College Football Should Keep Week 0 — and Turn It Into a Preseason Week

College Football Week 0 is history—but it should live forever.

Beginning in 2027, the college football season will officially start one week earlier. The weekend we have traditionally called “Week 0” will become the new Week 1, giving teams a 14-week window in which to play their 12 regular-season games.

That is a sensible calendar change. But college football should not abandon the Week 0 concept entirely.

Instead, the sport should turn Week 0 into something it has never officially had: a preseason exhibition week.

Every year, during the weekend before Labor Day, FBS teams could play an exhibition game against an FCS opponent. The FBS schools would get a valuable tune-up, fans would get an early look at their teams and FCS athletic departments would still receive the guarantee-game revenue they depend on.

There would be one important difference:

The result would not count toward either team’s regular-season record.

College Football Already Has Preseason Games—We Just Pretend They Count

College football may not officially have a preseason, but anyone who watched the opening week of the 2026 season knows better.

Consider a few of the final scores:

• Utah 66, Idaho 14
• Missouri 54, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 14
• UCF 73, Bethune-Cookman 6
• Minnesota 59, Eastern Illinois 7

Those four Power Four teams won by an average of more than 52 points.

UCF’s 73-6 victory tied the program record for points in a game and established a new school record for largest margin of victory. Minnesota entered its opener against Eastern Illinois as a 42.5-point favorite. These were technically regular-season games, but they functioned much more like exhibitions.

The powerful program gets a home game, sells tens of thousands of tickets and gives its new starters a chance to settle in. Coaches test the offensive line, evaluate position battles and get young players their first college snaps. The starters build a large lead before backups take over in the second half.

That sounds like a preseason game because, for all practical purposes, it is one.

The only strange part is that the victory counts exactly the same in the standings as a win over a conference rival.

Stop Rewarding Power Four Teams for Scheduling Blowouts

A 12-game regular season does not leave much room for meaningless results.

Every victory contributes to bowl eligibility. Every win appears on a coach’s résumé. Every lopsided mismatch helps a nationally ranked team move closer to 10, 11 or 12 wins.

Why should beating an overmatched FCS opponent count toward a Power Four team’s season win total?

Missouri’s win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff officially made the Tigers 1-0. Utah, UCF and Minnesota also began their seasons with victories. But did we really learn that those teams were one game closer to becoming championship contenders?

Not much was proven beyond what everyone already knew: a well-funded Power Four program with more scholarships, better facilities and substantially greater resources should defeat an FCS opponent.

That does not mean these games have no value. They absolutely do.

They just should not count.

Under this proposal, every FBS program could play one Week 0 exhibition. Its regular-season record would remain 0-0 afterward, individual statistics would be recorded separately as preseason statistics and the game would not affect bowl eligibility, conference standings, playoff selection or official season win totals.

The real regular season would begin the following week.

FCS Programs Still Need the Money

The easy response is to demand that Power Four teams stop playing FCS opponents altogether. That would create a different—and potentially more damaging—problem.

FCS programs frequently receive hundreds of thousands of dollars to visit larger FBS schools. Power Four teams are reportedly paying FCS opponents an average of approximately $525,000 for guarantee games in 2026. For athletic departments operating on much smaller budgets, that money can help fund far more than football.

It can support coaches, scholarships, travel and non-revenue sports throughout the athletic department.

Eliminating these matchups could create serious financial hardship for some FCS schools. Turning them into exhibitions preserves that important revenue stream without allowing powerful programs to pad their regular-season records.

The financial arrangement would remain largely the same. The host school would sell tickets, concessions and merchandise while gaining another home television window. The visiting FCS program would receive its negotiated guarantee.

Everybody keeps the financial benefits. We simply stop pretending the result belongs beside a conference win on a team’s résumé.

Coaches and Players Would Benefit Too

A formal college football preseason would give coaches something they cannot recreate during spring practice, fall camp or a closed scrimmage: a true game-day environment.

Teams could test helmet communication, sideline procedures, substitutions and special-teams units against a real opponent. New coordinators could call plays from the booth or sideline. Freshmen and transfers could experience playing in front of 60,000 fans before the games begin to carry postseason consequences.

Coaches could also approach personnel decisions differently if the outcome did not count.

Quarterbacks competing for the starting job might each receive a half. More freshmen could play without concerns about wasting one of the four games allowed under redshirt rules. Star players returning from injuries could be held out or placed on strict snap limits.

The NCAA would need to establish firm participation, roster and player-safety rules. No program should be forced to play an additional game, and the exhibition should not become an excuse to overwork athletes.

But if structured correctly, Week 0 could serve as a controlled bridge between training camp and the regular season.

What About the Possibility of an Upset?

The best argument for keeping FCS games in the regular season is that occasionally the supposed creampuff wins.

Those upsets become part of college football history. They remind powerhouse programs that no victory is automatic and give smaller schools the opportunity to produce a program-defining moment.

That is a fair objection.

But those memorable upsets are memorable precisely because they are so uncommon. For every historic shocker, fans sit through dozens of games decided by 40, 50 or 60 points.

College football’s postseason increasingly emphasizes strength of schedule. Conferences are adding more league games and programs are being encouraged to schedule meaningful nonconference opponents. Removing FCS victories from official records would create room for better games without cutting off the money FCS programs receive.

A Power Four team could still schedule an FCS opponent during the regular season if it truly wanted the result to count—but that game should receive limited or no consideration from the College Football Playoff selection committee and should not count toward the six wins required for bowl eligibility.

The better solution would be to place most of these games in the Week 0 exhibition window.

Make Week 0 a College Football Celebration

A preseason Week 0 would not have to feel insignificant.

The NFL has shown that fans will watch exhibition football because they want to see rookies, new quarterbacks and offseason storylines unfold. College football fans are every bit as eager to see their teams take the field.

Television networks could promote Week 0 as a national kickoff celebration. Schools could offer more affordable tickets, create family-oriented events and introduce their rosters to fans. Coaches could give young players meaningful snaps, and FCS programs would gain national exposure along with a valuable payday.

Most importantly, the structure would be honest.

These games are warmups for the favorites and fundraisers for the underdogs. There is nothing wrong with either purpose. The problem is counting predictable blowouts as meaningful regular-season victories.

Beginning in 2027, the weekend before Labor Day will become the official opening week of the college football season. The traditional Week 0 label may be disappearing, but the idea does not have to die with it.

Keep the weekend. Keep the stadiums open. Keep paying FCS programs. Let fans get their first look at the new season.

Just stop counting the wins.

College football already has preseason games. It is time to start calling them what they are.