When the weather begins to change and spring rolls around, it brings with it an exciting time for college football fans around the country as spring football practices get underway.
It gives die-hard fans a first look at how their favorite teams could shake out when the fall rolls around, and it all culminates in the spring game, the closest fans will get to an actual college football matchup before August.
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Or, at least it used to be like that.
The spring game is dying. Unlike the case with many college athletic rules or changes in this day and age, this isn’t a change fully implemented in a matter of weeks or months. No, the spring game is slowly being phased out, becoming a relic of college football’s past as teams move away from the tradition in favor of fan-focused events, smaller scrimmages or other alternatives.
According to a report from
earlier in March, at least 19 programs had canceled their spring game, with that number likely higher since the release of the article. That includes numerous Power Four conference programs including Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and TCU among others.
Some reasons for cancellations of spring games are completely justified. Both Missouri and Kansas won’t have spring games this year because of ongoing stadium renovations, but there are other factors out there. One of the newer concerns is tampering with opposing teams using the spring game to scout potential transfers, a factor Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule has especially been vocal about.
Marcus Traxler / Mitchell Republic
But the discourse over the future of spring games may not be as new as some may think. New South Dakota State head coach Dan Jackson said questions regarding the usefulness of a spring game have been around for a while now.
“Every coach (I’ve worked with) since I got into college coaching hated the spring game because you’re super vanilla with all your calls, so you feel like you’re not working on what you need to,” Jackson said. “You don’t want other (programs) to see your team now. It just turned into a deal for fans, which is good. But as a coach, you just go into spring and pray nobody gets hurt, and then you go celebrate after.”
SDSU is still scheduled to have a spring game, set to take place on April 12. Jackson said there would still be live-action sequences for fans in attendance to enjoy, but the Jacks will work on more specific in-game scenarios, such as redzone situations.
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But SDSU might also be going away from the spring game in the future, with Jackson preferring to open more practices for fans to watch and enjoy, which could essentially negate the need for a spring game going forward.
Things have already changed down I-29 in Vermillion. USD shifted away from the traditional spring game, opting for what the program is calling “Coyote Family Fun Day” that will include the team participating in a 7-on-7 skills competition, followed by a youth clinic run by the student-athletes. It’s also set to take place on April 12.
New Coyote head coach Travis Johansen was frank in his reasoning for the program’s decision to move away from the spring game, citing a smaller roster and a lack of need for more experienced players to go through a spring game.
“I’m not interested in putting them into a full-length game. The Aidan Boumans, the Charles Pierres, the Keyondray Jones-Logans, we’ve got a lot of guys that that isn’t the need for the growth of their game,” Johansen said. “A spring game would have left us, just from a numbers perspective, as we pulled all those guys out with kind of the inability to do that.”
Jacob Nielson / Mitchell Republic
Johansen also said the spring game was in line to take place during Easter weekend, which could have limited attendance. However, he said he wasn’t concerned about possible tampering, citing USD’s football culture and the low number of transfer portal entries following last season.
It’s worth mentioning that non-Power 4 teams don’t always see big attendance numbers at spring games. Both USD and SDSU are in that boat. With a dedicated indoor facility, the Jacks’ hold their spring finale at the Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex, not in the Jacks’ Dykhouse Stadium. Neither teams’ spring game is broadcast on television, either.
Along with fan-oriented events, programs have floated different ideas, such as Deion Sanders and Colorado. Their idea was to scrimmage another program — in this case, Syracuse — as an alternative to the traditional game. It’s a good idea in theory that could generate possible revenue for programs and players along with building attention for the fall.
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The NCAA shot the idea down, but it’s an avenue that could be pursued later and Johansen mentioned it could be a part of the future for the spring game.
“Administrations will have appetites for that to generate some revenue and football excitement during the spring,” Johansen said. “We’re not done seeing change, but I think in a lot of ways, each university is finding their way and what best fits them.”
Johansen is right. Change is the only certainty in college sports. That’s not good for the tradition of the spring game as we know it.
Nathan Swaffar is a sports reporter for the Mitchell Republic. He joined the Mitchell Republic in July 2024 after graduating from the University of Kansas in May of 2024 with a degree in journalism and a minor in history. He covers a variety of prep and collegiate sports throughout South Dakota including USD Football.
