Notre Dame, Ohio State in uncharted territory: Playing 16-game seasons for the first time

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The year was 1894. Yale had put together a football schedule that was daunting: games on Wednesdays and Saturdays, mostly every week from late September through late November, 16 contests in all.

Since then, no major college football team—what we now call the FBS level—has had a 16-game season.

Until now.

Welcome to another new part of this rapidly changing world of college football. Seasons, at least for some teams, will be longer than ever. Texas and Penn State just played their 16th and final game of the season in 2024. And on Jan. 20 in the college football championship game, Notre Dame and Ohio State will play their 16th and final game of the season in the national title game champion.

“How we prepared for the season, how we adjust, do you have a plan, do you have a team, do you have a sports performance team that you listen to, you talk about different scenarios and you have to be adaptable,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “You have to be willing to adjust based on the unpredictable things that can happen, and that’s what we were able to do — and I feel like our guys will be physically ready to play.”

A 16-game season didn’t come out of nowhere.

The expansion of the CFP to 12 teams meant that teams in the national championship game would have to play three or four games – depending on whether they received a first-round bye or not. With a 12-game regular season and then a conference championship game for some schools, it’s almost certain that the national finalists in this system will have to play at least 16 games on the road.

Notre Dame and Ohio State each played 13 seasons last year. Playing a 16-game season this year could obviously be considered problematic — it’s a lot more wear and tear on the body — but it’s also a wonderful problem to have, because it comes with a chance at a national championship.

“We’ve been looking at a lot of different things and indicators along the way about playing this many games, playing our 16th game, what it’s going to look like,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “We knew it was going to be a bit of a battle of attrition at times. So, depth was certainly a critical part of managing the roster and acquiring talent, but also the way we practice, how we play. We took all those things into consideration so we’re still really, really fresh at the end of the season.”

Only three teams at the “major college” level had played a 16-game season before this year: Yale in 1894, Penn in 1892 and Yale in 1889. It’s happened several times at both the FCS and Division II levels.

But at the FBS level, that hasn’t happened in 130 years.

That created new challenges for fans and quite possibly their pockets — Notre Dame and Ohio State each had an extra home game, plus now three bowl games, and none of those tickets were exactly cheap. It certainly created a problem or two on the academic end; Ohio State’s spring semester began last week and Notre Dame’s spring semester began Monday. And in many cases, players on both teams simply logged more plays, hits and miles than ever before.

Oh, and while this season is winding down, the next one is in full swing. The players have moved on. Recruits have signed. Coaches have been hired and fired at many schools, and teams are putting together their spring practice schedules.

But in South Bend and Columbus, it could still be 2024.

“I was an advocate that we should go to the NFL calendar,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said. “We have to get rid of spring football and move to early summer OTAs and minicamps. We don’t have to make this up. The league has already figured that out. … We are now a spring sport. We just have to act like it.”

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden views the marathon season as a blessing in some ways. On the one hand, it’s a ton of work. On the other hand, the Irish are playing for a ring. Don’t complain.

“Most of these guys are making it up as we go along. No one had done that before in college,” Golden said. “We listen to what the data says and we go according to it. It’s just an interesting time.”