MSU's Fitzgerald Proposes Several Changes to College Football
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One thing that seems to be a unanimous opinion these days is that the college football calendar is pretty out of whack.
The national championship game is not until mid-to-late January, the transfer portal opens and closes before that, and there is a pretty large gap between the end of the regular season and the start of the College Football Playoff. No other sport on Earth operates in such a weird fashion.
New Michigan State head coach Pat Fitzgerald recently shared what his version of college football would be. On Wednesday, Fitzgerald appeared on "See Ball Get Ball," which is hosted by college football analyst David Pollack.
One thing that is safe to say is that the sport would be different if Fitzgerald were made czar of the sport.
Changes Proposed by Fitzgerald
One of the main nonnegotiables here has to be the transfer portal window. Players do still have to be enrolled in the schools they play for, and most colleges are getting back from winter break and beginning the spring semester in early January, so moving the window back cannot happen.
That makes the question about how to wrap the season up before that point. Fitzgerald's solution is simple: just move the season up. He said on Pollack's show that he'd like to see the national championship game played by New Year's Day.
Doing that would also require moving some other things up in the calendar. Week 1 might end up being what Week 0 is right now. Temperatures might be hot to start the year and some students may not be on campus yet, but that may end up being a necessary sacrifice for the health of the sport.
One of the more radical changes Fitzgerald also proposed is that he would like to "forget" about all the conference championship games. The large viewership numbers those games get will probably make conferences hesitate to part ways from them, but the meaning of them (especially for the Big Ten and the SEC) has definitely decreased in the 12+-team playoff era.
#MichiganState head coach Pat Fitzgerald on how the college football calendar should be fixed:
— Justin Thind (@JustinThind) February 26, 2026
- Move up start of the season
- National title moves up to Jan 1st
- Eliminate conference champ. games
- Bowl games a week after the season
- Home playoff games like NFL, FCS, D2, etc. pic.twitter.com/5y4UJFmnY8
Fitzgerald also said that he'd start the playoffs right after the regular season. He'd also want to move up all the non-CFP bowl games, likely to perhaps try and reduce opt-outs by making those games truly feel like a part of the season, rather than a random end-of-year exhibition.
Not only that, but Fitzgerald would also like to see more CFP games being played on campuses. Right now, the system is wonky, where seeds 5-8 get to host a game, but seeds 1-4 do not. Fitzgerald likes the NFL and high school model, where the better seed gets to host the game right up until perhaps either the semifinal or championship game.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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