This is not necessarily about the best five teams in college football this season. Yes, some of the top five teams are mentioned here but this is about those teams who have impressed the most so far this season based upon what the expectations were before the season started, and how they have played so far based on their preseason expectations.
Most Impressive Teams in College Football
Ohio State
Expectations are high in Columbus this season especially with the Bucks hitting the jackpot in the transfer portal at quarterback and at running back. The spotlight and possibly the hot seat are shining brightly on head coach Ryan Day. The faithful are not going to tolerate a fourth consecutive loss to Michigan. The Wolverines are down this season and Ohio State should win the annual matchup which is in Columbus this year.
Even though they opened the season with a few of the usual cupcakes, the Buckeyes have outscored their opponents by an average of 46-7 this season. That includes two decisive conference wins over Michigan State and Iowa by the scores of 38-7 and 35-7 respectively.
Looming large on the schedule is this weekend’s game at Oregon. The Ducks might have made our list if they had looked better in the first two weeks of the season. In addition to the Oregon game, an upcoming matchup at home against Indiana now looks to be a competitive game. Time will tell if the Buckeyes can make some noise when they get to the playoff which they will.
Texas A&M
This one has a little bit of recency bias. After starting off the season with a 21-13 home loss to Notre Dame, the Aggies haven’t lost since and are the only team on our list with a loss. They weren’t even that impressive in wins over lesser competition as the team adjusts to new head coach Mike Elko. The Aggies did have a close home win over pesky Arkansas who just upset Tennessee this past weekend.
It’s what happened this past Saturday that has the attention of the country. Undefeated and top ten ranked Missouri came into College Station and got whacked 41-10. This one was over early and it wasn’t even as close as the lopsided final score. A&M made a big move in the polls and seems to be hitting their stride at just the right time. As always the SEC schedule is daunting so they will need to be at their best the rest of the way to secure a playoff spot.
Texas
The first big game of the season that was hyped involved the Texas Longhorns traveling to Ann Arbor to take on defending national champions Michigan. While Michigan did lose their head coach and a lot of players on both sides of the ball they’re still a quality team.
The contest was never in doubt as the Horns jumped on Michigan early. The final score was 31-12 and it wasn’t even that close.
Making what Texas has done even more impressive is that starting quarterback Quin Ewers went down with an injury. In steps the most hyped player in recent memory-Arch Manning. As hyped as he was, nobody was really sure what he would do once he played. Well, let’s just say he’s been good. Really really good.
Now Texas has unquestionably the best quarterback room in the country. The defense has been better than expected since they lost some quality players to the NFL. The Horns are also one of our teams that is not only in the top five but has also been one of the most impressive so far.
BYU
Historically speaking, the Cougars are a tough team to predict from year to year and they haven’t been great in recent seasons. They’ve had a couple of decent years but nothing resembling the days from the 80’s and 90’s.
Well, they look like they’re back. So far this year they have served notice to the rest of the BIG 12 that they are for real. They have a road win at Baylor last week where they looked dominant for most of the game before it got a little dicey near the end, and another road win at ACC newcomer and always dangerous SMU. The Cougars also manhandled BIG 12 perennial contender Kansas State.
While BYU is not currently one of the top five teams in the country, they are certainly one of the five most impressive to date in 2024.
Indiana
Only the people who already knew about new head coach Curt Cignetti would have seen this coming. And even those people might not have seen it coming this quickly. Yes, the Hoosiers are undefeated with a 5-0 record but that’s not why they made our list. It’s all about how they have looked in getting to this point.
Indiana is averaging 49 points per game in the season. An early-season cross-country trip to Pasadena to take on the UCLA Bruins told us something about this group. Yes UCLA does appear down this year but the Hoosiers went on the road and spanked them in the Rose Bowl 42-13.
The schedule does get much tougher for Indiana going forward. As well as they have played it would still shock everyone if they actually got to the playoff this season. But we should expect them to be good for many years with a new coach in place who has won everywhere he’s been and has never lacked confidence. The Hoosiers are also not one of the top five teams in the country (yet?), but they are one of the most surprising and yes one of the most impressive so far.
There we have a look at the five most impressive college football teams so far this season. Who will be the five most impressive teams in the second half?
Main Image: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images
