Top storylines entering the 2017 college football season

For the second straight year, the college football season begins in Australia. Stanford and Rice meet in Sydney's Allianz Stadium to kick off the season. Last year, Cal beat Hawaii in a 51-31 shootout in front of more than 61,000 fans in the Sydney Cup. Stanford and Rice closed out last season with a rainy 41-17 Cardinal win in Palo Alto. They were supposed to play the rematch in Houston this year but relocated the game to Sydney.

The Big 12 will bring back its conference championship game for the first time since 2010. With new policies, the 10-team conference will hold a championship game. The teams that finish in first and second place qualify. Oklahoma and Texas, both of whom sport new head coaches, have won every Big 12 title game since 2004. Oklahoma has won the last two regular-season conference titles.

Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State all fought for the top of the Big Ten East division last year and should do the same in 2017. The dates to know:

• Oct 21: Michigan at Penn State
• Oct 28: Penn State at Ohio State
• Nov 25: Ohio State at Michigan

Last year, they all split with each other (Penn State beat Ohio State, Ohio State beat Michigan, Michigan beat Penn State), Penn State won the Big Ten title but Ohio State went to the playoff. Should be another great year.

Nick Saban's Crimson Tide is back as one of the favorites to win another National Championship. Despite the annual talent march to the NFL, Alabama is reloaded and angry about last year's last-second defeat in the College Football Playoff Championship Game. Can anyone stop the Tide? Bama opens up with a monster test against Florida State in Atlanta and has the usual tough SEC slate. Still, Nick Saban and his players are the clear favorites to end up back in Atlanta and win Saban's sixth National Championship.

Sept. 2, the University of Virginia will host William & Mary for the first high-profile event in Charlottesville since the Unite the Right rally Aug. 12 left one dead and 19 injured. The pride of the school and the town has been damaged a bit after those events, but the football team hopes to make the town proud among the fall leaves around Scott Stadium. 

Clemson has been to the last two College Football Playoff Championship Games, winning the title in stunning fashion this past January. Can the Tigers pull it off again? The defense is loaded and boasts one of the best lines in the nation. The offense, however, will be overhauled and must break in a new quarterback after stud Deshaun Watson left for the NFL. The Tigers are still a top 10 team, but can they be like Alabama where championships are yearly expectations?

Due to a couple of coincidental factors, eight of the Gators' 12 games this season will be in the state of Florida. Their rivalry game with Florida State will be in Gainsville, non-conference games with UAB and Northern Colorado at home, and their annual battle with Georgia in Jacksonville. Add in the scheduling feud with LSU after last year's hurricane postponement, and the Gators will play just three true road games all season long.

It has been 42 years since Ohio State's Archie Griffin was the lone man to win two Heisman Trophies, but Louisville's Lamar Jackson hopes to repeat the feat. The 2016 winner will face stiff competition from J.T. Barrett, Saquon Barkley, Jake Browning and Sam Darnold, among others. Remember that no one was talking about Jackson when last season started so a new name could rise to fame. Or it could be Jackson again.

After spending the last three seasons as the offensive coordinator at Alabama, Kiffin has secured another head coaching gig at Florida Atlantic. Kiffin, who had a lukewarm career previously at Tennessee and USC despite being a strong recruiter, is starting near the bottom of the FBS and trying to build his career back up. 

One effect of the College Football Playoff is seemingly better non-conference games. It all starts off with a doozy: Alabama vs. Florida State in Atlanta on Sept. 2. Other big games of note include Oklahoma at Ohio State (Sept. 9), Auburn at Clemson (Sept. 9), Texas at USC (Sept. 16), Michigan vs. Florida (Sept. 2), Texas A&M at UCLA (Sept. 3), Georgia at Notre Dame (Sept. 9), Oklahoma State at Pittsburgh (Sept. 16) and Nebraska at Oregon (Sept. 9).

It is going on 30 years since Notre Dame last won a college football championship. It's also been five years since the Fighting Irish have enjoyed elite status on the field. There have been rumblings that head coach Brian Kelly's eighth season in South Bend could be his last if the Irish don't turn around from a 4-8 season. The schedule is typically tough to navigate, but the roster is good enough to make a surprising run.

South Florida is coming off a 11-2 campaign and a win over an SEC school in the Birmingham Bowl. Head coach Willie Taggart may have left for Oregon, but with Charlie Strong stepping in, most don't expect the Bulls to miss a beat. They have a favorable American Athletic Conference schedule and a Heisman candidate in Quinton Flowers. Their weak schedule could keep them out of the playoff, as it did with Western Michigan last season, but if you want to root for the little guy, look here.

Tom Herman has taken a meteoric rise from Ohio State offensive coordinator and Houston's head coach to become the head coach at Texas, one of the largest football programs. In just his third year of head coaching experience, he will helm a Longhorns program that has languished in mediocrity since Colt McCoy led them to the 2009-2010 BCS Championship Game. The pressure is on to turn this thing around quickly. 

Quarterbacks are in new places all over the nation, and the headliner may be Auburn's Jarrett Stidham. Stidham (pictured) will be attending his third school in three years but could follow that blueprint to have Cam Newton-type success with the Tigers. Other names to know are Malik Zaire (Notre Dame to Florida), Will Grier (Florida to West Virginia), Kyle Allen (Texas A&M to Houston), Blake Barnett (Alabama to Arizona State), De'Andre Johnson (Florida State to FAU), Anu Solomon (Arizona to Baylor) and Brandon Harris (LSU to North Carolina).

UAB disbanded its football program after the 2014 season, but fans and faculty fought to resurrect it. This year it returns to the field with a stronger bond with the community. The Blazers have a new football facility and are looking at building a new stadium in the future. But the future, in Birmingham, is now as the football team is back.

At the end of ESPN's NFL Draft coverage, Adam Schefter dropped a nugget that Josh Allen would be the No. 1 pick in 2018. Everyone watching thought, "Who?" A guy who received just two scholarship offers in high school threw for over 3,200 yards and 28 TDs in his sophomore season in Laramie. Scouts view him as a Joe Flacco-type with more athleticism. With that name drop, Allen will receive a lot more attention than he's ever known.