This fall, USC is set to open its football season in Week Zero The Trojans will host San Jose State on August 29, a week before the majority of the country kicks off.
But could this be the last ever Week Zero? A proposal from the NCAA’s Oversight Committee is reportedly in the works that would move Week 1 up a week beginning in 2027. As a result, every school would have an extra bye week during the regular season, likely eliminating the concept of a Week Zero.
A recent story from Heather Dinich of ESPN discussed the idea.
“Under the proposal, the regular season would begin on the Thursday of what is now called Week Zero, and still end on the Saturday after Thanksgiving,” Dinich wrote. “Schools would have 14 weeks to schedule 12 games. This model would give teams two open dates and allow for ‘flexibility for potential changes to the postseason.’
“That’s significant, as leaders of the College Football Playoff continue to discuss how and when to expand the current 12-team field. The proposed calendar change would also preserve standalone weekends for conference championship games and the Army-Navy game.”
It will be interesting to see how things progress with the proposal, which actually makes a lot of sense. (The NCAA doing something smart? Is that even allowed?) Regardless, we should make sure to enjoy USC’s Week Zero spotlight this fall, as next year, there may be a lot more games that weekend.
