College athletics today is filled with things NCAA leaders adamantly opposed.
Pay players? NEVER! Um, they get paid now.
Allow athletes to transfer at will? NEVER! Say hello to the transfer portal.
I’m old enough to remember when the NCAA strictly limited how many times a team could be on TV. The organization lost that battle, too, when Oklahoma and Georgia sued for the right to negotiate their TV deals. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed, and now, thanks to the wonder that is ESPN+, we can see just every game in every sport at USF.
With that in mind, I’ll bet you nickels to peanuts that by this time next year, Deion Sanders' idea of NFL-style joint spring practices culminating in a scrimmage game will be commonplace.
I mention all this because the NCAA denied a request by Colorado and Syracuse to do just that.
USA Today recently obtained documents that showed how Colorado made its case to the NCAA. Among other things, Colorado noted that Division II programs already can have a scrimmage game against another team.
But top-division programs aren’t allowed to do that.
How come?
The NCAA ruled that allowing the scrimmage this spring would give those programs an unfair advantage because the request came in too late. Fair enough. However, if the NCAA insists on keeping that rule beyond this spring, it will lose again.
Place your bets.
Take a step back for a moment and imagine that when USF holds its spring game on April 26, the Bulls would square off against UCF instead of each other. That would create a buzz and sell a lot of tickets.
Cha-ching!
In the documents obtained by USA Today, Colorado made a compelling argument to allow the change.
Practicing against another team, Colorado argued, would reduce injury risk to each team compared to practicing against teammates.
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 athletic officials supported Colorado’s case.
“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,” they wrote.
“This controlled, competitive setting would ultimately lower the overall injury for all participating student-athletes.”
These are logical arguments.
As I said, however, the NCAA is not the most enlightened organization. It has to be dragged kicking and screaming, usually by a court order, before adopting any new idea, even if it makes sense.
However, remember who came up with this idea. Football is king, and if enough power conference programs begin a push for this – and I believe they will – the NCAA will have no choice but to go along.