The college football calendar has been a major talking point over the past few years. Many fans believe the season ends far too late in January and the fact that the Transfer Portal opens while the season is still going on is problematic as well.
Fans however have never really complained about when the season begins. Most teams begin their season on Labor Day weekend with a handful of teams playing the week before. This is how things have been for a very long time and it’s one of the few things practically everyone accepts without hesitation.
The NCAA however is stepping in and is proposing to require every team to begin their season one week earlier, including Georgia.
The FBS Oversight has proposed a move to starting the regular season on Week 0.
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) April 16, 2026
"Future FBS regular seasons would be standardized to 14 weeks, during which teams could schedule 12 games. The season would begin on the Thursday of what is now designated Week 0 and end on the… pic.twitter.com/mgzw2io6B8
NCAA looks to chsnge Georgia’s schedule forever
Week zero is reserved for the few games that are played a week before Labor Day. The NCAA is proposing that the regular season for every team starts this week and the season is played for a 14 week period. This means Georgia and every other team in the country would have two bye weeks as they play 12 games across those 14 weeks.
This would be a significant change for Georgia because they’ve never played a game before Labor Day weekend. But if this change happened it may actually be a good thing because two bye weeks every season would help limit injuries and allow fans to watch football for a longer period of time every season.
Unfortunately this change would not impact when the College Football Playoff takes place. The conference championship games would still take place on the same weekend with the playoff beginning two weeks later. So this change wouldn’t fix the big problem a lot of people have with how long it takes for the playoff to take place, but it still would be a welcome adjustment to the college football calendar.
This isn’t the only adjustment Georgia may see to their schedule in the coming years. Kirby Smart has floated an idea around of playing a 13th game every season either during their spring game or as a preseason game before the regular season begins. This game wouldn’t count toward their record, but it would be quite fun to see them add another matchup against a real opponent every season.
That idea has a long ways to go before it actually occur, but the NCAA’s idea to start the season a week earlier could become reality by 2027.
Add us as a preferred source on Google