After an offseason of preoccupation with the transfer portal and NIL negotiations, coaches and players are about a month away from getting back to the real business of college football.

Theoretically, the ultimate objective is still to win games. Lucrative income, draft position and promotional opportunities are all enhanced by victories, especially on the sport’s biggest stage.

For FBS teams, that stage is the College Football Playoff.

In years past, when rosters remained relatively intact and players maxed out their eligibility, it was easier to forecast the national championship contenders entering the season.

Penn State’s national championship in 1986 was the fulfillment of the promise that defined the ’85 team which was beaten by Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl title tilt.

If there is one reasonable expectation for the 2025 season, it is that the eventual champion will hail from a power conference.

The last independent to win the national championship was Miami (Fla.) in 1989. The last team from a non-power conference to win the championship was WAC member BYU in 1984.

When BYU won the title 41 years ago, the championship was determined by polls. The Cougars played only one ranked team all season — No. 3 Pitt in the opener — and completed a 13-0 season by defeating a 6-5 Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl, which was contested before Christmas.

Depending on seeding in the current playoff format, a team might be required to run a gauntlet of four games.

Could a highly ranked non-power conference team prevail over even three consecutive opponents from the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and SEC?

Conventional wisdom says “No.”

A common criticism of Penn State’s non-conference schedule is that it does not adequately prepare the Nittany Lions for the season’s biggest challenges, which have traditionally been Michigan and Ohio State.

That same contention will be made again this season if Penn State loses to defending Big Ten champion Oregon on Sept. 27 after opening against Nevada, FIU and Villanova, all at home.

With their wealth of resources, teams such as Notre Dame, Texas, Ohio State, Michigan, PSU, Alabama and Georgia are expected to contend annually for a playoff spot.

It’s the sleepers from the power conferences such as Arizona State and Indiana that infuse the postseason with excitement and unpredictability.

However, not all CFP teams from power conferences are equally fortified.

SMU, champion of the ACC, had the look of a deer staring into the headlights of an 18-wheeler throughout the CFP first-round game at Beaver Stadium last December.

Similarly, Boise State’s No. 3 seeding and 17-point loss to the Nittany Lions in the quarterfinals strengthened the case for changing the seeding procedures.

The Broncos’ Mountain West Conference championship and three-point loss to then-No. 7 Oregon camouflaged deficiencies that a power conference schedule would have exposed.

The stakes are particularly high this season at USC, LSU and Oklahoma State where head coaches Lincoln Riley, Brian Kelly and Mike Gundy, respectively, are testing the patience of their fan bases.

LSU’s opener at Clemson already has Kelly pulling out all stops.

“We’ve circled the game, and I’ve never done that before in openers,” Kelly said. “It’s all over our weight room. It’s all over workouts. We’re wearing shirts. We’re doing the kumbaya of we’re playing Clemson, and we need to beat Clemson.”

With that sense of urgency, and top-shelf scheduling, there’s no denying that the LSU program will be all business this season.

On the field, that is.

Jim Caltagirone writes a monthly column for the Mirror.