Buffs Beat

Deion Sanders Plea For Colorado Buffaloes-Syracuse Spring Game Denied

The Colorado Buffaloes and Syracuse Orange will have to wait another year to hold a spring scrimmage, as coach Deion Sanders's pitch to the FBS Oversight Committee was denied. However, the door is open for this idea to come together next season.
Harrison Simeon|
Apr 22, 2023; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders before the start of the spring game at Folsom Field.
Apr 22, 2023; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders before the start of the spring game at Folsom Field. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

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Colorado BuffaloesSyracuse Orange

Coach Deion Sanders's NFL-style spring renaissance will have to wait.

On Friday, the FBS Oversight Committee rejected a waiver request for the Colorado Buffaloes and Syracuse Orange to host spring practices and a game this spring, which was pitched by Sanders this past week. Current NCAA regulations strictly prohibit teams from scrimmaging against each other during the offseason

The official ruling cited the request's late timing, a "competitive and recruiting advantage" due to its one-off nature and a "potential academic impact." The NCAA did not directly reject the idea, but it took the recommendation of the oversight committee.

Coach Fran Brown and the Orange joined the party after Sanders stumped for this unprecedented event at his opening spring press conference. Both programs were prepared to take part in Division I football's first-ever intersquad spring activities, but it simply was too late to galvanize such events.

Colorado Athletic Director Rick George took to social media to express his displeasure with the ruling, calling the decision "very disappointing" and stating that a push for the idea would continue from all parties involved.

The move came to the surprise of George and Sanders, especially after momentum for the scrimmage seemed to be on their side.

"It may very well happen," Sanders said to his players, captured in a Well Off Media video on Mar. 21. "It looks really good right now."

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“We wouldn’t have submitted it if we didn’t think there was a legitimate chance for us to get that (waiver),” George told BuffZone this past week. “I think that there’s a really good chance it could happen.”

Well-respected CBS Sports college football reporter Josh Pate chimed in on the matter, reading between the ruling's lines and inferring that intersquad spring scrimmages are on the horizon, just not logistically possible right now.

Sanders's bold plan will have to simmer over the next year before it becomes reality. His idea was not taken lightly, as Brown and other coaches almost immediately chomped at the bit for their respective teams to travel to Boulder for practices and a scrimmage. "Coach Prime" even reportedly toyed with the idea of inviting legendary coach Bill Belichick and the North Carolina Tar Heels along.

Javon Edwards of Syracuse.com reported the Orange's optimistic perspective on the game prior to its rejection. Brown stated that the idea of joint activities in the spring is a shared dialogue among college football coaches, with transfer portal interference abundant in late April.

Fran Brown
Aug 31, 2024; Syracuse, New York, USA; Syracuse Orange head coach Fran Brown walks on the field following a game against the Ohio Bobcats at the JMA Wireless Dome. | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

“It will help the game,” Brown said. “Nobody wants to have spring games anymore. Nobody wants to worry about the portal ... I’m just confident in who I am and what I do for the players.”

The future of spring football may not have been immediately saved by Sanders's pro-style plea, but it sparked enough interest for the NCAA to begin laying its foundation for the future. Joint practices and games could break the monotony of spring and kickstart competition between programs stuck in neutral.

Colorado's "Black & Gold" spring game is set for April 19 at 2:30 p.m. MT with a national broadcast on ESPN2.

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Harrison Simeon
HARRISON SIMEON

Harrison Simeon is a beat writer for Colorado Buffaloes On SI. Formerly, he wrote for Colorado Buffaloes Wire of the USA TODAY Sports network and has interned with the Daily Camera and Crescent City Sports. At the University of Colorado Boulder, he studies journalism and has passionately covered school athletics as President and Editor-In-Chief of its student sports media organization, Sko Buffs Sports. He is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana.

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