Colorado, Syracuse file paperwork with NCAA for joint spring football game

While the idea of college football teams practicing and playing against each other in the spring has been just that, an idea, two coaches are looking to make it happen on the field.

Colorado and Syracuse are trying to make a competitive spring football scrimmage happen. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Until now, the idea of college football teams playing against each other in spring games has just been an idea, but Colorado and Syracuse may have just taken a step towards making it a reality.

The compliance offices at both football programs have filed formal paperwork with the NCAA office to hold a competitive spring scrimmage, a Syracuse spokesman told the Syracuse Post-Standard.

The Division I FBS Oversight Committee is scheduled to meet on April 10, and could potentially make a decision at that meeting.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders first raised the question of hosting a competitive spring exhibition period in recent comments directed at preserving the preseason format at a time when many high-profile programs are altering it or dropping the spring game entirely.

“We’ve got to sell this thing out and pack this thing, because the way the trend is going is, you never know if this is going to be the last spring game,” Sanders said.

“I would actually like to play the spring game against another team, in the spring. That’s what I’m trying to do right now,” he added, noting he would also like to host an NFL-style joint practice.

A few hours later, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown took Coach Prime up on his offer, saying, “We will come to Boulder for 3 days,” in a now-viral X post.

The only thing apparently standing in the way was the NCAA, which has a bylaw on the books that forbids teams from playing competitive contests during the spring practice window.

Now it appears two of college football’s coaches are looking to change that. With less than a month until the scheduled spring game, the NCAA will have to act quickly to change its rule.

And if they decide to change it, that could open the door for other programs to follow suit in the future.

(Post-Standard)

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