The good news for college football is that the 2021 season looked, more or less, like most seasons that came before, filled with big games, high drama and a satisfying conclusion, as Georgia won its first national championship in 41 years.
Off the field, however, 2021 was a year of constant upheaval, with college football enduring a flurry of transformational events -- from the Supreme Court to the transfer portal -- that has left the sport in a precarious position as the 2022 offseason begins.
ESPN talked with more than a dozen league commissioners, school administrators and longtime coaches to get some insight on where things stand as college football looks to establish a new normal in the aftermath of the Alston ruling, realignment, NIL and a new NCAA governance structure.