Colorado and Syracuse’s attempt to hold a spring football game against each other has been denied by the Division I FBS oversight committee, but the group will discuss the larger idea more in the future.
The two schools filed a waiver request to practice together a week ago after Colorado coach Deion Sanders publicly floated the idea, and Syracuse coach Fran Brown responded that his team would like to do it.
The waiver was denied largely due to the late timing of the request. The committee, which is largely made up of athletic directors but also includes Illinois coach Bret Bielema, noted that most FBS schools have already scheduled or even ended spring football, and it would give a recruiting advantage to Colorado and Syracuse if other schools were not allowed. There were also concerns about the potential academic impacts of players missing class.
NEWS: The FBS oversight committee has denied Colorado and Syracuse’s request for spring practice together.
It’s partly due to the late timing, and the topic will be discussed more in the future. pic.twitter.com/3Lx7HpHfUQ
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) March 28, 2025
“The committee advised the NCAA staff that, for the reasons noted above, it opposed the waiver,” the committee’s report reads. “The committee agreed to discuss, during a future meeting, a concept that could permit joint spring practices in future seasons.”
While several schools have recently decided to cancel their spring game or keep it out of the public eye due to concerns over the impact on the transfer portal, some coaches have gone in the opposite direction. Washington coach Jedd Fisch keeps all of spring practice open to the public.
The idea of an exhibition scrimmage between college football teams or joint practices like the NFL has been floated for many years. Coaches in the past have suggested playing a Football Championship Subdivision team in the spring. But Sanders’ outsized influence and attention brought more focus on the topic, and Brown’s answer made it an even bigger topic of discussion.
“That’s what I’m trying to do right now, to have it competitive,” Sanders said. “Playing against your own guys kind of gets monotonous, and you really can’t tell the levels of your guys. … It’s the same old, same old. Everybody kind of knows each other.”
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy recently suggested Oklahoma State and Oklahoma play each other multiple times, charge fans for admission and put the money toward NIL.
American Football Coaches Association executive director Craig Bohl, the former Wyoming coach, is a nonvoting member of the oversight committee. He said recently that he sees a day coming when college football teams can practice with each other like the NFL. The committee appears open to it.
It just won’t be this year.
(Photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
