College football, like most of college athletics, is facing unprecedented changes across the sport, from pending Name, Image and Likeness legislation to one-time transfer rules, competing in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic and myriad other factors.
With that backdrop, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy is lending his support for another long-discussed but as-of-yet-enacted change: spring exhibition games against outside opponents.
Gundy this week weighed in on the topic as the Cowboys go through their 2021 spring camp.
“It would be good for us to scrimmage Arkansas,” Gundy said. “You've got Nebraska, you got (Texas) A&M. There's teams around, it would be good to have a spring game, spring scrimmage. Where you would do like the NFL; do some inside, do some 7-on-7, do some team.
“I would be for that. Just from a numbers standpoint.”
Though Gundy is entering his 17th season atop the Pokes' program, he cites a general lack of depth on the Oklahoma State roster as the root issue in his team's lack of intrasquad spring games in recent years.
The Cowboys are slated to conclude their spring camp April 24 at noon with a spring game inside Boone Pickens Stadium.
“What happens is, when we get into the spring game, on most years we don't have enough depth to have a real good spring game,” Gundy said. “So the reason we haven't had one in a while is because I think it's not favorable for the fans because we don't have enough depth and then you can't function.
“If you were to play a game against Arkansas or Nebraska or A&M or somebody, a practice game, you could get really quality work. So I would be for that in just short notice without thinking through it.”
The idea isn't unprecedented in other NCAA sports. Baseball and basketball, for example, are allowed to scrimmage against other opponents.
There is, however, a caveat: the NCAA does not allow spectators and does not allow participating teams to publish statistics from the basketball exhibitions, for example.
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