Scott Frost, after winning the 2017 AAC Championship, finishing the perfect 2017 UCF Knights season. Source: elisfkc, Wikimedia Commons.

When things go south, it’s understandable to go back to what feels familiar. It happens a lot in life. And sometimes it even happens in sports.

This offseason, a few programs found themselves at a crossroads. Perhaps they were searching for answers. Looking for a spark. Needing something to change or break right for them. Whatever the reason, it led to a few “getting the band back together” scenarios that are pretty interesting in the grand scheme of things.

Let’s take a look at those situations and evaluate whether it was the right or wrong decision to get the band back together.

Country roads, take me home.

To the place, I belong.

West Virginia, Mountain Mama.

Take me home, country roads.

The 1971 John Denver classic is the official anthem of all things West Virginia athletics and just so happens to perfectly describe the “Mama’s calling “nature of head coach Rich Rodriguez’s arrival back in Morgantown.

It’s hard to understate how insanely awesome the West Virginia football program was from 2005-2007 during Rich Rod’s first tenure. Names like Pat White, Noel Divine and Owen Schmidt vaulted the Mountaineers into the college football stratosphere. That program was humming so well that they damn near made a national title game had it not been for a disastrous Backyard Brawl loss to Pittsburgh on the final week of the regular season.

Rich Rod was a hot commodity back then. His offense was all the rage and everyone wanted a piece of him. After three straight double-digit win seasons, Rodriguez left for Michigan, leaving behind the place that effectively made him.

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. A man leaves a good place for greener pastures, and the grass is not actually greener. That’s essentially what happened with Rodriguez at Michigan.

He never got things going in Ann Arbor and lasted just three seasons. The eight years that followed took him to Tucson, Arizona, where he coached the Wildcats for six years before getting fired. He then landed in, of all places, Jacksonville, Alabama, where he engineered a miraculous revival for a program that had just made the leap to the FCS ranks. He was fantastic for Jacksonville State and finished with back-to-back nine-win campaigns.

Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps West Virginia had no other viable options. Whatever the reason, I, for one, am extremely happy that we will get to see Rich Rod roam the sidelines in Morgantown once again. I have fond memories of that mid-2000s WVU team, and all will feel right in the world when he’s coaching the Mountaineers again.

Will this reunion work? I have no idea.

West Virginia is in a much different place than the last time Rich Rod was the head man. The old Big East is dead and gone. Instead, the Mountaineers are in the Slot Machine Big 12 Conference, where every year it feels as if you can pull the lever and get a brand new result. Time will tell if that’s actually the case.

This time around, he’ll be tasked with interjecting some life into a program stuck in mediocrity. Former WVU head coach Neal Brown did some OK things, but could never get the Mountaineers back to their former glory. Who knows if Rodriguez can do that either?

In terms of the 2025 outlook, I suspect Rich Rod will bring a different level of physicality and a nasty attitude to this program. We’ve seen this movie before, remember, so we know Rich Rod wants to pound the run game.

He’s been ultra-aggressive in his attempts to flip the roster. The Mountaineers have 31 transfer players coming in (not counting the spring portal window), the most in FBS. Can he flip this thing and get it on its feet in Year 1? Time will tell.

If we play the schedule game, West Virginia kicks off the season with games against Robert Morris and Ohio before squaring off in a big non-conference game with Pittsburgh. Rich Rod vs. Narduzzi will be box office, by the way.

In conference play, the Mountaineers have road games against Kansas, BYU, UCF, Houston and Arizona State. At home, they’ll play Utah, TCU, Colorado, and Texas Tech.

I think reaching six wins and getting a bowl game would be a massive win in Year 1 back in Morgantown. That’s a tough schedule, so perhaps we should temper our expectations, no matter how warm and fuzzy it’ll make us feel to see Rich Rod back in Morgantown.

Speaking of hot commodities and national title conversations, by gawd that’s Scott Frost’s music.

In 2017, Scott Frost led the UCF Golden Knights to an unofficial national title with a 13-0 record. That team ripped through the American Athletic Conference and was no stranger to scoring points in bunches.

Frost rode that high and parlayed it into his dream job at his alma mater, Nebraska, where things ended disastrously. In his four-and-a-half seasons in charge, his teams never made a bowl game and never eclipsed the five-win mark. More than that, his teams developed an affinity for disastrous late-game management that made him and the Huskers laughingstocks on the national stage.

After a few years away from college football (and hopefully sorting out his off-field issues ), Frost came out of left field to land the UCF job for a second time.

UCF, fresh off a less-than-stellar Gus Malzahn rein, needed a spark and went with someone familiar in Frost.

Where does this team go from here? It’s hard to say for certain.

When things were right in Orlando, the Knights were an awesome watch. But 2017 is a long time ago, and I’m just not sure what to expect from a Scott Frost-led team in 2025.

According to ESPN writer Bill Connelly’s SP+ Returning Production Rankings, UCF ranks 106th in the country in returning production. That checks out and is likely why the Golden Knights took a whopping 28 transfers, good for 29th in the 247 Sports transfer rankings.

Notable departures from last year’s team include quarterback KJ Jefferson and NFL draftee RJ Harvey, among others. Gus Malzahn took some swings in the form of transfers (ahem, KJ Jefferson) and many of them just did not pan out. Frost appears to be doing the same in trying to flip the roster in Year 1. It remains to be seen how good of a job Frost will do in that department.

Tayven Jackson, formerly of Indiana, is the favorite to be Frost’s quarterback in Year 1. Call me curious to see that one play out. Jackson is a former four-star quarterback and was fairly serviceable in spot duty last year for the Hoosiers. I’d imagine that Frost will try to utilize his dual-threat ability to inject some life into a previously listless offense.

Playing the schedule game, I’d temper my expectations for Frost and the Golden Knights in Year 1. After a couple of cupcake games to start the season, UCF will take on a Bill Belichick-led UNC team before tricky conference games against Kansas State and Kansas. To close out the year, the Golden Knights will play road games against Texas Tech and Baylor and later home games against Oklahoma State and BYU.

Sometimes getting back together with your ex works out nicely. Other times, not so much. I’m betting the Scott Frost-UCF 2.0 tenure will resemble the latter and not the former.

Unlike West Virginia and UCF, Alabama did not make a coaching change after the 2024 season. Last year, Kalen DeBoer led an up-and-down Alabama team to a 9-3 record and just narrowly missed the College Football Playoff field. The Crimson Tide had a formidable defense in 2024, but the inconsistent play from quarterback Jalen Milroe ultimately doomed Alabama in some crucial games down the stretch.

This season, however, DeBoer did make a pretty crucial acquisition in getting back together with his former offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb. DeBoer and Grubb put together some extremely impressive offenses in Washington, and it was a bit of a surprise that Grubb opted to join the Seattle Seahawks after 2023 instead of following DeBoer to Tuscaloosa.

Grubb and the Seahawks’ offense was up and down in 2024, and he eventually got the boot.

I’m juiced about the Grubb-DeBoer reunion. Last year, it felt like Alabama got a little too predictable on offense, and I suspect that side of the ball will look much improved in 2025.

That said, there are still plenty of questions on offense as we inch closer to the new season. Chief among them: Who will be taking snaps for the Crimson Tide in 2025?

Right now, there’s a three-horse race for the QB1 position. Ty Simpson appears to be the favorite at the time of writing, but I’m not ruling out former UW quarterback Austin Mack or 5-star freshman Keelon Russell. Russell, in particular, has some crazy upside, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him get some run at some point in the season. If I had to bet right now, my money would be on Simpson to start.

No disrespect to Mack, but he’s been in the program for a year already and hasn’t yet locked down that starting spot. I’d keep an eye on the loser between Mack and Simpson to hit the spring transfer portal.

All in all, the Alabama offense should boast a great group of young, dynamic receivers and a really strong offensive line. Couple that with a strong defense, and it’s no wonder why pundits are high on the Crimson Tide entering 2025. Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings have Alabama slotted as the No. 2 team in the country at the time of writing.

Alabama has a difficult SEC schedule, but it wouldn’t shock me at all to see this team go 10-2 and make a run in the College Football Playoff.

It’s early days and a ball hasn’t even been snapped yet, but I see no real downside to seeing DeBoer and Grubb try and run this thing back.

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