Conference, coaching changes | New era for SEC, college football [Video]

Nick Saban has a TV gig, Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC, and the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A ew era has arrived in college football, with some of the most recognizable programs in history now playing in different leagues, including changes to the SEC.

The postseason is different, too. The College Football Playoff expands from four to 12 teams, changing the calculus of the championship chase.

There’s also change for some of the game’s biggest names.

Jim Harbaugh won a national championship at Michigan, his alma mater, and returned to the NFL. Nick Saban retired from coaching with a record seven national titles and becomes an analyst on ESPN’s “College GameDay” show. The prolific Dillon Gabriel takes his big arm to his third school, Oregon, for his sixth and final season.

Fans’ biggest challenge will be remembering which teams are in which conferences. Save for the SEC, the era of coast-to-coast conferences is upon us.

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