A spring football game between Colorado and Syracuse hasn’t been approved, but Buffaloes’ athletic director Rick George is hopeful that it will be soon.

CU head coach Deion Sanders said during a press conference on March 17 that he wants to play another team for the spring game, rather than a typical intrasquad scrimmage. CU’s annual Black & Gold scrimmage is slated for April 19 (2:30 p.m., ESPN2) at Folsom Field.

Later that day, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown responded on social media that he would like to bring his team to Boulder for joint practices and a spring scrimmage against the Buffs.

Current NCAA rules prohibit teams from playing offseason scrimmages against each other, but CU and Syracuse both submitted waiver requests to the NCAA last week. As of Thursday, the schools had yet to get an answer from the NCAA’s football oversight committee, but a decision is expected by next week.

“We wouldn’t have submitted it if we didn’t think there was a legitimate chance for us to get that (waiver),” George told BuffZone. “I think that there’s a really good chance it could happen.”

Although offseason scrimmages are not currently allowed in football, it’s not unprecedented in college sports, as soccer, volleyball and other sports are allowed to have scrimmages against other teams.

At a time when several major programs are cancelling spring games around the country, George said “it’s exciting and fun” to think about CU hosting a scrimmage with Syracuse.

“I think this is a great idea for college football,” George said. “You’ve got some schools out there looking at not playing a spring game. We’re looking at playing a spring game that’s going to drive more fans in here in the spring time that get excited about your program. And maybe the networks start covering more spring games and there’s a monetary value to that that schools can recoup. So I think (Sanders’) idea is brilliant, and I support it.”

Even if the NCAA grants a waiver, there would be several logistical hurdles to clear, including Syracuse working around its own spring game, currently scheduled for April 12 (it is not slated for television).

CU has some recent history in getting regular season football games scheduled in a short period of time, however.

In 2013, George’s first season as athletic director, a major flood in the area caused CU to cancel a game against Fresno State. Two weeks later, the Buffs announced a replacement game against Charleston Southern, working out all the logistics in less than a month.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, CU’s trip to USC was canceled on Thanksgiving night, due to COVID cases at USC. Instead, San Diego State, which had its game canceled that week, too, made a last-minute trip to Boulder for a game just two days later.

In that case in 2020, game day operations weren’t needed because fans weren’t allowed to attend, but there were still plenty of logistics to be ironed out in a short period of time.

“COVID, really, in my opinion, as tough as it was, it was a great learning experience for us,” George said. “I think you can take that experience and almost apply it to today.”

George believes the schools can make a scrimmage happen next month if approved.

“I think it makes sense and I’m hopeful that the football oversight committee and the NCAA will approve it,” he said.