Deion Sanders’ quest to play a spring football game against another team has been shot down by the NCAA, at least for this year.
NCAA rules currently forbid two teams playing each other in the spring. But the Colorado and Syracuse football programs applied for a waiver from the NCAA to play and practice against each other in April.
The NCAA’s Division I FBS oversight committee then met this week via videoconference and opposed the request, noting the late timing of it and how it would give the two schools a “competitive and recruiting advantage” to engage in activities that “no other institutions are permitted to do,” according to the committee’s report on the meeting.
The committee noted most schools already have planned their spring practice periods or completed it.
Sanders, Colorado’s football coach, wanted to play Syracuse in Boulder April 19 on ESPN2. His team instead will play itself in an intra-squad game that day at Folsom Field.
Who’s on this NCAA committee?
The committee includes Illinois head coach Bret Bielema. Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks, Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes, Miami (Fla.) athletic director Dan Radakovich and former Wyoming coach Craig Bohl, among others.
It noted that a spring game between two teams also would lead to players missing class time.
“The committee agreed to discuss, during a future meeting, a concept that could permit joint spring practices in future seasons,” the committee’s meeting report said.
Sanders had said in a news conference this month that he wanted to spice up his annual spring game by playing somebody else instead of practicing against each other.
“I would like to style it like the pros,” he said. “I’d like to go against someone (in practice) for a few days, and then you have the spring game. I think the public would be satisfied with that tremendously. I think it’s a tremendous idea.”
Syracuse coach Fran Brown then responded to Sanders’ idea on social media by saying he would take his team to Boulder for three days.
The committee’s meeting report indicated the request included a joint-contact practice session, a joint-noncontact practice session and an 11-on-11 scrimmage.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
