In the final days before the 2024 season kicks off, the gang—Bleacher Report's panel of experts—is back together.

And, friends, we're starting with bold predictions.

Last year, ol' buddy Adam Kramer picked Michigan to win a national championship and Jim Harbaugh to leave for an NFL job. Pretty tough to get much better than that!

Also, I'd prefer not to talk about me engineering the Clemson hype train that crashed in Week 1. Thanks in advance.

The panel includes David Kenyon, Adam Kramer, Morgan Moriarty, Joel Reuter and Brad Shepard.

Kenyon: SEC Lands 5 Playoff Teams

Are you tired of hearing the SEC preach its superiority?

If you answered yes, well, I have bad news. By the time the 2024 season ends, those boasts may never have been louder.

As the College Football Playoff grows to 12 invites, no conference is better positioned to flood the bracket than the SEC. Sure, we should see multiple Big Ten programs, and both the ACC and Big 12 enter the campaign with at least a couple of worthy contenders.

The strength of the nation lies in the Southeast, though.

Georgia is a powerhouse. Texas made the CFP last season and returns Quinn Ewers at quarterback. Alabama is plenty talented as the Kalen DeBoer era begins, and Ole Miss' offense is electric. All four should back up their preseason billings as top-six teams—and at least finish with a Top 11 ranking, basically guaranteeing a playoff bid.

From there, it only takes one more to complete the handful.

That could be Missouri, given its incredibly favorable schedule. Maybe it's LSU, which is optimistic about an improved defense. Tennessee, Oklahoma and Texas A&M open the season as Top 20 teams.

You might believe rival fans cheering for another in the name of conference pride is strange. Fair. No problem.

But be ready for a whole lot of "S-E-C" chants in 2024.

Kramer: Oklahoma State's Time to Shine

For months, the Big 12 has tormented me.

While the conference won't be the nation's best, it might be the most interesting. And as new, capable teams extend the conference's reach, I ultimately landed on Oklahoma State to take home the title.

Sure, I thought about Utah. I thought about Kansas State. I even played around with Arizona.

However, I settled on the Pokes, thanks largely to an offense rife with experience and a running back, Ollie Gordon II, who might be the best overall football player in the nation.

Beyond that, we've seen Mike Gundy have success with experienced teams, and this team is very much that. With the Big 12 effectively guaranteed a spot in the playoff, OSU could finally take that next, next step.

And I believe it will.

Moriarty: What Washington Rebuild?

I like Jedd Fisch and the Washington Huskies to have a great year. Yes, I know a first-year head coach moving to a new conference with a young team sounds daunting, but hear me out.

For starters, the Huskies will have a proven quarterback in Mississippi State transfer Will Rogers. Over four seasons in Starkville, he threw for 12,315 yards with 94 touchdowns to 28 interceptions. Fisch added Arizona transfers in receiver Kevin Green Jr. and running back Jordan Washington, along with solid depth on the offensive line.

Defensively, the Huskies get back 56 percent of returning production led by cornerback Elijah Jackson. To complement that group, Fisch also picked several projected starters for the unit out of the transfer portal.

Washington's first schedule as part of the Big Ten doesn't look too troubling. In fact, I won't be surprised if the Huskies were 5-0 through September, getting Weber State, Eastern Michigan, Wazzu, Northwestern and Rutgers.

The Huskies also get Michigan and USC at home, traveling to face Penn State and Oregon with a home game vs. UCLA to close out November.

Call me crazy, but I think Washington can flirt with a nine-win record and have a legitimate shot at sneaking into the CFP.

Reuter: Nebraska Football Is Back!

A perennial title contender throughout the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, the Nebraska Cornhuskers football program has since endured a steady slide into mediocrity.

The last time they made an appearance in the AP poll was 2019 when they opened the season at No. 24, only to lose their second game to unranked Colorado and spend the rest of the year unranked en route to a 5-7 finish.

Their last winning season was 2016, when head coach Mike Riley and quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. led them to a 9-4 finish and a trip to the Music City Bowl. That was also the last time they appeared in a bowl game.

So what's different this year?

The incoming recruiting class is headlined by 5-star quarterback Dylan Raiola, who checks all the boxes to be college football's next superstar under center.

"From a pure talent standpoint, should be viewed as a blue-chip pocket passer that can be a true difference-maker on Saturdays and potentially even Sundays," wrote Andrew Ivins in his scouting report at 247Sports.

He will be playing behind an experienced offensive line and should also benefit from having a healthy Gabe Ervin Jr. in the backfield, but it will be up to Raiola to elevate the passing game as a whole and take the offense to another level. Meanwhile, the defense ranked 11th in the nation in total defense a year ago and is expected to be a strength once again with several key players returning.

A 7-0 start is not out of the question, looking at the schedule. While things get tougher down the stretch, starting with a matchup against Ohio State on Oct. 26, they avoid Oregon, Michigan and Penn State in the regular season.

Even if they fall short of the College Football Playoff picture, this will be the year Nebraska football returns to national relevance and lays the foundation for a bright future.

Shepard: Hot Seat Coming for Lincoln Riley

Remember when it was the biggest news in a coaching turnover-frenzied 2021 offseason when Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma for Hollywood to be USC's head coach?

Perhaps there's now a little sweating going on under those bright lights.

After going 8-5 in the farewell season of the Pac-12, USC is off to the big, bad Big Ten, and it isn't a great time for growing pains. But that's exactly what Riley's team could have.

Not only does he have to replace the top overall pick in the NFL draft, Caleb Williams, six other players left for the pros, too. The Trojans have plenty of offensive weapons, but they are rebuilding their defense under first-year coordinator D'Anton Lynn.

Riley assembled a great defensive staff alongside Lynn, but the talent will take a while to catch up in a punishing league.

Sandwiched between LSU to open the season and Notre Dame (which beat USC by four touchdowns last year) is a conference schedule that—while devoid of bouts against Ohio State and Oregon—is still brutal.

A trip to play Michigan on Sep. 21 before hosting Wisconsin and heading back to the Midwest for a game at Minnesota is a particularly taxing stretch. Oh, by the way, the next week, Penn State is in L.A. on Oct. 12 before USC's cross-country trek to Rutgers.

Maryland, Washington and Nebraska won't be easy, either.

Riley is comfortable right now, and we haven't heard many grumbles yet. Consecutive subpar seasons aren't the expectation for the proud program, though, and you have to wonder how long they'll allow mediocrity.

Watch Riley lose more than expected this year, and the talk of this offseason will be the temperature.