Before the NCAA denied Colorado’s request to stage a spring football game against Syracuse, the two schools explained to the NCAA that a spring game between two teams would benefit players and reduce injury risk at a time of rapid change in college football.
The NCAA still shot down the request last week after the NCAA’s Division I FBS oversight committee opposed it. But documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports shed additional light on how Colorado pleaded its case for a waiver from NCAA rules that forbid a spring scrimmage between two teams at the major college level.
Colorado said it doesn’t plan to appeal the NCAA decision and instead will play itself in its annual intrasquad spring game April 19. Colorado head coach Deion Sanders had pushed the idea of practicing against another team, hoping to spice up the spring season at a time when several other schools are canceling their spring intrasquad games for various reasons.
In the documents, Colorado officials made the point that:
∎ Spring scrimmages against other teams are allowed at the NCAA Division II level. For example, Missouri Southern is hosting East Central in a spring scrimmage April 11.
∎ Practicing against another team would reduce injury risk to each team compared to practicing against your own teammates.
It would ‘limit the amount of practice repetitions in comparison to a normal practice where the limited number of (players) on our spring roster roll through a multitude of practice repetitions in an intrasquad setting,’ Colorado’s request stated.
As an example, Colorado’s request said 11 total players from each school are on the field at one time rather than 22 if one team is “practicing with its 1st team offense against its own 1st team defense.”
Syracuse also provided a letter to the NCAA that supported that.
“Practicing with another team allows for more game-like situations to be simulated, enhancing training effectiveness while reducing the exposure risks student-athletes face compared to practicing solely against their own team,” said the letter from Syracuse athletic trainer Drew Willson and senior associated athletic director Jon Mitchell. “This controlled, competitive setting would ultimately lower the overall injury for all participating student athletes.”
Colorado proposed it as a ‘pilot program’
The NCAA turned down the request on the recommendation of the committee, which cited the request’s late timing after other football programs have planned and started spring practice. It didn’t want to give these two teams a ‘competitive and recruiting advantage” by making an exception to the rules for them. But it also left the door open for considering the concept at a broader level in the future.
Colorado described its proposal as a “pilot program” that would resemble how NFL teams practice against each other. It proposed three practices against another team, including a scrimmage.
“The current state of college football is filled with uncertainty,” said a letter to the NCAA from Reggie Calhoun, Colorado’s football operations director. “The impending revenue-sharing settlement, transfer portal and increased competition call for change. A change not only to the sharing of revenue, but changes to the spring practice period which impact player acquisition, retention and roster management.
“The current Spring Football model is outdated with tremendous risk,” the letter continued. “If granted this waiver, we will realize immediate relief with the number of players on our roster that would be active during each series and live scrimmage repetition. A 50% reduction in the number of players exposed to injury with outside competition compared to an intrasquad scrimmage where all our players are rotating through many more live scrimmage repetitions.’
Syracuse coach Fran Brown told reporters this week the NCAA had the” right reasons” to deny the bid this year and noted the Colorado-Syracuse plan went beyond practices to include financial literacy instruction and a study hall.
“I think that we’ve opened it up, and it should happen next year,” Brown said. “It should be cool.”
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com