Virginia Tech and other teams who can crash the expanded College Football Playoff

We talk about Cinderella’s a lot in college basketball, but every year we get a magical run from a team that’s unexpected. Liberty made an undefeated run all the way to the New Years’ Six in 2023, Cincinnati made the College Football Playoff and we all remember UCF in 2017 (they won’t let us forget).

With the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams, there are more opportunities to sneak into the playoff and make noise. The access other teams that might not win their conference will have to making the small dance is bigger than ever, and with that comes some party crashers.

Here are six teams that can crash the CFB party in 2024.

Virginia Tech
I am extremely high on the Virginia Tech Hokies going into the 2024 season. Per ESPN’s Bill Connelly the Hokies return 86% of their production from last year, a team that won four of their final six games. During that stretch, young QB Kyron Drones really grew into his own as a QB, as well as a defense that finished 30th in the entire country in Passing EPA allowed per attempt (min. 100 attempts). Head coach Brent Pry has done an amazing job with the Hokies thus far, and with a recruiting and transfer class that finished sixth and fifth in the ACC, respectively, VT might just be back.

Texas A&M
The Aggies will be under a new head coach in 2024 with former DC Mike Elko taking the reigns, but Texas A&M has the potential to be a massive party crasher in a now loaded SEC. Bringing in Collin Klein to run the offense was a fantastic move; he’s on the come up as a playcaller and helped design a really versatile offense at Kansas State. It all hinges on if QB Conner Weigman returns from injury healthy, however if he’s close enough to 100% that offense could scare a lot of teams in the SEC. Defensively, bringing in Purdue transfer Nic Scourton to go along with Shemar Turner on the defensive line is going to be a major boost up front. The schedule won’t be easy, especially with a game against Notre Dame off the jump. But if they can get to the Missouri game around 4-1, then things get interesting.

West Virginia
What a turnaround this would be for Neal Brown, who goes from potentially being fired to possibly crashing the CFP party. West Virginia is 24th in returning production, but a lot of it is led by QB Garrett Greene, who is unafraid of testing teams downfield. With the QB to put up a lot of points in the Big 12 and the powerful running of CJ Donaldson, the Mountaineers are going to be a problem for everyone. Two early tests against Penn State and Kansas should tell us a lot about this team.

Northwestern Wildcats
I promise I’m not being a homer when I say this: the Northwestern Wildcats are going to be a good football team this year. After making and winning a bowl game under new HC David Braun, the Wildcats bring back 76% of their total production last year, sixth-most in the country. This includes a large majority of a defense that finished the season in the top 40 in EPA allowed against the pass and run. Quarterback is going to be a big question mark, but if they can figure it out over a relatively easy stretch to start the season, they could be a team to watch.

Memphis
Memphis has one of the best G5 offenses in the country, led by returning QB Seth Henigan, a top candidate for best G5 player in America. The Tigers return most of Heningan’s top receiving targets as well. Defensively, there’s a lot of work to be done but if the offense can keep them in the race, they could crash the party as a G5 this season.

Jacksonville State Gamecocks
Ok, now the Gamecocks can be a party crasher. After going 9-4 last year with a win over UL Lafayette in the New Orleans Bowl, the Gamecocks are back and can be a serious challenger to Liberty in Conference USA. They return 77% of their production on defense, a unit that finished 4th in overall EPA per play last year. Offensively, Zion Turner comes over from UConn to be the QB, but the offense shouldn’t miss too much of a bit. Rich Rodriguez knows how to coach up an offense, and keeping 4/5 starters along the offensive line seems pretty good as well.