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Two teams stand above the rest of college football entering the 2024 season with a strong case to rank No. 1 in the preseason polls. Both Ohio State and Georgia play spring games on Saturday with major focus on their programs. 

Georgia’s quest for a three-peat fell short in last season’s SEC Championship Game, but the Bulldogs exorcised those demons with a 63-3 evisceration of Florida State in the Orange Bowl. A handful of key playmakers are off to the NFL, but Georgia is focused on setting the tone for 2024 despite missing out on a trip to the national championship. 

Conversely, Ohio State limped into the offseason after an embarrassing 14-3 loss to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl. In response, coach Ryan Day quickly set his eyes on the most important offseason of his career. His strategy will decide everything. 

The 2024 season also marks a demarcation in the history of the sport. The SEC and Big Ten grow by a combined six members, bringing 24 new claimed national championships to the leagues. The path to a national championship also gets more difficult as the College Football Playoff expands from four to 12 teams. Including a conference title game, winning a national championship could involve winning as many as four consecutive games against top-eight opponents. 

With both programs facing pivotal offseasons, which program faces the most pressure in 2024? 

Georgia’s pressure: Taking advantage of a post-Saban SEC

For all the success Georgia has put together over the past seven years under Kirby Smart, it’s amazing to think the ‘Dawgs only beat Alabama once: the 2021 CFP National Championship to capture their first title in 40 years. The Bulldogs dodged the Crimson Tide during the second national title run the following year and…

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Former Robbinsdale Cooper star and LSU defensive end Jaxon Howard, one of the most highly touted high school football recruits from Minnesota in recent years, is on the market again.

Howard played five games as a true freshman at LSU last season and participated in spring practice, but he’s entering the transfer portal, according to multiple reports Wednesday.

A 6-4, 240-pound Minneapolis native, Howard was a four-star prospect and the No. 1 player in the state of Minnesota’s 2023 class.

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck received an official visit from Howard in high school. The Gophers were among his finalists with Miami and Michigan before he signed with the Tigers in July 2022. Howard’s most productive game for LSU came against Wisconsin in the Jan. 1 ReliaQuest Bowl, when he had one tackle and a quarterback hurry against the Badgers.

Fleck and the Gophers will be looking in the transfer portal to add depth on both sides of the ball for the 2024 season.

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Oregon State running back Damien Martinez intends to enter the college football transfer portal when it opens next week, 247Sports reports. Martinez ranked among the top 25 rushers in the nation in 2023 and posted 6.1 yards per carry. In the transfer portal, Martinez will be rated as the No. 2 running back, behind only Quinshon Judkins (from Ole Miss to Ohio State). 

The two-year starter from Lewisville, Texas, rushed for more than 2,000 yards and 16 touchdowns in two seasons with the Beavers. He earned All-Pac-12 First Team honors as a sophomore while pacing an underrated Oregon State offense. With Martinez gone, Oregon State is down to three scholarship running backs for the spring. 

Martinez was one of the few star players to stick around after coach Jonathan Smith was poached by Michigan State over the offseason. Three All-Pac-12 teammates — quarterback Aidan Chiles, TE Jack Velling and OL Tanner Miller — joined Smith in East Lansing. Multiple other players landed at Florida State and USC. 

Fifteen different Oregon State players earned a spot on the All-Pac-12 team after the 2023 season. With Martinez set to leave, only one — offensive lineman Joshua Gray — will return.

Devastating loss for Beavers

Martinez had been vocal about returning to Corvallis, even after Smith left. He seemed to embrace the role of cornerstone.

“I’m not one foot in, one foot out,” Martinez told 247Sports in November. “I’m here. I’m stuck on being here. This is where I want to be, and like I said, I’m comfortable here. I haven’t had talks about leaving at all even with all of the coaching stuff happening. I think I’ve said it before, but the coach here told me he wasn’t leaving and he ended up leaving. Loyalty is another big thing and I just wanted to…

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STILLWATER — One of the most intently watched Oklahoma State football players last December and January was cornerback Korie Black.

Speculation was rampant about where he’d play in 2024.

Would he go to the NFL?

Would he enter the transfer portal to leave for another program, even perhaps join his younger brother at Texas?

Any of those seemed like viable possibilities, yet Black went with option No. 3, remaining at OSU for his super-senior season.

“I had a lot of talks with coaches and my parents,” Black said. “Through all those conversations, we pretty much came up with this.”

Black’s return is hugely valuable for a Cowboy defense looking to take a big step forward in the second year under coordinator Bryan Nardo.

Here’s a look at the cornerback position for the Pokes this spring:

More: Which Oklahoma State football players have most to gain in spring practice?

OSU’s Korie Black (2) celebrates a defensive stop next to OU’s Drake Stoops (12) during the Cowboys’ win in Bedlam on Nov. 4, 2023, in Stillwater.

Season rewind

Among players with more than 60 snaps played, Black was the third-best graded player on the OSU defense last season, according to Pro Football Focus, coming behind only Anthony Goodlow and Collin Oliver.

He played 680 snaps and his receiver was targeted just 35 times all season, so quarterbacks were avoiding him when possible. He allowed just 16 catches for 264 yards.

The second-most used cornerback was redshirt freshman D.J. McKinney, who has since transferred to Colorado, but the Cowboys rotated cornerbacks more frequently than ever before, getting plenty of experience for Cam Smith and Kale Smith (no relation).

The cornerback group was solid last year, but there’s still room for growth, and that seems to be happening this spring.

Roster management

Who’s out: D.J. McKinney

Who’s in:…

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