Every summer since 2007 I have created an intricate set of college football predictions for each upcoming season.  This year is no exception, as I will be using my blog over the next few hours to publish my 18th annual college football preview guide which will contain 19 entries in all. The records below reflect each team’s predicted regular season overall record followed by their conference record.  These records include conference title games for the two division champions but exclude bowl games which will be previewed later on in a separate column on this blog.  The teams marked in bold font are the ones predicted to gain bowl eligibility.  Without further ado, here are my predictions for the three remaining independent teams in FBS for 2024 and the two remaining Pac-12 orphans, who technically are still apart of a conference in a financial sense, but for all intents and purposes, are independents now.

Notre Dame (11-1)

Last Year’s Record: 10-3 (My 2023 prediction: 9-3)- another spot on prediction!

Positional Strength: Defensive Back

Positional Weakness: Offensive Line

Biggest Predicted Win of the Year: at Southern Cal (November 30)

Worst Predicted Loss of the Year: at Texas A & M (August 31)

Bottom Line: The Fighting Irish should find themselves playoff bound in 2024, thanks largely to a generous schedule in which they could be favored to win all 12 games and will be heavily favored to win at least 8 or 9 of them. Unfortunately for the Irish, in this new playoff format they will never be able to receive a first round bye, as those slots are exclusively reserved for the top four ranked conference champions.

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Oregon State (9-3)

Last Year’s Record: 8-5 (My 2023 prediction: 6-6)

Positional Strength: Offensive Line

Positional Weakness: Quarterback

Biggest Predicted Win of the Year: at California (October 26)

Worst Predicted Loss of the Year: vs. Washington State (November 23)

Bottom Line: The Beavers are considerably less talented from top to bottom than they were last season following the mass exodus of both coaches and players after the program was essentially relegated out of the Power 4. With that being said, there schedule is substantially easier than in year’s past so a fourth straight bowl appearance seems likely. Keep in mind, that Oregon State and the rest of the former Pac-12 teams still have a stronghold on all of the former Pac-12 bowl tie-ins.

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Washington State (8-4)

Last Year’s Record: 5-7 (My 2023 prediction: 3-9)

Positional Strength: Linebacker

Positional Weakness: Running Back

Biggest Predicted Win of the Year: at Boise State (September 28)- the Cougars are 5-1 all-time vs. the Broncocs!

Worst Predicted Loss of the Year: at San Diego State (October 26)

Bottom Line: Head Coach Jack Dickert will soon find out that the easiest way to return to bowl eligibility is to trade in a Power 5 schedule for what essentially a Group of Five one. The Cougars have 9 games against teams in the Group of Fvie and FCS ranks, and while this team lost a lost from last year, they are still talented enough to win a vast majority of those contests.

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UConn (4-8)

Last Year’s Record: 3-9 (My 2023 prediction: 5-7)

Positional Strength: Running Back

Positional Weakness: Offensive Line

Biggest Predicted Win of the Year: vs. Georgia State (November 1)

Worst Predicted Loss of the Year: vs. Florida Atlantic (September 21)

Bottom Line: The Huskies fell back down to Earth last season after this Cinderella run to a bowl game in 2022. This team should be improved from last year’s squad, but the challenges of building a program as a low-level FBS independent will continue to haunt Jim Mora’s program, especially with a schedule that features eight games against teams from the top five leagues in FBS.

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UMass (2-10)

Last Year’s Record: 3-9 (My 2023 prediction: 3-9)

Positional Strength: Running Back

Positional Weakness: Defensive Line

Biggest Predicted Win of the Year: vs. Wagner (October 26)- you know you are predicted to have a bad year when your best predicted win is against an FCS team!

Worst Predicted Loss of the Year: at Buffalo (September 14)

Bottom Line: Like UConn, the Minutemen have struggled to find their footing as an FBS independent. Fortunately for UMass, they will be entering the Mid-American Conference in 2025, so stability and improvement appear to be on the horizon. Until then, however, this team will struggle to win a game against an FBS foe on their schedule in 2024, thanks to an absolutely horrendous defense.

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