation in yards per game—is impossible.
Not only did he produce, but it was also his dream to play for Mizzou, and he fulfilled his lifelong desire by becoming a legend in a season in Columbia.
Drinkwitz has a lot of talent on the roster, and he is bringing in even more. But Cody Schraders don’t grow on trees.
Put It All Together
The Oregon Ducks have all the ingredients, even with Heisman Trophy finalist Bo Nix heading off to the NFL.
They’ve gone out to the transfer portal and replaced him with Oklahoma star Dillon Gabriel, a one-year rental. After him, they also have talented former UCLA 5-star recruit Dante Moore coming in from the portal, as well.
Northwest Missouri State star running back Jay Harris is coming to Eugene, too.
The Ducks have playmakers at every level, including Troy Franklin, who should be among the top pass-catchers in the nation in 2024. They are elite on defense, and outside of Georgia, Alabama and Texas, nobody is recruiting as consistently as Dan Lanning.
While things get a little more difficult in a loaded Big Ten in 2024, there’s no question the Oregon Ducks have everything needed to win a national championship. This year, they ran into a Washington buzz saw that kept them out.
Is ’24 the Ducks’ season? Lanning seems on the cusp of massive things. Their resolution is to find the perfect concoction to make it to the playoffs and beyond.
Figure Out QB1
Devin Brown’s big audition just happened when Ohio State took on Missouri in the Cotton Bowl, and he didn’t exactly win over the room. Neither did Lincoln Kienholz.
But there are plenty of twists and turns left in this potential quarterback battle for 2024 at Ohio State.
This storyline is simply going to dominate college football headlines over the next few months.
Will it be Brown? How about talented youngster Kienholz? Incoming talented true freshman Air Noland has a ton of potential, too.
Kyle McCord wasn’t dynamic enough this past season and transferred to Syracuse. While the Buckeyes flirted with some names in the transfer portal, it appears Will Howard will wind up elsewhere and targets such as Dante Moore and Riley Leonard did, too.
It wouldn’t be a major surprise to see Ohio State look to add somebody from the portal, either now or during the next post-spring practice transfer portal. Whoever wins the job will have a ton of talent around him, but who will seize the gig?
If they weren’t good enough to beat out McCord, are they good enough to win the gig in ’24? That’s the question that could stand between Day and a national championship.
Go Back to the Junkyard
This is really nitpicking on a team that has won consecutive national championships and was just a win over Alabama in the SEC championship game away from getting a chance at three in a row. After a 63-3 win over Florida State, it’s possible this team may still be the best in the nation, even though it won’t show in the final standings.
But the bottom line is coach Kirby Smart has painted his way into a national-championship-or-bust corner in Athens. Nobody’s unhappy with the year, but the Dawgs can be on that pedestal every year.
So, what has to happen to get back there?
Simply put: The defense has to be better. UGA was ninth nationally in total defense, including 27th against the run and 11th against the pass. But they struggled getting to the quarterback (29 total sacks) and didn’t generate many extra possessions with turnovers, finishing No. 110 with just 13 takeaways.
“We still finished top-10 in the majority of stats that matter for a defense. But that’s not our goal,” UGA edge Mykel Williams told The Athletic’s Seth Emerson. “Our goal is to be top one in every statistic that matters for a defense. I feel like we had our ups and downs. We played to the standard at times, but it wasn’t up to that throughout the year.”
The numbers must improve, but the situational plays and stops have to get better, too. UGA’s defense may be younger but even more dynamic in ’24.
Elite guys like safety KJ Bolden, cornerback Ellis Robinson, linebacker Justin Williams and defensive end Joseph Jonah-Ajony are coming in. Potential stars such as Jalon Walker and CJ Allen are going to shine, too. All the elements are there to be elite again.
Get Over the Frustration and Move On
We get it, Florida State. You’re angry. You got robbed. You feel like you belong in the College Football Playoff, and you became the only undefeated Power Five team ever to get left out.
Your argument’s valid. It’s also yelling obscenities into an echo chamber. It’s not going to do any good.
So, here’s the thing: Get over it.
The College Football Playoff committee didn’t think you were good enough to compete without star quarterback Jordan Travis under center, and your Orange Bowl showing where a ton of your team bailed out and you lost by 60 pretty much cemented that was true. Get mad if you want, but at this time, your grief is met with a shrug.
Travis is off to the NFL, so what now?
Coach Mike Norvell has recruited exceptionally. The transfer portal has been wonderful to you, and with DJ Uiagalelei’s New Year’s Day decision to head back to the ACC and to Tallahassee for his final season, you’ve got a centerpiece around which to rebuild the offense.
So, reinvent yourself, move on and keep proving every year that you belong. With an expanded playoff in ’24, you’ll get your chance again. And if you’re honest, you weren’t going to win it this year, anyway. How are you going to regroup without Travis, receivers Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson, defensive linemen Jared Verse and Braden Fiske, etc.?
Focus on sorting out your talent gaps, getting back and proving to everybody you belong.
Reestablish the College Football Pecking Order
The 2023 football season was Nick Saban’s best coaching job, taking a team that was on the cusp of mediocrity early in the season and taking it all the way to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Though they lost 27-20 to top-ranked Michigan in overtime, beating Georgia in the SEC championship game was a major step back to stardom for the Tide, a program measured only in national championships.
So, how do they get back on that podium as the champion? With all this talent in place, it’s simply remembering what jersey you have on, who your coach is and finding a way to essentially show everybody that it doesn’t matter whether anybody thinks you belong in the final four or not—you’re the Alpha who is going to rip all hearts out.
That begins by dispatching Michigan in the semifinals.
Quarterback Jalen Milroe’s offseason development is key. Improving the offensive line is paramount, and giving star freshman Justice Haynes more carries going forward would benefit an offense that needs to continue to grow under Tommy Rees. The offensive coordinator had good moments and bad this year.
But Alabama has to take all this talent and turn it back into championship form. Georgia isn’t going anywhere, and other powerhouses are on the brink too.
This isn’t their first rodeo. It’s time for the top college football program of the past two decades to prove it’s still “The One Who Knocks,” even in a down year.
Build on This Massive First Step
So much is changing and evolving for the Texas Longhorns, the College Football Playoff was just the beginning of proving they’re among the nation’s elite.
No, it didn’t end the way they wanted, as the Horns were a step slow and mistake-prone in the second half of a 37-31 loss to Washington in New Orleans. But it was step 1 to proving the program is definitely back.
The Longhorns have just four national titles, and the last came with Vince Young and Mack Brown in 2005. Before that, it was 1970.
But with a healthy NIL in place, coach Steve Sarkisian calling the shots, and the recruiting prowess making the Longhorns a threat to get any recruit or transfer they go after, it’s a great time to be donning the burnt orange.
Like Oregon, Texas is right on the cusp and farther along than the Ducks.
Next year’s foray into the SEC brings a whole other set of challenges, but this is a program built to compete for conference and national titles right away.
This year sets the stage, but the Horns are here to stay. With quarterback Quinn Ewers expected back next year and tons of weapons on both sides of the ball, the trick now is sustaining this ability to stay at or near the top.
Everything looks lined up for Sark to do it.
Party Like It’s 1991
If you could bottle up this moment, this season, for Washington, wouldn’t you do it? If there’s a way to build on the momentum from the first two incredible seasons under coach Kalen DeBoer, the Huskies have to find it.
DeBoer is an outstanding developer and X’s and O’s guy, so it could make up for less-than-stellar recruiting. Moving to the Big Ten gives them more clout, and they could assert themselves as the aggressor in that league and nationally by beating Michigan in the title game.
Last year, they won 11. This year, they have a spotless record, have won close game after close game and now have a golden opportunity to take down the Top Dog in the league they’re heading to and win their first national title since 1991.
Next year, things get dicey. The Huskies lose Michael Penix Jr., around whom they’ve built their incredible offense. Rome Odunze is gone to the NFL, Ja’Lynn Polk likely is gone after a mammoth season, and Jalen McMillan could be, too.
But the cupboard is far from bare in the receiver room, and DeBoer already got Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers onboard to be Penix’s heir. Like his predecessor, Rogers doesn’t have the biggest arm, but he has pinpoint accuracy, and timing is his game.
So, he should be able to run DeBoer’s system.
Sustained success is possible. We’ll know a year from now how it’s looking. But the bottom line is win it all RIGHT NOW, and this could be the blossoming of a powerhouse.
Bring Another Natty (Finally) to Ann Arbor
Finally, a Big Blue breakthrough instead of a breakdown.
Michigan got the Semifinal Albatross off its back in the College Football Playoffs by dispatching a worthy Alabama team, 27-20 in overtime. Now, all that’s left is finding a way to win one more game and give the Wolverines their first title since 1997.
After that, who knows what’s going to happen? The program may be on tenuous footing with questions moving forward.
Will Harbaugh finally be sick enough of the NCAA and everything surrounding the program and bolt for the NFL, where several teams are sure to want him like they do every year? Speaking of the NCAA, what will its investigations find? The Wolverines have faced everything from recruiting allegations to a sign-stealing controversy, and it’s fair to think there’s some fire somewhere around all this smoke.
J.J. McCarthy has an NFL decision to make of his own, and Blake Corum is gone, no matter what.
While the program is on firm footing, will it be if Harbaugh leaves? What does the QB situation look like post-McCarthy?
Really, none of that matters right now. Win the natty, and make a resolution when you know your program’s identity moving forward. Everything’s easier when you’re the champion.
All stats courtesy of CFBStats and Sports Reference unless otherwise noted. Recruit rankings courtesy of 247Sports unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brad Shepard on Twitter, @Brad_Shepard.
