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FBS Oversight Committee recommends change to start date of football regular season

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz04/16/26NickSchultz_7

The FBS Oversight Committee has recommended changes to the football regular season schedule, the NCAA announced Thursday. Under the proposal, the season would be standardized to 14 weeks, beginning with what is currently Week 0 and ending the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Under the current model, teams need a waiver to play in Week 0 or another exception to compete prior to Week 1. The proposed 14-week schedule includes 12 games and two bye weeks, which creates flexibility for potential changes to the College Football Playoff. Conference championships and the Army–Navy Game would also maintain their standalone weekends.

The FBS Oversight Committee’s proposal will now head to the Division I Cabinet, which is scheduled to discuss it in June. If approved, the change would take effect with the 2027 season.

The proposed change to the schedule is not necessarily a surprise. In August 2025, Ross Dellenger reported the idea was back on the table to try and provide flexibility for the postseason. As it currently stands, the season officially begins with Week 1 – which is the week of Sept. 5 this year – and runs into late January. The 2026-27 national championship game is set for Jan. 25, 2027.

This past season, the national championship took place Jan. 19 in the second year of the expanded College Football Playoff. The length of the calendar drew some pushback, notably from Oregon coach Dan Lanning. He called for the season to end on New Year’s Day rather than go later into the month.

“Ultimately, in my mind, the vision for this should be every playoff game should be played every single weekend until you finish the season,” Lanning said ahead of this past year’s Orange Bowl. “Ideally, the season – even if it means we start Week 0 or you eliminate a bye – the season ends Jan. 1. This should be the last game. This should be the championship game. Then, the portal opens, and then coaches that have to move on to their next opportunities get the opportunity to move to their next opportunities.

“Certainly, there’s some conversation about when high school signing days should be. I think that could go either way because most of us now try to get guys in as mid-year players, and you want them to be able to join your program at semester, which is a challenge. But I think the first really clear indicator of a place that we can make this better is to wrap the season up.”