50 things about the coming college football season

Conference wars: The ACC-SEC matchups marks the first weekend of the season. Georgia and North Carolina will meet in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game in the Georgia Dome at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 3. Also that day, Clemson plays at Auburn at 9 p.m. On Labor Day (Sept. 5), Florida State and Ole Miss meet in Orlando at 8 p.m. ESPN is set to televise each game.

Hot one in Houston: Of the many fantastic games scheduled for the first full Saturday — a slate that includes Georgia vs. North Carolina in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the Georgia Dome — the best may be Oklahoma at Houston at NRG Stadium. The Cougars finished 13-1, capped by a win over Florida State in the Peach Bowl, while Oklahoma's season ended with a loss to Clemson in the Orange Bowl.

Miles and miles: Georgia Tech will take one of the season's longer road trips when it plays Boston College in Dublin, Ireland on Sept. 3. It's 3,928 miles between Atlanta and The Fair City. The longest among FBS teams may be the more than 7,000 miles California will travel to Sydney to play Hawaii on Aug. 26. Massachusetts will travel more than 5,000 miles to play at Hawaii on Nov. 26.

Back home in Georgia: Georgia made a bold move at the end of the season, firing Mark Richt and hiring Kirby Smart, a former Bulldogs safety and Alabama defensive coordinator. UGA wasn't the only college football team in the state to make a head-coaching change. Georgia Southern hired Tyson Summers after Willie Fritz left for Tulane. Summers is a native of Tifton who most recently worked for Mike Bobo at Colorado State. This will be his first stint as head coach, but he inherits a team that went 9-4, won its bowl game and returns 12 starters.

Clean slate wanted: No team wants a fresh start more than Baylor, which will host Northwestern State on Sept. 2. After numerous scandals were reported in the offseason, the Bears have a new coach in Jim Grobe, who will replace Art Briles. Several staff members, the athletic director and the president are also gone. The Bears were 10-3 last season and were scheduled to return 11 starters. It will be interesting to see how the team, fans and nation's media approach the game and result.

Hurry up and play: Though it didn't face as much scrutiny as Baylor, Ole Miss is another program that needs the season to start sooner rather than later so the focus can shift to the field. The Rebels must replace Laremy Tunsil at offensive tackle, Laquon Treadway at wide receiver and Robert Nkemdiche at defensive tackle. All were picked by NFL teams in the draft.

Eyes on Heisman: Alabama running back Derrick Henry won last year's Heisman Trophy. This year's way-too-early group of candidates likely will include several running backs (Georgia's Nick Chubb — depending largely on his recovery from knee surgery, LSU's Leonard Fournette, Stanford's Christian McCaffrey and FSU's Dalvin Cook).

Familiar face: Georgia Tech fans will see a familiar nemesis at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Oct. 1. Miami and coach Mark Richt come to town for a game that day. Georgia was 13-1 against the Yellow Jackets with Richt as head coach, including a victory in Richt's last game as coach of the Bulldogs.

QBs on the move: A trend in college football is the movement of graduate transfers looking for, and often getting, immediate playing time. This is especially true of quarterbacks. Five such players to watch this season: Dakota Prukop (Montana State to Oregon, replace graduate transfer Vernon Adams), Trevor Knight (Oklahoma to Texas A&M), Patrick Towles (Kentucky to Boston College), Davis Webb (Texas Tech to Colorado) and Austin Appleby (Purdue to Florida).

From Aggie to Frog: TCU, which was 23-3 the past two seasons, tries to replace star quarterback Trevone Boykin, the key player in that success. Boykin's likely successor is Kenny Hill, a transfer from Texas A&M who made a big splash in his Aggies debut in 2014, but walked out the door after losing his job before that season was over.

Buckeye holes to fill: Ohio State hired coach Urban Meyer before the 2012 season, and the Buckeyes are 50-4 since the hire, including a victory in the CFP title game after the 2014 season. To keep the success alive, Ohio State will depend on lots of new starters. They lost 16 starters from last season's team. Twelve Buckeyes were taken in the 2016 NFL draft, a record 10 of them in the first three rounds and five among the first 20 picks.

Title makers: The winner of the annual Clemson-Florida State won the past five ACC championships. Clemson won the game in 2011 and last season. FSU's win in 2014 was a 23-17 overtime victory. The Seminoles defeated Auburn to win the national championship for the 2013 season, and Clemson lost to Alabama in the national championship game last season. The teams meet Oct. 29 in Tallahassee.

Under scrutiny: Coaches on the hot seat in the SEC include Kentucky's Mark Stoops and Vanderbilt's Derek Mason, but it will be interesting to see what happens at LSU should Les Miles' team not fulfill immense expectations, and Auburn should Gus Malzahn struggle for a second consecutive year. Lastly, there's Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin, whose bright start has dimmed amid numerous transfers and a lack of results.

Eyes of Texas on coach: Charlie Strong is another coach in Texas facing a little bit of pressure. Going 11-14 will do that. The Longhorns will quickly find out if Strong has the program turned around because it opens at home against Notre Dame on Sept. 4 before facing California two weeks later.

Fuente's move: In trying to replace the legendary Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech may have made one of the shrewder hires when it lured Justin Fuente from Memphis to Blacksburg. Fuente's Tigers averaged 486.9 yards and 40.2 points per game, while Virginia Tech averaged 385.1 yards and 31 points.

Track record questionable: In trying to replace Steve Spurrier, South Carolina turned to Will Muschamp in an attempt to win its first SEC title. It's a curious hire because Muschamp's results in his previous job at Florida were not stellar: 28-21, but 10-13 in his final two seasons. His job will be made that much harder because the team doesn't have a proven quarterback.

Looking for a quarterback: North Carolina, Georgia's first opponent of the season in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game at the Georgia Dome, hopes Mitch Trubisky can replace Marquise Williams at quarterback. Williams passed for more than 3,000 yards and rushed for almost 1,000. Trubisky passed for 555 yards and rushed for 101 last season.

Frost in charge: Central Florida went from the darlings of the sport in 2013 (Fiesta Bowl) and 2014 to the dregs in 2015 with an 0-12 mark. Can new coach Scott Frost, steeped in X's and O's at Nebraska, Stanford and Oregon, boost an offense that had 10 more interceptions than touchdowns (23-13) and whose leading rusher totaled 339 yards?

Richt and Kaaya: Mark Richt's time at Georgia saw a long line of solid quarterbacks who went to the NFL with varying degrees of success. It will be fascinating to see what he and his assistants can do in Miami with Brad Kaaya, who has passed for more than 6,400 yards with 42 touchdowns and 17 interceptions in his first two seasons.

Staff changes: Auburn will try to rebound from last season's 2-6 SEC disaster with 11 changes to its coaching staff. The big hires are defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, secondary coach Wesley McGriff, linebackers coach Travis Williams, co-offensive coordinator Kodi Burns and offensive line coach Herb Hand.

Ghosts of past: Missouri's assembly line of defensive linemen should continue this season with Charles Harris, who had seven sacks and 18 1/2 tackles for loss last year, and Walter Brady, who had 12 1/2 tackles for loss and seven sacks. Their predecessors among star Tigers linemen include first-round NFL draft picks Ziggy Hood, Sheldon Richardson and Aldon Smith, plus Shane Ray, Kony Ealy, Markus Golden and Michael Sam.

Trojans face tough tasks: Many observers of college football believe that USC has the toughest schedule in the country. The Trojans' schedule includes games against defending national champ Alabama (14-1) in Arlington, Texas, in the season opener and at home against Notre Dame (10-3) in the season finale. In Game 3 they face defending Pac-12 champion Stanford (12-2) on the road.

CFP in November: The first College Football Playoff selection committee rankings will come out Tuesday, Nov. 1, and will continue each week until the final selections Dec. 4. The playoff semifinal games will be played New Year's Eve in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. The final will be held in Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 9.

More eyes on targeting: As if the targeting foul wasn't controversial enough last season, the NCAA approved a rule change during the offseason that will allow the replay officials to stop games and call targeting fouls missed by the on-field officials.

Band aid: Originally citing safety concerns, the marching bands of visiting SEC and non-conference teams weren't going to be allowed to participate during halftime of games in LSU's Death Valley. However, if you are a fan of bands, relax. A solution was reached.

O-Line issues: Fans of Georgia Tech will watch the play of the offensive line with keen interest. The group's struggles were one of the reasons the team lost nine of its last 10 games in 2015. Two seniors from the line graduated.

SEC arms: Of the four SEC quarterbacks who passed for at least 3,000 yards last season, just one, Ole Miss' Chad Kelly, returns this season. It would take a significant leap for Tennessee's Joshua Dobbs (2,291) or LSU's Brandon Harris (2,165) to reach that artificial plateau.

ACC arms: Of the three ACC quarterbacks who passed for at least 3,000 yards last season, two, Clemson's Deshaun Watson (4,104) and Miami's Brad Kaaya (3,238), return. Virginia's Matt Johns (2,810) seems poised to reach the mark this season, as does Duke's Thomas Sirk (2,625).

ACC schedules: Not only will Clemson most certainly be favored to repeat as ACC champ, it also has the league's easiest schedule this season. Tigers' opponents this season had a .455 winning percentage last season. Clemson's three non-conference opponents are Auburn (7-6), Troy (4-8), South Carolina State (7-4) and South Carolina (3-9). Florida State, the team expected to challenge Clemson for the ACC, has the league's toughest schedule. Seminoles' opponents had a .629 winning percentage last season. FSU's three non-conference opponents are Ole Miss (10-3), Charleston Southern, South Florida (8-5) and Florida (10-4).

SEC schedules: Florida will have the easiest non-conference schedule of the SEC's teams. The Gators will play Massachusetts (3-9), North Texas (1-11), Presbyterian (2-9) and Florida State (10-3). Ole Miss will have toughest non-conference schedule of the SEC's teams. The Rebels will play Florida State (10-3), Memphis (9-4), Georgia Southern (9-4) and Wofford (5-6).

Cardinal rules: Can Stanford's Christian McCaffrey match last season's totals of 2,019 rushing yards, 645 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns? He also had 1,070 yards in kick returns with another score.

Spartan challenge: Michigan State led a charmed life last season, with wins thanks to Michigan's fumble and a field goal as time expired to defeat Ohio State. Can the Spartans keep it going without quarterback Conner Cook. They will find out by the end of September, having played games at Notre Dame and against Wisconsin.

Ground Gators: The battle to replace running back Kelvin Taylor at Florida takes on added significance this season because not only was he a 1,000-yard rusher for an inconsistent offense, but the new quarterback, either Luke Del Rio or Austin Appleby, has never played for the Gators.

Lovie and Illini madness: One of the stranger head-coaching moves of the offseason happened at Illinois, which fired Bill Cubit on March 5, more than a month after signing day. Illinois hired Lovie Smith to replace him. The long-time NFL veteran will have his work ahead of him in a deep Big Ten.

Runner cancer-free: Pittsburgh running back James Conner disclosed in December that he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. After chemotherapy, he said in May that he is cancer-free. He may take the field again when the Panthers play host to Villanova on Sept. 3.

At the helm at Navy: Keenan Reynolds will be impossible to replace as Navy's quarterback because he set FBS records for his position with 88 touchdowns and 4,559 rushing yards. Tago Smith, a Fayetteville native, left the spring as No. 1 on the Middies' depth chart.

Dakota strong: There's no dynasty in college football right now quite like North Dakota State's, winners of five consecutive FCS national championships. Competing to replace Carson Wentz at quarterback are Cole Davis, Easton Stick and James Hendricks.

Panther to watch: Georgia State's Robert Davis may be one of the more underrated receivers in FBS and could become the school's highest draft pick. The senior has the size (6-foot-3, 220 pounds) and speed to get looks from NFL scouts. He also has the production with 155 receptions for 2,423 yards.

Could it happen again? Appalachian State, which knows a little something about winning in big houses, will take on Tennessee on Sept. 1 at Neyland Stadium. Appalachian State, then a very strong FCS team, defeated mighty Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2007 in what is arguably the biggest upset in college football history. This year's Mountaineers squad returns 18 starters after going 11-2 last season.

New Wolves worth watching: Based purely on final record, West Georgia was the best team in the state last season after going 12-2 and reaching the semifinals of the Division II playoffs. Will Hall's team will open its season at home against Catawba on Sept. 3. The Wolves added former Louisville quarterback Will Gardner, former Georgia Tech running back Travis Custis and former Iowa State running back Josh Thomas in the offseason.

Kupp has good hands: Eastern Washington wide receiver Cooper Kupp won the Walter Payton Award, given to the best player in FCS, last season. He returns trying to surpass last season's marks of 60 catches for 1,059 yards and 18 touchdowns. He is poised to become the all-time leading receiver in FCS history.

Boost from new system: Keep an eye on Virginia Tech wide receiver Isaiah Ford this season. The ACC's leading receiver last season with 1,164 yards, he should benefit from new coach Justin Fuente's system to post even better numbers this season.

What's in a name? ESPN compiled a list of the all-name recruits who signed with colleges in February. You may one day see a Tuf Borland at Ohio State, Boss Tagaloa at UCLA, Pookie Maka at Colorado, Handsome Tanielu at BYU, Sir Patrick Scott at Marshall and Dixie Wooten at Houston.

Quarterback battle: What to make of Memphis this season without coach Justin Fuente, who is now at Virginia Tech, and quarterback Paxton Lynch, who was drafted by the Broncos? Coach Mike Norvell must decide between Brady Davis, Clay Holgorsen, Jason Stewart, Riley Ferguson and Alpharetta's David Moore.

Paws make comeback: Clemson will have more than the weight of expectations of making it back to the national title game, it will also have little Tiger paws on its uniforms. The team made a few tweaks to its jerseys, some as a homage to past great Tigers teams.

More to come: Jim Harbaugh loves to tweet from @CoachJim4UM. What will he say in the days leading to Ohio State on Nov. 26?

Arbuckle gone: Georgia State's chances of appearing in a second consecutive bowl game may come down to the battle at quarterback. Three players, Emiere Scaife, Aaron Winchester and Conner Manning, are competing to replace Nick Arbuckle, who passed for more than 4,300 yards last season and was name the conference's player of the year. The Panthers return nine starters on defense and seven on offense.

Youngsters more seasoned: After going 6-5 in its first season, coach Brian Bohannon and Kennesaw State will start anew against East Tennessee State on Sept. 3 at Fifth Third Bank Stadium. It will be an interesting season because last year's roster and starters were dominated by underclassmen. It stands to reason that another year of workouts and practice should lead to better results. However, opponents also have film and the experience of playing against the Owls' unique option offense.

Blazers coming back: UAB is kick-starting the restarting of its football program with the construction of a football operations center, which will include a covered practice facility. It will cost $22.5 million and should open by the team's 2017 start date.

Bowl frenzy: There are 41 bowl games this season. They start Dec. 17 and will end in Tampa. The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will be played Dec. 31. It will be a semifinal in the College Football Playoff.