College Football's Easiest Schedules for 2024 Contenders

Favorable schedules always play a role in shaping the outcome of a college football season, and that advantage will only be heightened beginning with the 2024 campaign.

Next season, the College Football Playoff will expand to 12 teams. More programs than ever will make the playoffs.

Yes, there are many factors—perhaps an experienced roster, a great quarterback or a strong coaching staff—that will influence the results. But the schedule can also be very impactful on the road to the CFP, too.

The choices, while subjective, are focused on teams holding +4000 odds or shorter to win the 2024 national championship.

Key factors are number of anticipated Top 25 matchups, home/road splits, home-field advantage and preparation time.

Oregon Ducks

The program's debut season in the Big Ten is not a breeze. There are trips to Michigan and Wisconsin, along with home contests with Ohio State and Washington. Beyond that, however, the Ducks' toughest game is probably home to Boise State or early clashes at Oregon State and UCLA. Pretty manageable slate, at the very least.

Penn State Nittany Lions

Opening the season at West Virginia should be challenging. Penn State also travels to USC and Wisconsin—and the latter is followed by consecutive games opposite Ohio State and Washington. That's an arduous three-week stretch, but the Nittany Lions otherwise avoid a glaring roadblock.

Texas Longhorns

Along with a Week 2 flight to Michigan, the Horns take on rival Oklahoma before hosting Georgia. Those are three massive games, to be sure. Then what, though? Texas is making its SEC debut with conference road outings at Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Not exactly a gauntlet, especially for a team returning star quarterback Quinn Ewers.

Clemson had a disappointing 2023, opening just 4-4 before rattling off five straight wins. After that first victory—an upset of Notre Dame—coach Dabo Swinney basically said it'd be wise to buy stock in the Tigers.

Looking ahead to 2024, he's right.

The offense has a high-upside quarterback in Cade Klubnik, and All-ACC linebacker Barrett Carter will headline an intriguing defense. Whether the Tigers can rapidly improve the offensive line will probably define the team's ceiling, but they're certainly a CFP threat.

Sure, the opener is about as difficult as it gets. Clemson has a "neutral" site showdown with Georgia in Atlanta.

The remainder of the slate, however, is workable. Appalachian State and South Carolina must be respected, while Louisville and North Carolina State should be quality teams. But all of those matchups are at home. Clemson heads to Florida State, Pitt, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

Unceremoniously snubbed from the 2023 CFP, Florida State will be looking for redemption next season.

Now, the roster will be considerably different. Oregon State transfer DJ Uiagalelei—also formerly of Clemson—will replace Jordan Travis at quarterback, but the skill-position talent on offense will be revamped. Plus, the defense must replace a handful of NFL-bound players.

As the staff did last offseason, however, FSU picked up lots of talent via the transfer portal. Outside expectations will likely drop a little, but the Uiagalelei-led 'Noles should be built to contend for a CFP trip.

The simple version is the ACC lacks a national power beyond Clemson—which travels to FSU anyway.

Florida State's road trifecta of Notre Dame, Miami and SMU presents a variety of issues, and both Memphis and North Carolina should bring competitive squads to Tallahassee. Still, relative to other CFP hopefuls, the Seminoles will enter the 2024 season in a decent spot.

After a surprise ascent to 11-2 and a Cotton Bowl victory, Missouri has a brilliant chance to assemble a terrific encore.

Veteran quarterback Brady Cook—who totaled 3,636 yards and 29 touchdowns to six interceptions last season—will return to guide the Tigers in a new-look SEC that could be awfully kind in 2024.

Mizzou kicks off the season with a soft nonconference run before its conference opener at home against Vanderbilt. Then, the Tigers have an idle weekend to prepare for a clash at Texas A&M.

It gets worse, but only briefly.

Although the team travels to Alabama to close October, there's another idle weekend prior to hosting Oklahoma. The final stretch at South Carolina, at Mississippi State and home to Arkansas is quite manageable.

I wouldn't bank on Mizzou winning a national title, but writing off the Tigers as a one-year wonder seems unwise.

Led by a veteran defense, Notre Dame is set to begin the 2024 campaign with considerable hype.

Nagurski Award-winning safety Xavier Watts is the big name, but defensive tackle Howard Cross III also earned AP All-American recognition last season. Fifth-year tackle Rylie Mills and sixth-year linebacker Jack Kiser deepen the pool of experience for the Fighting Irish.

The main question is how quarterback Riley Leonard, a transfer from Duke, adapts to a new system. He's a talented dual-threat player who should fit in perfectly fine, though.

Meanwhile, the schedule is far from daunting.

Notre Dame bookends the season with trips to Texas A&M and USC, a pair of possible Top 25 opponents. Between them, the Irish host Louisville and Florida State—and, uh, who else? Stanford and Virginia come to South Bend, and ND heads to Purdue and Georgia Tech.

Similar to Mizzou, the team's legitimate ceiling may be shy of a national title. But making the CFP looks very possible, and that's a necessary Step 1 in the conversation.

Few programs have been more aggressive in the transfer portal than Ole Miss, which won a team-record 11 games in 2023.

Running back Quinshon Judkins is a massive departure, for sure. Yet the arrival of LSU transfer Logan Diggs reduces the sting, and it helps to have a dual-threat QB in third-year starter Jaxson Dart, too.

The defense leaned on plenty of seniors last season, but the Rebels shored up their depth all over the unit through the portal. Several of those additions are bringing major experience from other SEC programs and should immediately bolster the starting group in Oxford.

Truly, the timing could hardly be better. Lane Kiffin is staring down a program-changing opportunity in 2024.

Ole Miss begins the season with Furman, Middle Tennessee, (at) Wake Forest, Georgia Southern, Kentucky and (at) South Carolina. That schedule is begging for a 6-0 start.

The second half is tougher, but an idle weekend splits a tilt at LSU and home showdown with Oklahoma. A second idle Saturday separates Georgia's trip to the Rebels and their jaunt to Florida. Win at least two of those games, and Ole Miss should be in CFP contention.