The 2019 college football season ended barely a week ago, the NFL Draft isn’t until April and the official start of the 2020 college season is still months away. But none of that is stopping us from already asking some questions and trying to gauge what to expect next season.

We’re certainly not trying to forget about LSU finishing the season with a perfect 15-0 record and a national championship — or the fact that Clemson lost for the first time since 2018 — but we can’t help but look ahead. Especially as some rosters and coaching staffs look totally different.

So here are our top-nine questions it’s probably too early to ask as we wait impatiently for the first college football Saturday.

1. Can LSU avoid a championship season hangover?

Probably still very good, along with being a national championship contender again. But it’s also possible the Tigers will experience some challenges with all their turnover. Sure, they have plenty of talent returning next season, but they’re losing major players on both sides of the ball, including Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow, wide receiver Justin Jefferson, tight end Thaddeus Moss, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, safety Grant Delpit and linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson. What’s more, former LSU passing coordinator Joe Brady is now the Carolina Panthers’ offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator Dave Aranda is now the head coach at Baylor.

It would be unwise to underestimate LSU next season, despite these major losses, but it faces a tough SEC schedule once again. Another perfect season for the Tigers is highly unlikely — although, so was the first one — but with a solid number of defensive players returning, they could return to their roots and dominate that side of the ball.

2. How good is Clemson going to be next season?

Uhh, exceptionally good again. We knew quarterback Trevor Lawrence would be back for the 2020 season, but running back Travis Etienne, one of the best in the nation, recently announced his surprise return to college ball next season. And that means the Tigers’ top-5 offense, which averaged 528.7 yards per game this season, should be just as strong, if not better. While Clemson is losing a handful of key players, even bigger ones are staying.

Combine that with the fact that the Tigers have, by far, the best 2020 recruiting class joining the team, and their dynasty doesn’t look like it’s dying any time soon. They should continue dominating the ACC with a sixth consecutive conference title, and if they can beat Notre Dame, they’re looking at third straight undefeated regular season.

3. Which conference will be the most fun?

Sorry, but it’s going to be the SEC. Actually, only the SEC West. With Lane Kiffin taking over at Ole Miss and Mike Leach leading Mississippi State, the division gained two big personalities that could spice things up. Not that the two of them will transform their below-.500 teams into national championship contenders overnight, but adding Kiffin and Leach to a division that already includes delightful Ed Orgeron and curmudgeon Nick Saban will be so much fun. The build-up to Kiffin’s first game against Alabama, his former team, could be fantastic — even if the Crimson Tide win by 100.

Plus, don’t forget about Jimbo Fisher, Gus Malzahn and Arkansas’ newcomer Sam Pittman, who also has an energetic and slightly bizarre personality. No other conference or division can compete with what’s going on in the SEC West, and it makes us wish teams would have joint press conferences for every game.

4. Can we expect ANOTHER Ohio State Big Ten title?

Yes. Ohio State was one of the most balanced teams this season, and despite some turnover, it’s reasonable to think that won’t change much in 2020. The Buckeyes’ defense will have to find a way to replace defensive end and Heisman Trophy finalist Chase Young and cornerback Jeff Okudah — both are projected to be top-5 NFL Draft picks — but they still have their other Heisman finalist in quarterback Justin Fields. And Fields could really show off his skillset without having to share the workload with running back J.K. Dobbins, who’s forgoing his senior season and entering the draft.

Maybe Penn State gives Ohio State a run for its money, but if not, the Buckeyes will plow through their conference schedule and win a fourth straight Big Ten championship (assuming the Big Ten West continues to be competitive within the division but not against the East).

5. Is Texas actually going to contend for… something?

A year ago after Sam Ehlinger and the Longhorns took down Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and finished 10-4, we were pretty high on Texas going into the 2019 season. Being in contention for the Big 12 title seemed like a given, Ehlinger was a preseason Heisman Trophy favorite and maybe they’d even be a playoff team. Well, perhaps we were all a little too excited because Texas finished 5-4 in the conference, which was not even remotely close to 8-1 Oklahoma and Baylor. Ehlinger was among the best quarterbacks with 3,663 passing yards, 32 touchdowns and a 65.2 completion percentage, but his Heisman hype didn’t last.

The good news for the Longhorns is Ehlinger is staying put for his senior season; the bad news is they’re losing the team’s top-2 wide receivers in Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay, who finished fifth in the nation with 1,386 receiving yards this season. And while Texas is returning a large chunk of its defense, that defense also ranked 97th nationally. Plus, new offensive and defensive coordinators could bring the program back to life or suffer some growing pains with turnover. And its schedule isn’t doing it any favors, so we could get our answer to that question depending on the final score of the LSU game in September. But with Oklahoma losing Jalen Hurts and CeeDee Lamb and Baylor coach Matt Rhule taking over the Carolina Panthers, perhaps this is Texas’ year.

6. Could Minnesota take control of the Big Ten West?

Maybe, but a second consecutive 11-win season might be pushing it. The Golden Gophers’ 2019 Big Ten schedule was front-loaded with the weakest teams in the conference, but they proved they deserved to be taken more seriously with an upset over Penn State before capping off their season with a win over Auburn in the Outback Bowl. Their defense finished ranked 10th nationally (306.6 yards/game), but that defense is also losing way more starters than it’s keeping, including Antoine Winfield Jr., the redshirt sophomore who declared for the NFL Draft after having the fourth most interceptions in the country this season.

In 2020, Minnesota’s first seven games are noticeably more challenging than last season’s with Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. But if it remains in the conversation for the Big Ten West title, along with the Badgers and the Hawkeyes, the division might actually see some sustained competition it so desperately needs.

7. How long can Jim Harbaugh keep losing big games?

For most teams, a 9-4 or 10-3 season is considered a success, so generally speaking, Jim Harbaugh has been successful with the Wolverines with an overall 48-17 record. But he’s still 0-5 against Ohio State, and after falling to Alabama in this year’s Citrus Bowl, his program has now lost four straight bowl games. Whether it was early in the 2019 season with a blowout defeat to Wisconsin or following losses to Penn State and eventually the Buckeyes, Michigan fans have been vocal about how little patience they have left for Harbaugh. Plenty regularly call for him to be fired after games (or sometimes at halftime), so what happens if he continues to lose big games?

The Wolverines’ offense has been inconsistent, but maybe it can find some stability now that quarterback Shea Patterson is done. Running backs Zach Charbonnet and Hassan Haskins lead the key offensive players returning next season, so it’s possible they could offer Michigan a huge spark on the ground. And should the team’s defense continue to hover around the top-10 mark, Harbaugh’s team could surprise us next year and contend for a Big Ten championship. But with games against Washington, Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan State all before mid-October, the frustrated mob calling for Harbaugh’s job could continue to grow.

8. Will North Dakota State keep its win streak alive?

Winning its eighth FCS national championship in nine seasons, North Dakota State is now rocking a 37-game win streak, which is absolutely outrageous. Normally, it might seem reasonable for that to continue for a few games, at a minimum, next season, but the Bison open their 2020 schedule with a road game against Oregon.

Despite losing quarterback Justin Herbert and several offensive linemen, the Ducks will surely be favored come September, and they should probably be on high upset alert. But for NDSU, facing off against the defending Pac-12 champs could be the end of that win streak and lead to the team’s first loss since November 2017.

9. Will the Pac-12 continue to be shut out by the College Football Playoff?

As long as they all keep beating each other, yes. It sure was great for Arizona State to snap its four-game losing streak with a stunning upset over then-No. 6 Oregon in late November, but that destroyed the Pac-12’s chances of making the playoff. Of course, Utah was still very much in the mix until the Ducks blew them out in the conference title game. So, once again, the Pac-12 champ had more than one loss and was shut out from the playoff for a third straight year.

It’s not the strongest conference, so playoff hopefuls need help where they can get it. For Oregon, if it can beat Ohio State in September — or at least keep it close — and then avoid a mid-season upset, maybe it can finally get back to the CFP. Or maybe the conference has a different front-runner, but it won’t be in the playoff with more than one loss — and a good loss at that.

10. Will a Group of Five team ever be taken seriously by the CFP committee?

While Memphis and Cincinnati didn’t get the respect we thought they deserved this season, they clearly weren’t serious playoff contenders. Undefeated UCF wasn’t in 2017 or 2018, and a Group of Five team will need a perfect season to have an argument to stand on — though it still won’t happen. For more than the usual suspects to make the playoff, it has to expand. And although that seems almost inevitable, we’re only halfway through the playoff’s 12-year contract, and it probably won’t happen before that ends.