College Football is Back: "Planning for Manning’", Belichick to UNC & SEC vs Big Ten

The college football season finally kicked off last weekend. After months of anticipation, spent reading predictions and previews, also watching the excellent "Any Given Saturday", the excellent Netflix series looking behind the scenes at last season in the SEC, the new season is upon us. What's been happening in the off season and what are the storylines to keep an eye on?

A handful of Week 0 fixtures this past weekend served as an intriguing warm up to the main event. Hawaii upset Andrew Luck's Stanford, 23-20, and "Farmageddon", the season opening Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, saw Iowa State beat Kansas State, 24-21. in an early Big 12 encounter .

This coming weekend sees the season kick off in earnest, with some mouthwatering fixtures to look forward to. In the pick of Week 1, AP Preseason No.1 Texas travels to Columbus to take on the defending champions Ohio State in the game of the weekend. LSU, buoyed by the return of quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, travel to what coach Brian Kelly mischievously referred to as "Death Valley Jr.", home of the much-improved Clemson Tigers.

What's been happening in the college football off season?

"Planning for Manning"

Arch Manning leads No.1 Texas into the new season (Image credit: The Sporting News)

Few preseason college football previews, podcasts or articles don't make at least some mention of Arch Manning, the much-hyped quarterback of the University of Texas. Manning, having backed up Quinn Ewers for two years in Austin, takes the reins of the Longhorns' potent offense in 2025. The careers of few players have been as highly anticipated as the launch of the young signal caller.

Manning displayed impressive poise in his two starts in 2024, showing glimpses of his arm strength and rushing ability in particular during a 56-7 demolition of UTSA where he accounted for five touchdowns. Coach Steve Sarkisian wheeled him out for a some specialist third-down plays in the red zone, using his mobility to keep opposition defenses on the back foot.

The 6'4", 219 lb sophomore is already being spoken of as a potential Heisman Trophy winner and potential No.1 NFL draft pick, should he decide to leave Texas at the end of this season, Manning does have two years of eligibility, so the 2027 NFL Draft may be a more realistic target. Either way, NFL teams will be "Planning for Manning" and his form will be headline news through this upcoming college football season.

Bill Belichick arrives at North Carolina

Bill Belichick will be under scrutiny at North Carolina (Image credit: lancasteronline.com)

Heads across the pro and college football ranks were turned when the North Carolina Tar Heels announced Bill Belichick as the new head coach in Chapel Hill. Belichick, part of the Bill Parcells coaching tree, won a record six Super Bowls as head coach of the New England Patriots and a further two as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants.

Belichick, who has never coached at the college level, inherits a North Carolina team who finished a disappointing 6-6 last season under former Texas national championship winning coach Mack Brown. Also joining the Tar Heels coaching staff are the head coach's son Steve, previously at the University of Washington, as defensive coordinator, and former Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens, who will run the Carolina offense.

Belichick will start with a roster composed of young talent and transfer portal additions, including former South Alabama quarterback Gio Lopez and former Michigan State receiver Aziaj Johnson. Watching him apply a NFL winning mentality to a Tar Heels college football program in desperate need of improvement will make fascinating viewing.

College Football Playoff expansion (again)

Only twelve months on from the headline expansion of the end of season four-team college football playoff to twelve teams, the Big Ten and SEC conferences are lobbying hard to push the postseason tournament to a sixteen-team format, and possibly beyond to twenty-four teams.

The conferences' joint proposal would give the Big Ten and SEC four automatic bids each, strengthening their presence on the basis they are arguably the two best conferences in college football. This potential change would be to the detriment of other teams, whose opportunity to land a prestigious place in the playoff would be diminished significantly.

At the time of writing, there is no confirmation of any planned additions, but mooted expansion will continue to feature strongly in college football's storylines.

SEC vs. Big Ten

(Image credit: wvlt.com)

With Ohio State and Michigan claiming the last two national championships, do the Big Ten have a rightful claim to be the best conference in college football?

The SEC had dominated college football in recent years, winning six of the previous eight college football playoffs since the four-team playoff inception in 2015, with Alabama (three times), Georgia (twice) and LSU all crowned as national champions in this period.

The SEC had three teams in the playoff vs. the Big Ten's four, but the nature of Ohio State's wins over SEC teams Texas and Tennessee en route to the national championship crown was also telling, as were Alabama and Georgia's notable absences from the end of season playoff.

The Big Ten are much more competitive recruiters in recent years. Ohio State duo Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs are arguably the most talented offensive and defensive players in college football.

Downs, in addition to new starting Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin were poached by Ohio State from Alabama last preseason, a development no-one would have seen in the Nick Saban era in Tuscaloosa. Michigan's capture of the highly-touted quarterback Bryce Underwood from LSU is another example of a high profile switch from the SEC to the Big Ten.

A look ahead to this season suggests the SEC may be poised to wrestle their crown back. Ten of the Preseason AP Top 25 teams hail from the SEC. Texas (1), Georgia (5), Alabama (8), LSU (9), South Carolina (13), Florida (15), Oklahoma (18), Texas A&M (19), Ole Miss (21) and Tennessee (24) all feature in the initial rankings, indicating a broader strength of depth in the Southeastern conference.

Unranked Missouri, a ten-win team in 2024, and Vanderbilt, resurgent under the leadership of Clark Lea and returning maverick quarterback Diego Pavia, would also fancy their chances against at least half of the Big Ten schools.

The Big Ten, comparatively, are represented by six teams. Penn State (2), Ohio State (3), Oregon (7), Illinois (12), Michigan (14) and Indiana (20) are listed in the Top 25.

No.1 Texas vs. No.3 Ohio State in Columbus this Saturday Aug. 30 will provide an early indicator as to which conference will claim bragging rights this season.