During the summer, we asked coaches to weigh in on several topics that seemed likely to become prominent when the games began.
Halfway through the 2019 season, we know more, and so do the coaches.
Here's a look at the questions we examined for our in-season edition of Coaches Confidential:
What is contributing to Jalen Hurts' immediate success with Oklahoma's offense?
How has LSU transformed its offense this season?
What do you make of D'Eriq King's decision at Houston?
Who are the best complete teams in a larger-than-expected field of national championship contenders?
We granted anonymity to the coaches so they could speak freely on these topics. Here's what they had to say:
Why Lincoln Riley and Jalen Hurts work so well
Before the season, coaches had strong but somewhat measured expectations for Hurts at Oklahoma. Hurts brought impeccable character and leadership credentials, and his athleticism also drew high marks. But questions lingered about his arm and accuracy, which didn't blow away SEC defensive coordinators during his time at Alabama.
Hurts is following two Heisman Trophy-winning Oklahoma quarterbacks in Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield, who completed 69% and 70.5% of their passes, respectively, the past two seasons. Through six games, Hurts' accuracy is excellent. He has completed 71.5% of his passes for 1,758 yards with 17 touchdowns and only three interceptions.
Although Hurts' passing numbers jump out, coaches say he provides a natural run threat (630 rushing yards, eight rushing touchdowns) that opens up the pass game even more. Mayfield and especially Murray both moved well, but Hurts, at 6-foot-2 and 218 pounds, is a bigger ball carrier who can be a major part of Riley's ever-improving run scheme.
"Jalen brings a designed run threat that they didn't have a whole lot of with Kyler last year," a Big 12 offensive assistant said. "It was just Kyler making it happen on his own. They do a lot of designed stuff with Jalen. He's just got that ability, because of his size and his physicality, that they didn't have with Kyler."
A Power 5 defensive coordinator added of Hurts: "He's a 5-star tailback that can throw the ball. How do you tackle that guy?"
Murray and Mayfield both were great at extending plays and scrambling, but Hurts doesn't need to improvise as much.
"He's a different kind of runner," a Group of 5 coach said. "He's such a powerful runner. When you have a quarterback who can do that on third down and fourth down, in particular, kind of short-yardage situations, it changes everything. I remember Cam Newton at Auburn, everybody knew on third-and-3 that he was going to run the ball, but nobody could stop him. They're doing the same thing with Jalen."
Coaches are impressed with Hurts, but they also point to other factors in his play: Riley's proven system, an explosive group of wide receivers led by CeeDee Lamb, and the Big 12, where defenses aren't as talented as those he saw in the SEC at Alabama. "They run him and play horrible defenses," an FBS coach said. "The guy can throw the ball down the field, too. He's not the most accurate guy, but he has great receivers and can get them the ball against defenses that can't cover them."
A Group of 5 coordinator added: "Their down-the-field balls, that's where they're creating such explosiveness on offense. Their receivers are freaking legit."
How LSU built an offense to take on Bama
Every college football season brings potentially seismic scheme changes, but none has rattled the landscape like LSU's offense. A unit that perennially underachieved, especially at wide receiver, is shattering passing records every week.
Ed Orgeron's hiring of Joe Brady from the New Orleans Saints as passing game coordinator is becoming the most important coaching transaction of 2019. Brady's tempo and passing concepts have made LSU's offense impossible to recognize through the first six games.
LSU ranks second nationally in passing offense (395.5 ypg), fourth in yards per pass attempt (10.9), third in passing touchdowns (25) and first in scoring (52.5 ppg). The Tigers scored 273 points in their first five games, the most ever by an SEC team in league history.
Quarterback Joe Burrow, a second-year starter, is on a similar record-shattering pace with 2,157 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and a nation-leading completion percentage of 79.6.
"They're scary," an FBS head coach said. "They're very, very, very fast, and they're playing fast. They do a good job of playing really fast in the red zone. You can see people get unsettled in the red zone, and it's always harder in the red zone to make the call for a defense. The offense kind of has the upper hand."
LSU already has 31 scoring drives of less than three minutes, eight more than it had all of last season. The Tigers are 34-for-34 in red zone scoring chances with 29 touchdowns, a percentage that ranks seventh nationally (they actually have three more red zone touchdowns than any other FBS team).
Burrow's performance in a Week 2 win at Texas jumped out to coaches, as the senior threw for 471 yards, the most ever against the Longhorns and the second-highest single-game total in LSU history.
Even after Texas rallied, Burrow made the game's pivotal play, finding Justin Jefferson for a 61-yard touchdown on third-and-17.
"You're thinking, 'It's LSU. They're going to run the ball, punt and play defense, the tradition,'" a Power 5 coordinator said. "But then Burrow makes an incredible throw, great catch by the guy and runs for a touchdown. You're like, 'Wow!'"
Burrow further validated himself as a Heisman Trophy contender -- and LSU's offense as one of the nation's best -- in Saturday's 42-28 win over the Florida Gators, who came in leading the nation in takeaways (17) and red zone defense (35.7% scoring). He completed 21 of 24 passes for 293 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
"He knows where he's going with the ball, gets rid of it in a hurry, and they are really good at wide receiver," a Power 5 defensive coordinator said.
D'Eriq King and the future of redshirts
Most coaches supported the redshirt rule, but it has created some unforeseen challenges, especially at the quarterback position. Last season, Kelly Bryant left Clemson after Trevor Lawrence replaced him as the starter. Because Bryant appeared in only four games at Clemson, he could preserve his final season of eligibility, which he's now using at Missouri.
King didn't lose his starting gig at Houston, and had played relatively well, racking up 663 pass yards, 312 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns (six pass, six rush). But after Houston's 1-3 start, King announced he would redshirt the season but remain with the team and return in 2020. Senior wide receiver Keith Corbin, the team's No. 2 wideout in 2018, also announced he's redshirting.
Some coaches think decisions like King's set a bad precedent in the locker room.
"How do you say that to your teammates, and do you as a coach make it out to be OK?" an FBS coach said. "What do you say to the rest of the team? Is it OK for every senior to do something like that? There's probably an offensive lineman somewhere that doesn't have an NFL future that says, 'I'd like to go out on a winning season, too. Maybe I should just redshirt and stay for another season.' I just don't know how you deal with something like that."
Others doubt whether King actually will return to Houston next season.
"It's going to be interesting to see how it all works out," an FBS head coach said. "The guy they have playing quarterback for them right now [Clayton Tune], I think he'll play well enough to where, at the end of the year, they'll just say, 'Yeah, let's just all move on.'"
Another FBS coach thinks King, like other prominent Group of 5 players, will have options to move up for his final season.
"There's only about six to eight teams that have a chance to win the national championship, and that's every year," the coach said. "If one of those teams calls this kid and he can go, I don't see him staying. Some of the bigger-name schools, instead of recruiting, they're going to say, 'Let's just recruit from other schools,' even for those players who aren't obvious NFL players. They will still sell that dream: 'Come prove you can do it here and you can go to the NFL.'"
Some coaches say the impact of notable players going this route is felt more at Group of 5 programs.
"It's a thing," a Group of 5 head coach said. "And I don't know where it's going to go. At the end of the day, it's almost like it's free agency. When you have a good player, what if all of a sudden he doesn't go to the NFL? He's going to have every team in the country courting him to come and play quarterback for them. It's difficult. It's a hard thing at this level.
"You lose two guys at this level, you become really, really average, really, really fast."
Who's the best team?
Clemson and Alabama hogged the offseason spotlight, and for good reason. The teams had played for national titles in three of the past four seasons, and both returned standout quarterbacks (Trevor Lawrence and Tua Tagovailoa). But Clemson hasn't been as dominant as expected. Alabama, while never in danger of losing, has continued to show some cracks on defense.
The gap between the top two and another crop of contenders has narrowed during the first six weeks.
An FBS head coach said Ohio State would compare favorably with Alabama as the most complete team in the country.
"They've got the quarterback, the offensive line and talent on defense," the coach said.
The same coach said it's impossible to ignore what Oklahoma has done on offense, but he still isn't completely sold on the Sooners.
"They're unbelievably explosive, but the Big 12 has been so bad on defense that it's hard to think they could win two playoff games until they prove differently," he said.
Oklahoma has lost in the playoff mainly because of its defense, which is showing significant improvement this season under first-year coordinator Alex Grinch.
"They're playing faster, playing with more discipline and forcing the issue," an FBS head coach said. "Grinch has made a difference. You can see that right away."
Even Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger noted the changes after Saturday's 34-27 loss to Oklahoma, saying, "They just let them go make plays, as opposed to trying to do a whole bunch of complex stuff. They just let them be athletes."
Several coaches expect Ohio State to end the Big Ten's playoff drought. They noted the Buckeyes' dramatic improvement on defense and the strong quarterback play from first-year starter Justin Fields.
"He just extends plays," said a defensive coordinator who faced Ohio State. "All of a sudden, you get everybody covered, you're blitzing, it doesn't matter, he finds ways to extend the plays and make big plays with his legs and his arm."
Several coaches noted Clemson's struggles on offense but expect improvement in the final two months, which has been the pattern under coach Dabo Swinney.
"You're thinking, 'It's LSU. They're going to run the ball, punt and play defense, the tradition. But then Burrow makes an incredible throw, great catch by the guy and runs for a touchdown. You're like, 'Wow!'" One Power 5 coordinator
"Sooner or later, Clemson's offense is going to rise up," an FBS head coach said. "It has in the past. They'll make some plays."
Clemson on Saturday had its most complete performance, thumping Florida State 45-14. Lawrence looked sharper (170 pass yards, three touchdowns, one interception) and the Tigers rushed for 320 yards.
"Dabo Swinney's ability to get his team to rise to the occasion and play its best football on the biggest stages speaks for itself," another FBS coach said. "In a one-game shot, and if they get to the playoff, which I think they will, Clemson's good enough to beat anybody, and they've proved that more than once now."
The rub with Alabama, according to one head coach, is that the Crimson Tide simply aren't as dominant on defense as usual, especially with mounting injuries. The Tide will have to lean even more on their offense to win high-scoring affairs.
"There's always that chance you could have an off day or turn the ball over a bunch, and the defense isn't as equipped to hold teams down," the coach said. "But who's going to stop that Alabama passing game? ... They've got four first-round picks at receiver with the first pick in next year's draft throwing them the ball."
A Power 5 defensive coordinator told ESPN that LSU could be the fly in the ointment for everybody, particularly with Burrow playing at a Heisman-caliber level and with a defense that has "only played in stretches" up to its talent.
"LSU is a really, really good football team that's playing with a lot of confidence," the coordinator said. "I'm not saying you turn on the tape and go, 'Oh s---,' but they have a chance if that defense rounds into shape."