The 2024 season marked a period of new beginnings across college football. Fifteen teams joined new conferences, including 13 at the power conference level. In fact, all four power leagues featured a new team in their title games, while three FBS teams won titles in their new conference.
The new leagues all came with complications. Army had to play a conference schedule for only the eighth time in program history after joining the American Athletic Conference. Stanford and California had to travel across the country for most of their ACC games. UCLA had back-to-back road games in New Jersey and Nebraska after joining the Big Ten. At the end of it, though, many of them emerged better off than ever before.
To be clear, this is a list about teams that made better debuts than anyone could have expected. It’s not a ranking of teams. For example, Oregon is the No. 1 team in the nation and won the Big Ten, but will not be No. 1 on this list because expectations were so high coming into the year.
Without further ado, here’s how we rank the debuts for all 15 teams to join a new conference in 2024.
This season: 11-2, 7-2 Big 12 (Big 12 champion)
Last season: 3-9, 2-7 Pac-12
The No. 12 Sun Devils might be the biggest surprise in college football this season. Arizona State was picked last place in the Big 12 heading into the season, but instead crushed Iowa State 45-19 to win the Big 12 on Saturday at AT&T Stadium. Running back Cameron Skattebo, an FCS transfer from Sacramento State, finished second only to Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty in all-purpose yards. Arizona State was not considered a top get by the Big 12 during realignment, with most of the focus on Utah. Instead, the Sun Devils – led by exciting young coach Kenny Dillingham – are the cream of the crop.
This season: 11-2, 8-0 ACC
Last season: 11-3, 8-0 AAC (AAC champion)
No one in the sport took a bigger swing than SMU, which opted to forgo TV revenue for nine years just to buy their way into the conference. This is a school that has not played major college football since the collapse of the Southwest Conference and has spent the last 30 years waiting for their moment. The Mustangs shockingly earned a trip to the ACC title game and College Football Playoff under third-year coach Rhett Lashlee. While they came just short of winning the ACC, No. 10 SMU proved once and for all it belongs on the national stage. No one should have expected that it would happen so soon.
3. Army
This season: 11-1, 8-0 AAC (AAC champion)
Last season: 6-6 as FBS independent
Army went through an identity crisis over the past two seasons, going 6-6 each season. The program had only played seven years in any conference since starting football in 1891. As first-year members of the AAC, Army found itself. The No. 22 Black Knights posted an 11-1 record and captured the AAC title after winning all nine games against conference opponents, including a 35-14 domination of Tulane in the title game. Quarterback Bryson Daily tied Ashton Jeanty for the most rushing touchdowns in college football this season while leading Army to its best rushing offense since 2017. Army has historically been reluctant to join a conference, but the Black Knights proved they can compete with anyone.
4. Oregon
This season: 13-0, 9-0 Big Ten (Big Ten champion)
Last season: 12-2, 8-1 Pac-12
There’s a new power in the Big Ten to compete with Ohio State and Michigan. Oregon came into the year with high expectations and blasted through them, shocking the Buckeyes in Eugene and delivering a conference championship. The No. 1 Ducks will be a popular pick to win the national championship and could deliver the first back-to-back Big Ten national titles recognized by the NCAA since 1966. The only reason that Oregon isn’t at the top of this list is because this success was expected. Dan Lanning is building a monster.
This season: 11-2, 7-1 SEC
Last season: 12-2, 8-1 Big 12 (Big 12 champion)
Like Oregon, the Longhorns had lofty expectations coming into the season and fully met them. Texas was picked No. 2 in the preseason SEC poll and finished first in the regular season, landing as the only one-loss team in the conference. They fell short in overtime to Georgia, but still earned a trip to the CFP as the top at-large squad. Granted, No. 3 Texas ended up having a surprise favorable schedule after Oklahoma and Michigan both tanked, but the performance was serious. The Longhorns are everything they hoped they’d be in the SEC. Their success would have been unimaginable when the move was announced in 2021, right before a 5-7 season.
This season: 9-3, 7-2 Big 12
Last season: 4-8, 1-8 Pac-12
The Buffaloes were formerly members of the Big 12 and Big 8, but left for the Pac-12 in 2011. Over the more than a decade in the conference, Colorado won more than five games only one. Returning to the Big 12 was a perfect fit. Deion Sanders helped lead No. 23 Colorado to nine wins, only the second time the program has reached that mark since 2004. The performances were strong enough to earn athlete Travis Hunter a trip to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. What looked like a sideshow in 2023 has suddenly become a problem in 2024 for college football.
This season: 6-6, 4-5 Big Ten
Last season: 14-1, 9-0 Pac-12 (Pac-12 champion)
The 2024 season was always going to be a rebuilding year after losing 10 NFL Draft picks and three first rounders off a team that reached the national championship. It wasn’t a pretty season, but the Huskies had enough nice moments to at least reach the middle class of this list. Washington won a rematch against Michigan and upset USC along the way. They also crushed UCLA after the Bruins found their groove. A loss to Washington State will stick with them, but Jedd Fisch has things heading in the right direction.
8. California
This season: 6-6, 2-6 ACC
Last season: 6-7, 4-5 Pac-12
A 6-6 season during the ACC debut season isn’t bad for Cal, but they got knocked for losing what could have been. The Golden Bears upset Auburn in the nonconference and entered a matchup with FSU at 3-0, but handed the Seminoles their only FBS win of the year. In fact, five of their six losses were by one score, including a four-game losing streak by a total of nine points. They had a good showing, but deserved more.
9. USC
This season: 6-6, 4-5 Big Ten
Last season: 8-5, 5-4 Pac-12
The Trojans’ debut in the Big Ten wasn’t great, but above all it was deeply weird. Five of the six losses were by only one score, including multiple that went down to the goal line. The season arguably peaked in nonconference play with a 27-20 win over LSU and the program now has major questions to answer at quarterback after making a change midseason from Miller Moss to Jayden Maiava. There were reasons for optimism because of the growth on defense, but where does Lincoln Riley go from here?
10. UCLA
This season: 5-7, 3-6 Big Ten
Last season: 8-5, 4-5 Pac-12
First-year coach DaShaun Foster was left in a disastrous situation after former coach Chip Kelly left midseason, but the Bruins quietly turned things around. After upsetting Rutgers on Oct. 19, UCLA finished the season 4-2, with a loss to USC coming by only six points. All four wins were over bowl eligibility teams, including Iowa and Nebraska.
This season: 4-8, 2-7 Big 12
Last season: 10-3, 7-2 Pac-12
The Wildcats caught lightning in a bottle in 2023 en route to a 10-win season, but it became clear in Week 3 under a new staff that Arizona was not capable of repeating it. The program won only two Big 12 games and also got crushed by Kansas State, which was a nonconference game because of scheduling quirks. There’s a chance that Arizona doesn’t have a trio as talented as Tetaroia McMillan, Tacario Davis and Jonah Savaiinaea on campus again for decades. Fumbling this bag is a disaster.
12. Utah
This season: 5-7, 2-7 Big 12
Last season: 8-5, 5-4 in Pac-12
Utah had the highest expectations of almost any team joining a new conference. The Utes won two of the final three Pac-12 titles and were heavy favorites to win the Big 12 in their first season. Instead, after an injury to starting quarterback Cameron Rising, Utah tanked. The Utes went on a seven-game losing streak in the heart of Big 12 play and only beat UCF and Oklahoma State, which went a combined 2-16 in Big 12 play. While the Rising injury provides some context, it’s truly inexplicable that Kyle Whittingham didn’t have any contingency plans in the quarterback room. Next year, he’s starting from scratch on offense.
13. Oklahoma
This season: 6-6, 2-6 SEC
Last season: 10-3, 7-2 Big 12
After a 10-win season in 2023, coach Brent Venables signed an extension with Oklahoma that will pay him nearly $50 million guaranteed. He then went on to lead the Sooners to the program’s worst season since 1998. Oklahoma’s offense was a total disaster, ranking No. 121 nationally, and only ahead of Northwestern and Florida State in yards per play. It took a shocking dose of Sooner Magic for Oklahoma to come back against 5-7 Auburn and reach bowl eligibility. If not for an upset victory over Alabama, the Sooners might have been last on this list. This is still one of the three greatest programs in football history, but the start could not have been much worse. In one season, Venables has gone from earning an extension to the hot seat.
14. Stanford
This season: 3-9, 2-6 ACC
Last season: 3-9, 2-7 Pac-12
The Cardinal’s first year in the ACC looked quite like the last in the Pac-12, finishing 3-9 with two conference wins. This year, though, featured an eight-game conference schedule with a nonconference loss to San Jose State. Wins over Syracuse and Louisville show the potential of Troy Taylor’s program, but a loss to Wake Forest at home is a game that the program simply must have. Taylor will get time at Stanford, but results have to come quicker.
This season: 2-10, 2-6 Conference USA
Last season: 3-6 as FCS independent
Transitioning up to FBS is hard, and the Owls did pull a major upset against conference favorite Liberty for a signature moment of the season. However, Kennesaw State later fired longtime coach Brian Bohannon and lost most of its top players to the transfer portal. New coach Jerry Mack led NC Central to a 31-15 record and three MEAC titles, but this is a program that needs to be built from the ground up. They are not ready for this level.
