How NCAA’s New Football Calendar Impacts Oklahoma State for 2027 Campaign

The college football landscape keeps changing and on Thursday the NCAA made more changes that could impact the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

The NCAA formally adopted proposals that were made and studied earlier this year, per release. The two proposals that were approved were about offseason practice schedules and the transfer portal. The NCAA also reiterated its recent ruling around the regular season schedule.

Here’s a breakdown.

Practice Schedule

Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Eric Morris looks at his play call sheet during a game. — Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Eric Morris. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The NCAA broke this up between the offseason (Jan. 1-start of preseason) and the preseason.

In the offseason, teams like the Cowboys will now have the option to conduct two out-of-season practice periods with a total of 21 on-field practices.

This past offseason, the Cowboys could only practice during the spring. Now, they can break it up if they wish. The NCAA ruled the two periods cannot combine for more than seven weeks and neither period can be more than five weeks.

What could the Cowboys do with this? They could opt to have four weeks of practice in the spring and then follow it with three weeks of practice in the summer leading up to the preseason. How they break it up is at their discretion. But they must still set aside nine weeks where required athletically related activities are not permitted.

When the Cowboys start preseason workouts to prepare for the regular season, the new rule allows them to have 21 practices in 27 days. This is a reduction of the current schedule (the Cowboys were allowed 25 practices in the fall). The NCAA wrote in the release that this was a trade-off to allowing more official workouts in the spring.

Whenever the Cowboys play their first game of 2027, the practice period will start 27 days before that game.

Notably, FCS schools now have the option of having a joint practice with another four-year school during the spring academic term. That rule was not extended to FBS schools for 2027, but there doesn’t appear to be language barring an FCS school from inviting an FBS school for a joint practice. There are no FCS schools in the state of Oklahoma.

Transfer Portal

As expected, the NCAA approved a change to the transfer portal window for football for 2027. The window was reduced from 15 days to 10 days and will open the first business day after Jan. 1. For 2027 that means the portal will open on Jan. 4 and remain open until Jan. 14.

This means that current Cowboys will only have 10 days to decide whether to hit the portal or not. It also means that while they may “announce” they’re heading to the portal, they cannot enter the portal officially until that date.

It does not mean those Cowboys have to find a home by Jan. 14 or that the Cowboys must sign their new transfers by Jan. 14. It only means they must be in the portal by then.

Game Scheduling

The NCAA reiterated its adoption for an earlier start to the 2027 FBS season. The Cowboys, along with the rest of college football, will be able to open the season beginning on the Thursday of the weekend before Labor Day weekend, which was previously designated as zero week. Previously, teams needed a waiver to play the weekend before Labor Day weekend.

The regular season will end the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The adjustment now provides teams with a 14-week schedule, which can include two bye weeks. OSU only had one bye week this season, like most Big 12 teams.

Oklahoma State has not formally announced its 2027 schedule yet.

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