The regular season is over, conference championships are in the books and the postseason has formally begun.

As we wait for bowl season and the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff to begin, what did we learn in 2024?

Realignment was the overarching story of the campaign, which produced both on- and off-field storylines throughout the year. While more changes loom on the horizon, the recent wave of movement had an enormous impact on championship races this season.

Additionally, the transfer portal and CFP selection committee both maintained a steady place in the headlines.

We've covered all of those topics and a few others as the 2024 campaign shifts into postseason mode.

Realignment Waves Continue

Entering the 2024 season, one major realignment question had no clear answer: What would happen with the Pac-12?

The conference fractured after USC and UCLA bolted for the Big Ten. Ultimately, the Big 12 plucked four teams (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah) with the ACC landing two (Cal and Stanford) and the Big Ten snagging two more (Oregon and Washington).

It left Oregon State and Washington State. What next?

Answers began to arrive in September, as the Pac-12 swiped Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and later Utah State from the Mountain West. Basketball powerhouse Gonzaga, which does not have a football team, is also joining the league.

The rebuilt Pac-12 still must add at least one more program by 2026 to maintain its conference status.

At this point, it's inevitable the Pac-12 will bring in that member. We don't know exactly who it'll be, but Air Force, Memphis, Tulane, UNLV, USF and UTSA are among the programs that—for now, perhaps—have rebuffed an approach from the conference.

No matter whether a resolution arrives this offseason, it has become clear that the Pac-12 will continue in a very different form.

The Portal Giveth, the Taketh

Free, unrestricted movement in the transfer portal—combined with name, image and likeness (NIL) rights, of course—has revolutionized the sport in dramatic ways.

Rebuilds can happen rapidly.

Indiana hired Curt Cignetti, who brought in 30-plus transfers to revamp a program that had posted 4-8 records or worse in three consecutive years. All he managed was to make the Hoosiers a CFP team. Plenty more on them later, as you might expect.

Cam Ward sparked the Miami offense and carried the Hurricanes to the brink of the College Football Playoff. He shattered school records as Miami won 10 regular-season wins for only the second time in 20 years.

Colorado's overhaul took a positive turn as Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter propelled the Buffs to a 9-3 record. Deion Sanders essentially flipped the whole roster, and that 1-11 mark in 2022 is practically forgotten.

Then at Syracuse, Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord headlined Syracuse's group of transfers for first-year coach Fran Brown. McCord finished the regular season as the nation's top passer, and a thrilling upset of Miami capped a 9-3 year for the Orange. It's only the program's second nine-win record in the last two decades.

Granted, there is a cautionary tale.

Florida State has leaned heavily on the portal recently, but that approach stung the Seminoles in 2024. They plummeted from an unbeaten CFP snub in 2023 to 2-10, the program's worst record in 50 seasons.

Transfers can work out wonderfully. But there is undoubtedly a necessary balance to strike with the value of traditional recruiting.

Schedule Luck Matters

During the divisional era, the conference games that didn't happen were an impactful story. Georgia only played one SEC West program other than rival Auburn, for example, and that certainly helped UGA earn an annual presence in the SEC Championship Game.

Remember when it was nice to avoid a couple powerful teams? Well, it may happen often with these massive conferences.

This year, Indiana avoided four of the other five Big Ten programs—including championship game qualifiers Oregon and Penn State—that tallied a 6-3 record or better in league play. SMU didn't see Clemson, Miami or Syracuse in the regular season.

Neither of those points are meant to criticize Indiana or SMU for rattling off a fortunate 11-1 record. You play the teams on your schedule, and winning is hard. Bad teams don't accidentally win 11 games.

Simultaneously, the favorable slates were helpful.

This advantage, in all likelihood, will be a regular sight throughout the expanding College Football Playoff era.

The Year of the Heisman Outlier

If you want to win a Heisman Trophy, be a quarterback for a power-conference program. That's the model.

Look at the 24 winners since 2000. Exactly 20 have matched the above mold, excepting only USC running back Reggie Bush (2005) and Alabama's trio of running back Mark Ingram (2009), running back Derrick Henry (2015) and wide receiver DeVonta Smith (2020).

Outliers can happen, sure, but 2024's main contenders for the Heisman are straight-up rarities.

Colorado's Travis Hunter is a special two-way player who's a top-five receiver nationally and an elite cornerback. He's a legitimate All-American talent on both sides of the ball, which simply does not happen.

Behind him, it's Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. No player from a Group of Five program has finished higher than fifth in Heisman voting since Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch was third in 2013.

Especially if you're tired of the same old story in awards, the 2024 campaign has provided a refreshing twist.

New Faces, New Places, No Problem

Moving to a new conference does not preclude a program from winning a league title in its debut season. Good players and coaches don't suddenly forget how to compete in a fresh environment.

But, man, these realigning teams were awfully rude!

Army had never played in a conference—ever, literally—yet ripped off an impressive season with an AAC title. Jacksonville State won Conference USA in only its second year as a top-division program.

Oregon controlled its entire debut season in the Big Ten, and Arizona State surged down the stretch to claim the Big 12 crown.

Additionally, both Texas and SMU reached their respective league championship games. All four power conferences had a newcomer on that stage—one with a CFP berth at stake, you may recall.

The widespread success is a basic reminder that realignment is all about money, not competitive reasons. Which is fine! But that's reality.

Lose Early, Win Late

Perception is a funny thing.

How differently would we view Notre Dame if the Fighting Irish had lost to Northern Illinois in November? What about Tennessee's setback to Arkansas being a late-season matchup?

Compare those situations, on the other hand, to Miami and Ole Miss. Let's say Miami dropped two early contests to Georgia Tech and Syracuse before rattling off eight or nine straight wins. How about if Ole Miss collapsed against both Kentucky and Florida in September yet walloped South Carolina and Georgia down the stretch?

It's a hypothetical. We don't have a definite answer.

At the same time, the timing of Miami's losses absolutely impacted the team's Playoff hopes. Ole Miss needed an unlikely miracle—one that didn't happen—after its disappointing result at Florida.

We can have a discussion about a team probably shows its true identity late in the season. That's fair. But the trend of November losses being judged a little differently has continued.

Well, unless you're Alabama.

Selection Committee Is Still Maddening

In the rankings released after the regular season ended, one major question stood out. In what—at that moment—was the final at-large slot, would the CFP selection committee pick 10-2 Miami or 9-3 Alabama?

Ultimately, the verdict was Bama. I have no issue with the rationale of Alabama being 3-1 in Top 25 games compared to 0-1 for Miami.

But the problem, for the second straight year, is that the committee's explanation was inconsistent with the rankings that immediately followed the cutoff-line controversy.

In 2023, 12-1 Alabama finished ahead of 13-0 Florida State. The CFP chairman cited Jordan Travis' injury as the reason, which was questionable yet at least defensible for competitive reasons. Still, knowing that, why did Georgia rank behind FSU? That was ridiculous even before UGA steamrolled a short-handed FSU squad in the Orange Bowl.

Fast-forward to 2024.

So, if Alabama's top victories pushed the Tide above Miami, why didn't Ole Miss and South Carolina leap the 'Canes, too? Both of those programs had a pair of Top 25 triumphs, as well.

Many decisions are debatable but explainable. Yet the exasperating piece is the rankings—particularly the deeper you go—lack the consistency you'd hope would be part of the sport's defining poll.

But the Selection Committee Got It Right?!

Oh, man, did I expect Alabama over SMU.

I wanted to believe, desperately, that an 11-1 team would not be penalized for the reward of making a conference championship. But it's been 11 years. We know strange things happen on Selection Day.

Not only did the CFP committee pick SMU, but the entire bracket was completely logical.

Sure, we could squabble about a seeding here or there. Boise State over Arizona State? I like it, but I understand the reverse option. Clemson behind SMU despite the ACC crown? Debatable, yet still no issue for me. Go down the line, and I'll have a similar answer.

(One exception: I hate automatic byes for conference champions. Never liked them. Get rid of the idea. But that's the format, so that's not an area to be dissected.)

I can be very critical of the committee. This season, however, I genuinely do not have a complaint about the official bracket.

Expansion Did Exactly What We Thought

I love the stories of Indiana and SMU. Arizona State rode a late-season charge to a Playoff trip, and an automatic Group of Five bid guaranteed Boise State a shot at a national title.

Great!

Despite those successes, though, expanding the CFP from a four-program event to a 12-team invitational meant one simple thing: The usual suspects just have a greater margin for error.

Georgia and Ohio State are regulars, and Clemson has been a powerhouse recently. Notre Dame is no stranger to the CFP, while Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas are massive brands.

Alabama narrowly missed yet another Playoff trip, and there's no real surprise at Miami or Ole Miss hovering around the bubble. Miami is a well-known program, and Ole Miss has flirted with the CFP for several years anyway. Texas A&M, one of the most-resourced teams in the country, had a chance until a loss in the regular-season finale.

Increasing access is a good thing! Just don't be surprised when the same 10-15 schools are always in the conversation.