Syracuse's Fran Brown and fellow head coaches propose a new college football calendar

The main message from the coaches association to the NCAA is move each season into a compact 20 week window from late August to early January.

Nov 29, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; Syracuse Orange head coach Fran Brown reacts against the Boston College Eagles during the first half at the JMA Wireless Dome. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-Imagn Images | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

With the tight timeline of a two-week transfer portal window (January 2-16, 2027) at the same time that the current College Football Playoffs are still being contested (2027 CFP title game is a very late January 25), the American Football Coaches Association board on Tuesday provided the coaches' feedback: Move the season up.

While citing the need to better match the football season with the portal window and the spring semester academic calendar, to let both players and programs adjust to the changes, the coaches had a couple of other proposed changes including signaling to the CFP and power conference commissioners to expand the playoff field (open to 16 or 24) to assure more access to the number of teams competing for the national championship.

Coaches also say it is time to move on from the conference championship games

The AFCA recommendations are for the college season to begin the Thursday of what currently has been titled "Week Zero" on the schedule, and in this case would be August 20 this season, and will be August 19, 2027, the proposed start date of the new-look schedule.

The season would conclude with the CFP title game the second Monday of Janaury which would be January 3, 2028 in the first season. A 20-week stretch of games from Aug-Jan.

Playing 12 games, with a proposal to also reduce the number of open weeks for each team from two to one, along with an expanded playoff, would leave no room for the conference championship games.

In what would be a seismic shift for the sport, and drastically changes how each major conference operates in its own world of autonomy, the coaches want the conference championship games discontinued in the CFP era, allowing for that weekend to potentially begin the playoffs opening games, depending on the final expansion number of schools.

Moving on from the conference championship games is something we support, even sitting from our vantage point in Charlotte where the ACC title game's popularity in the community has waned, along with its overall importance in the (expanded) playoff era.

In deference to the annual Army-Navy game, and a previous White House executive order to provide the annual battle of the service academies with an exclusive TV window for game coverage, the coaches agreed to spotlight Army-Navy on each second Saturday of December, but requested the CFP also be able to have the flexibility to schedule playoff games that day.

How might a future Syracuse football schedule be affected?

The new ACC scheduling format consists of nine league games (most seasons) and three out-of-conference contests including one against a power four level opponent.

In 2027, Syracuse has Penn State (scheduled for September 4, 2027), Connecticut (November 6, 2027), and Fordham (no date set) as its OOC foes.

If the AFCA proposal is adopted by the NCAA Football Oversight Committee, SU could schedule Fordham to open in August and potentially move the other OOC games, and/or the Orange will now be playing ACC games before Labor Day weekend through the Saturday after Thanksgiving each season.

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