The progression of spring football games in college football will have to wait. Deion Sanders and Colorado football tried to push the envelope this offseason by scrimmaging with another team during their spring game, and Fran Brown and Syracuse turned out to be a willing dance partner.
Unfortunately, the NCAA is not on board. The petition submitted by Colorado and Syracuse to allow a two-team scrimmage as a spring game has been denied by the NCAA, according to Chris Vannini of The Athletic.
The committee that reviewed the request submitted three primary reasons for denying the chance for the two teams to meet up.
“The committee raised concerns regarding: (1) The timing of the request, noting most institutions have already planned their spring practice periods and some are at the end of, or have completed, their spring practice period; (2) The competitive and recruiting advantage gained by the applicant institutions if a waiver was approved to allow these institutions to engage in activities no other institutions are permitted to do; and (3) The potential academic impact associated with student-athletes missing class time to participate in practice activities,” the ruling said, per Vannini.
This ruling will certainly upset fans across the country, as everyone was surely excited to see two teams play against each other in the spring in what would have been a seismic shift in college football.
While the NCAA isn’t allowing it to happen this year, the ruling doesn’t shut down the idea as a whole. Sanders started the talks of this just recently when Colorado football started spring practice, so it would have taken a wildly quick turnaround in order for things to work out. However, it’s reasonable to assume that if the talks start much earlier, we could see something like this happen in 2026.
Many high-profile teams, such as Ohio State, Ole Miss, Texas and many more, have called off their spring games altogether. Having teams scrimmage each other may be one of the best ways to revive what was once a revered college football tradition.
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