An 18-Game NFL Season Would Significantly Benefit an Expanded CFP Schedule

The current postseason football schedule has received much criticism, particularly following the College Football Playoff’s (CFP) expansion to 12 teams, which pushed its final game to late January, overlapping with crucial NFL dates. This has left fans expressing frustrations, coining the term “football fatigue.“ Unfortunately, there seems to be no immediate solution as the CFP recently announced the 2027 National Championship will take place on Monday, Jan. 25, marking the latest date in its history. Additionally, reports indicate that the playoff committee is not considering major scheduling changes for next year.

Consequently, fans will need to adapt to an abundance of significant football in January, across both college and professional levels. As for potential adjustments to the college football schedule, various ideas have emerged: moving the season start up a week, eliminating conference championship games, or starting the playoff earlier. However, these suggestions may overlook a pivotal shift on the horizon for the NFL: an 18-game schedule. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has openly expressed the league’s intention to transition to a longer regular season, potentially alleviating some scheduling conflicts for the CFP.

So, what might an “ideal” combined late-season football schedule look like if the NFL does implement the extra game? To explore this, let’s assume two factors: the NFL will drop one preseason game (from three to two) and add an extra bye week for each team. These modifications seem to be widely accepted as the best approach to accommodate the additional regular season game. Thus, the NFL would commence its regular season a week earlier and conclude one week later, positioning the Super Bowl on Presidents Day weekend—a potential boon for viewership, transforming the game into a holiday itself.

Now, how would the CFP and NFL schedules interlink? For simplicity, let’s imagine the 18-game schedule was in place this season. Using the current year’s postseason teams for both the college and NFL playoffs, here’s what a proposed schedule could look like (changes are in bold):

CFP Round One/NFL Week 17 of 20

• Friday, Dec. 19, 4 p.m. ET: SMU-Penn State
• Friday, Dec. 19, 8 p.m. ET: Indiana-Notre Dame
• Saturday, Dec. 20, 12 p.m. ET: Clemson-Texas
• Saturday, Dec. 20, 1 p.m. ET: NFL regular season game
• Saturday, Dec. 20, 4:30 p.m. ET: NFL regular season game
• Saturday, Dec. 20, 8 p.m. ET: Tennessee-Ohio State

One significant issue with this year’s CFP schedule was its first-round conflicts with the NFL. This could easily be mitigated without drastic changes to either calendar. For instance, this year, the CFP scheduled one game on Friday and three on Saturday, competing directly with the NFL in two TV windows. Predictably, viewership outcomes were unfavorable for the CFP. By moving an additional first-round game to Friday, the CFP can limit head-to-head competition to a single window, allowing fans to enjoy some of each game.

CFP Quarterfinals/NFL Week 19 of 20

• Tuesday, Dec. 31, 6:30 p.m. ET: Penn State-Boise State (Fiesta Bowl)
• Wednesday, Jan. 1, 1 p.m. ET: Texas-Arizona State (Peach Bowl)
• Wednesday, Jan. 1, 5 p.m. ET: Ohio State-Oregon (Rose Bowl)
• Wednesday, Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m. ET: Notre Dame-Georgia (Sugar Bowl)
• Thursday, Jan. 2, 8:15 p.m. ET: NFL Thursday Night Football

There have been valid concerns about CFP games being scheduled on New Year’s Eve. Ideally, these games would occur on Jan. 2 instead, but that depends on avoiding NFL competition on that day. This year, under the proposed 18-game NFL schedule, the final game of Amazon’s Thursday Night Football package would occur on Jan. 2. Therefore, the Fiesta Bowl would remain on New Year’s Eve but with an earlier kickoff—accommodating those with holiday plans. In seasons without NFL games, the quarterfinal not played on New Year’s Day could bounce to the next day, keeping New Year’s Eve devoid of major football clashes.

CFP Semifinals/NFL Week 20 of 20

• Thursday, Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m. ET: Notre Dame-Penn State (Orange Bowl)
• Friday, Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m. ET: Ohio State-Texas (Cotton Bowl)
• Saturday, Jan. 11, 4:30 p.m. ET: NFL regular season game
• Saturday, Jan. 11, 8 p.m. ET: NFL regular season game

This proposed week would remain unchanged from its original schedule, yet the CFP stands to gain significantly from the NFL being in its regular season. Instead of having its two semifinal games lead directly into the NFL Wild Card round—where they could be overshadowed by NFL excitement—college football would maintain a stronger presence in media coverage during this time.

CFP National Championship/NFL Wild Card Round

• Friday, Jan. 17, 7:30 p.m. ET: Ohio State-Notre Dame (National Championship)
• Saturday, Jan. 18, 4:30 p.m. ET: Los Angeles Chargers-Houston Texans
• Saturday, Jan. 18, 8 p.m. ET: Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens
• Sunday, Jan. 19, 1 p.m. ET: Denver Broncos-Buffalo Bills
• Sunday, Jan. 19, 4:30 p.m. ET: Green Bay Packers-Philadelphia Eagles
• Sunday, Jan. 19, 8 p.m. ET: Washington Commanders-Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Monday, Jan. 20, 8 p.m. ET: Minnesota Vikings-Los Angeles Rams

Notably, if the NFL adopts an 18-game schedule, the CFP National Championship could take place prior to the NFL postseason commencement. With this new schedule, the CFP title game would shift from its current widely criticized Monday slot to a desirable Friday kickoff time, facilitating space for the Monday night NFL Wild Card game. This could mark a significant improvement for the CFP National Championship.

This year’s title game, which occurred the Monday after the NFL Divisional Round, seemed to be overshadowed by the weekend’s NFL action, as illustrated by the mediocre ratings. By transitioning the NFL to an 18-game schedule, the CFP may conclude its postseason before the NFL kicks off, helping alleviate concerns surrounding the length of the college football season with a 12-team playoff.

It’s natural to question whether this adjusted schedule will address the “football fatigue” complaints. However, this sentiment may stem more from the overwhelming number of important games concurrently rather than an excess of football content. With the proposed schedule, critical elimination games could be spaced out, potentially allowing fans to pace themselves better compared to the current calendar.

In any case, it appears that Roger Goodell isn’t the only one who should support the swift implementation of the 18-game schedule; the CFP committee should share that enthusiasm.