Will Colorado play spring game against Syracuse? NCAA's final verdict on Deion Sanders' bid explored

Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders has spoken against the growing trend of teams canceling spring games. With the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, several top teams canceled their spring games with concerns that their players would not get enough time to recover.

However, Deion Sanders spoke out against this, saying college football teams should treat spring games the same way the NFL treats its preseason. He even took things a step further, suggesting that it would be a good idea for two college teams to practice and scrimmage together at a neutral site for a few weeks.

Shortly after Coach Prime suggested this idea, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown said he would be interested in joining the Buffaloes for joint practices and scrimmages. While it is against NCAA rules for teams to scrimmage or practice against each other during the spring period, they applied for a waiver. However, the waiver was denied on Friday.

The NCAA's FBS oversight committee released a statement following the announcement that the waiver was denied.

"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."

Deion Sanders' request for inter-team practices and scrimmages could be possible in future seasons

While Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes will not get to practice with Fran Brown and the Syracuse Orange this spring, it might be possible in future years. While their waiver was denied, the FBS oversight committee will be meeting again to discuss, "a concept that could permit joint spring practices in future seasons." The committee is scheduled to meet on April 10.

Coach Prime is not the only head coach to have expressed interest in joint practices. Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy also expressed interest in a similar idea. He expressed interest in hosting practices and scrimmages with in-state rival Oklahoma rather than playing spring games.

With the changes to the college football playoff, the oversight committee will likely look closely at changes to spring practices and games. A decision could be made in the coming weeks.