It seems like it was just yesterday that the college football season ended as Michigan topped Washington in the national title game in Houston. When the game ended, the worst time of the year began for college football fans: the dreaded offseason. Nearly eight months without college football. It feels like it just started, but we have somehow already made it to May. The weather is getting warmer, and we are getting closer to football season. Spring football just concluded for Georgia football, and Bulldogs fans can’t wait for the 2024 season to roll around.
Spring football is one of the best times of the college football offseason as a sense of hope comes to every fan base around the country. It’s exciting to see your team in action in the first time, even though it’s just a scrimmage. You started to see the roster taking shape and projected depth charts start trickling out. Spring football is the first sign of the season, and now that it’s over, college football fans are really in the home stretch. The cold winter months are tough to survive without football, but the excitement that comes with spring football makes everything easier. There is still a ways to go before the new season, but it is coming.
This next season of college football is going to be an exciting one, and there are a ton of reasons to be looking forward to it. There are a lot of changes coming to the game like rule changes, coaching changes, conference changes and playoff changes. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the new season will be the new conferences. The Pac-12 is gone, and the Big Ten and SEC are going to be loaded. They both seem to be on the verge of forming super conferences.
The SEC will be welcoming Texas and Oklahoma to the conference next year, and the Big Ten is getting a good crop of Pac-12 teams as USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington are all joining the conference. Both the Big Ten and the SEC are going to be absolutely loaded next year, and it seems like more schools will potentially join the conferences in the future.
Next season, the College Football Playoff will look different as well as it is expanding to 12 teams. There will also be first round games on college campuses. More teams will have a chance to make the CFP, and there will be more games. It’s going to be fun.
Georgia football wants to return to the top this season
The Georgia football team looked unstoppable for a couple years there when they won back-to-back national titles. The Bulldogs had been close leading up to that 2021 season, and then they finally broke through. The 2022 season was a different type of dominant, however. Georgia finished the season 15-0 and their win over TCU in the national title game was one of the most lopsided national title games ever.
Georgia football came into the 2023 season looking to win a third straight national title, but Alabama had different plans. The Bulldogs had everything go to plan in the regular season as they took care of business each week. It wasn’t super flashy or loud, but the Bulldogs just kept winning and held a top ranking in college football. Then, Georgia lost against Alabama in the SEC title game, and they dropped all the way out of the top-four rankings after going into the game ranked #1. Just like that, one little slip up cost the Bulldogs their season.
In bowl season, Georgia football went to the Orange Bowl to take on Florida State. Both teams felt like they should’ve made the College Football Playoff, and the Bulldogs really wanted to prove that. They dominated the Seminoles and ended up winning 63-3.
Now, Georgia is getting ready for the next season, and they want to return to the mountaintop of college football. The Bulldogs have a lot of talent on their team and they are expected to be one of the best teams in college football yet again. Georgia returned a good amount of production from last year’s team, but they also have lost a good amount of players to the transfer portal. The Bulldogs are bringing in nine transfers, and they have lost 24. Most of those players left before the spring window, and that is where they lost their biggest player makers. Here is the portal departure that hurts the most from the spring window.
Andrew Paul, RB
Andrew Paul was a true freshman last season and he had a solid year for it being his first experience playing college football. Paul finished the year with 29 carries for 129 yards and one touchdown. He averaged over 4.4 yards per carry. Paul was obviously in a backup role last year, but that is to be expected for a true freshman. He played well when he came into the game, and it looks like he has a bright future ahead. That future is not with Georgia football, however.
It’s unclear where Andrew Paul is headed, but he did take a visit to Michigan State recently. The Spartans are breaking in a new head coach and they are coming off of a dreadful season. There will certainly be a lot of starting jobs up for grabs in East Lansing.
Michigan State is also still an attractive option for RB transfers after we saw what happened with Kenneth Walker III a few years ago. He came to the Spartans from Wake Forest and ended up being one of the best RBs in college football. He is now in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks.
Andrew Paul should be able to put up a solid season next year wherever he ends up after getting another offseason under his belt. He showed a lot of promise during that freshman season, now he needs to build on it.
At the end of the day, Georgia football didn’t lose anyone in the spring window that was going to be a starter during the 2024 season. The Bulldogs kept things intact for the most part, and they should be very good yet again next season.
