Deion Sanders' dream of Colorado and Syracuse playing each other in a spring game is dead.
The NCAA’s FBS oversight committee announced that a waiver for the two teams to practice against each other was denied. It’s against NCAA rules for teams to scrimmage or practice against each other during the spring period.
"The committee raised concerns regarding: (1) The timing of the request, noting most institutions have already planned their spring practice periods and some are at the end of, or have completed, their spring practice period; (2) The competitive and recruiting advantage gained by the applicant institutions if a waiver was approved to allow these institutions to engage in activities no other institutions are permitted to do; and (3) The potential academic impact associated with student-athletes missing class time to participate in practice activities."
Sanders pitched the idea of playing a spring game against a different opponent earlier this spring and Syracuse coach Fran Brown immediately volunteered his team as an opponent on social media. The Pro Football Hall of Famer said that he “would like to style it like the pros. I would like to practice someone for a few days then you have a spring game and I think the public would be satisfied with that tremendously.”
Teams have started to move away from traditional spring games thanks to the spring transfer portal period. Nebraska coach Matt Rhule directly cited that transfer window as why Nebraska wouldn't have a traditional spring game this year. He, and likely other coaches across college football, don't want teams to get a look at players who could be enticed to transfer.
The oversight committee did say that it would review the current rule and “agreed to discuss, during a future meeting, a concept that could permit joint spring practices in future seasons.” We’ll see if that amounts to anything.
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