It's hard to believe that the 2024 college football regular season is almost over. But as the final week of the regular season is upon us, it's time to reflect on some of the best reasons to be thankful for this wild and wonderful sport.

From surprise teams to impressive first-year head coaches and an expanded College Football Playoff field, there's plenty to love about this year's college football season.

Hopefully, your Thanksgiving weekend will be filled with food, family and football. With that spirit, let's run through the college football storylines to be most thankful for in 2024.

Week 12 Giving Us Some Pure College Football Playoff Chaos

Before college football's Week 12, the playoff picture looked pretty buttoned up. The presumed field of 12 teams all had relatively easy opponents remaining over the last two weeks of the season, and little drama was expected as the season wound down.

But the college football gods graced us with some absolutely incredible upsets last weekend, and it threw a relatively calm and collected playoff picture into absolute chaos.

Florida upset Ole Miss at home, and Colorado fell on the road against Kansas at Arrowhead. BYU also lost to Arizona State, and Alabama was held to its lowest point output since 2004 in a road loss to Oklahoma. The losses drastically changed what we thought we knew about the 12-team field.

Now nothing is certain as far as teams that are definitely in or out, and there are huge stakes upcoming during Rivalry Week and Championship Saturday. In the first season of the expanded playoff, we are blessed to have such an exciting and unknown field late in the year.

Surprise Teams Having Great Seasons Part 1

Arizona State: What a season Kenny Dillingham and the Sun Devils are having in 2024. In just Dillingham's second season, following a 3-9 campaign in 2023, Arizona State is 9-2 and tied atop the Big 12 standings. Arizona State pulled off two big upsets over the past two weeks, beating Kansas State and BYU last week. If ASU knocks off rival Arizona this week, the Sun Devils could be on their way to the Big 12 title game.

Tulane: First-year head coach Jon Sumrall has the Green Wave sitting at 9-2 with a chance to win the AAC for the first time in two seasons. Sumrall, who was hired from Troy, also has a chance to record double-digit wins for the third straight season.

SMU: In the Mustangs' first season in the expanded ACC, head coach Rhett Lashlee has SMU at 10-1 and sitting atop the conference standings. If SMU wins its last game of the season against Cal, the Mustangs will play in the ACC title game in Charlotte. It's a huge year for Lashlee, who is in just his second season in Dallas.

Surprise Teams Having Great Seasons Part 2

All of these teams are coming off losses, but they are still having great years.

BYU: The Cougars finished 5-7 last season and weren't expected to be much of a threat moving to the Big 12. But as the season comes to a close, BYU is 9-2 with a chance to play in the conference title game. A win over Houston along with Kansas State beating Iowa State this weekend represents the Cougars' best chance of reaching Arlington on Dec. 7.

Army: Speaking of turnarounds, head coach Jeff Monken is leading the Black Knights to one in 2024. After a pair of 6-6 seasons, Army is 9-1 and will play in the AAC title game against Tulane. The Black Knights will have a chance to reach 10 wins for the first time since 2017, too.

Indiana: Head coach Curt Cignetti led the Hoosiers to a first-ever 10-0 start this season. Previously, Indiana has just three winning seasons over the past three decades. Even with the loss to Ohio State, Indiana still has a real shot at making the playoff, assuming the Hoosiers finish 11-1.

Colorado: Deion Sanders' first season in Boulder ended with a 4-8 record in 2023. But the Buffs are 8-3 in Year 2, and Travis Hunter is a legitimate Heisman candidate—if not the front-runner. If Arizona State and Iowa State lose this weekend, Colorado can play in the Big 12 title game.

Rivalry Week Actually Has Enormous Stakes This Year

At the start of the 2024 season, there was a possibility that certain teams considered to be locks in the playoff could take it easy at the end of the year. Similar to NFL teams resting starters with playoff seeds locked up, there was a chance this could happen to college teams with the expanded 12-team field.

But as we enter 2024 Rivalry Week, there are rivalry games with absolutely massive playoff implications, as well as a rivalry game renewed in Texas-Texas A&M. We'll start with the Aggies and Longhorns, which is a huge rivalry game that dates back to 1894. A win for either team puts them in the SEC title game, so the stakes couldn't be higher.

The Egg Bowl between Ole Miss and Mississippi State is always entertaining, despite how both teams' respective seasons unfold. In fact, three of the last five meetings have been decided by one score or less.

Georgia Tech is coming off back-to-back wins over Miami and NC State. If the Yellow Jackets can go into Athens and pull off a massive upset over Georgia, it'll put a major wrench in the Dawgs' playoff hopes.

Speaking of playoff implications, USC can potentially knock Notre Dame out with a win, and South Carolina has the opportunity to hand Clemson its third loss. Michigan can disrupt Ohio State's Big Ten title chances with an upset, and Auburn can put Kalen DeBoer on the hot seat with a win over Alabama. Florida can reach seven wins and rub more salt in the wound of Florida State's abysmal 2024 season, too.

Yeah, rivalry week is going to be fun.

The Expanded 12-Team Playoff Is Going to Be Massively Entertaining

Personally, this might be the storyline I'm most thankful for this season. This season will give us a postseason unlike any other, featuring teams hosting home playoff games for the first time and conference championship games determining first-round byes.

The expanded field also allows for a Group of Five champion to earn a bid. It looks like that will be Boise State, but UNLV, Tulane and Army are still in the mix as well. Previously, a non-power conference team had virtually no shot to make the playoff. This new system gives a chance for a G5 school to make a run.

There is also no limit to how many teams certain conferences can have in the field, so we will see several teams from multiple conferences represented. In general, the expanded playoff field means there are so many more games to enjoy, not to mention the season running longer than usual. Thanks to the expanded field, the national championship will be played in the third week of January.

With the chaos that we saw last week paired with a huge rivalry week with major playoff implications, it makes the excitement surrounding the new system even bigger.

An Intriguing Heisman Race Will Likely come Down to the Wire

The 2024 Heisman Trophy race has seemingly narrowed to two candidates—Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty.

Both guys have been absolutely sensational to watch this season. Hunter leads Colorado in receiving yards with 1,036 and 11 touchdowns on the year. He's also accounted for 30 total tackles, three interceptions and a forced fumble on defense. His ability to play both ways is likely why he currently has the best odds (-800) to win the award.

But Jeanty has been incredible, too. He broke the Boise State single-season record for rushing yards with 2,062 and has 27 touchdowns this year. Despite having a chance to transfer last offseason and earn more NIL money, Jeanty stayed committed to Boise State.

While it feels like Hunter has the momentum, there's a chance for Jeanty to make a lasting impression for the award. A win for the Broncos over Wyoming clinched a spot in the Mountain West title game. If Colorado doesn't make it to the Big 12 title game, that's one less game for him to add to his stat sheet.

Jeanty and Hunter aside, quarterbacks like Miami's Cam Ward, Oregon's Dillon Gabriel, Ohio State's Will Howard and Hunter's teammate, Shedeur Sanders, could all be invited to the ceremony in New York.