CFB countdown: 25 questions for the 2024 season, Part 1

After a tumultuous offseason of upheaval, the 2024 college football season is officially upon us.

With significant changes across the landscape, theScore is tackling 25 pertinent questions to get everybody set for kickoff.

The first five deal with the biggest offseason story of the year: conference realignment.

25. Who joined the Big Ten?

In last season's college football finale, we watched Michigan dominate Washington to win the national title game. Though the schools are almost 2,300 miles apart, their next meeting - on Oct. 5 in Seattle - is now a conference game.

Oregon, USC, and UCLA join Washington in the Big Ten, a conference that resides mostly in the Midwest. Their additions give the Big Ten some serious punch and put it right alongside the SEC for supremacy in the sport. Backed with Phil Knight's Nike-filled war chest, Oregon can certainly compete with the best the Big Ten has to offer, but the remaining three schools will be in tough to immediately thrive in the conference.

It'll be particularly interesting to see how the California schools handle the elements in November road games, but the conference threw both UCLA and USC a lifeline by not scheduling them for road trips to the Midwest in the latter weeks of the month.

24. Wait, Stanford and Cal are in the ACC?

That's right, the Atlantic Coast Conference now features two schools that are mere miles from the Pacific Ocean. Of all the nonsensical moves in conference realignment, there's nothing sillier than Cal and Stanford joining a league on the Atlantic coast. The Cardinal's first ACC road game is a 2,800-mile trip to Syracuse, a distance 300 miles further than the Orange's campus is from Iceland. SMU is also joining the two California schools in the ACC to bring the conference's membership to 17. Welcome to college football in 2024.

The California programs finished a combined 9-16 last season. The Mustangs could eventually join the conference's elite, with boosters already contributing more than $100 million following their move. The usual suspects - Florida State, Clemson, and Miami - should still compete for the title, with the elimination of divisions prior to last year paving the way for a blockbuster conference title game.

23. Is the Red River Rivalry now an SEC conference game?

Arguably the weirdest change to come from the realignment will come during October's annual Red River Rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl. For the first time since 1996, Texas and Oklahoma will face off without the Big 12 logo emblazoned on the field.

In the move that started the avalanche of recent realignment, the Longhorns and Sooners will now be members of the mighty SEC. Adding two of the six winningest programs in the sport's history provides more pop to the nation's best conference and adds a significant footprint in Texas.

The Red River Rivalry is the Longhorns' second SEC game of the season after they host Mississippi State, while the Sooners face conference mainstays Tennessee and Auburn in the opening month of the season.

22. Where does that leave the Big 12?

The bad news for the Big 12 is definitely the loss of its two biggest programs in Texas and Oklahoma. The good news? The resulting conference movement has left the league up for grabs in an absolute sweepstakes that might just be the most fun viewing experience in the country.

The Big 12 went shopping in the Pac-12 aisle to scoop up Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado, bringing its total membership to 16. While the Utes and Wildcats represent a bigger threat to the conference title, Deion Sanders' Buffaloes have added an increased spotlight to the league. How Colorado fares after a 4-8 showing in Coach Prime's first season will likely be the biggest national storyline from the Big 12.

In terms of the important stuff, expect Utah to compete for the title, led by seventh-year quarterback Cameron Rising. Kansas State, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Arizona, and UCF all hold odds of 10-1 or less to hoist the trophy at the end of the campaign.

21. Does the Pac-12 still exist?

Yes - sort of. The raging house party that was the Pac-12 conference has now been reduced to an intimate dinner gathering; Oregon State and Washington State are the only ones left in the so-called "Conference of Champions." The two were well-compensated by the 10 schools that exited the Pac-12.

While it'd be very interesting if the two schools just played each other 11 times, that won't happen. The Cougars and Beavers will play each other to end the regular season but will otherwise participate in a Mountain West Conference slate.

The most important thing for Washington State and Oregon State fans is that the rivalry games against Washington and Oregon, respectively, will continue despite their moves to the Big Ten.