The CFB Calendar is broken. How do you focus on a CFB Playoff semifinal game with the portal open and your staff leaving? The Transfer Portal (the only window this year) opened on January 2nd. It’s a 15-day window when teams will try to transform their rosters into this year’s Texas Tech, Indiana, or Ole Miss. We also have two CFB Playoff games this week.
On Thursday, Ole Miss and Miami will play in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. On Friday, we have a B1G matchup between Oregon and Indiana in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. That doesn’t seem fair or right. How could you focus on prepping for an opponent and trying to play for a national championship? There is no easy answer, but that is the CFB Calendar in a nutshell. The college football regular season ended on November 30th. The real chaos began on December 1st. Here is a summary.
- December 3 – 5: High School National Signing Day (wait, we still recruit high school kids?)
- December 5 – 6: Conference Championship Weekend (two coaches already said they were going to new teams)
- December 8 – Jan 2: Bowl Season
- December 13: Army – Navy Game and Heisman Trophy
- December 19 -20: First Round Playoff Games
- December 31 – January 1: Quarterfinal Games
- January 2: Transfer Portal Opens
- January 8 and 9: Semifinal Games
- January 16: Transfer Portal Closes (unless you are in the national championship or your head coach leaves)
- January 19: National Championship game.
We think even Gwen Stefani would agree, this calendar is bananas. Let’s take a closer look at the challenges our semifinal teams face as they try to manage the chaos.
CFB Calendar Chaos: Transfer Portal vs. CFB Playoff Prep
Ole Miss and LSU Awkward Dance
Nowhere is the CFB Calendar rearing its ugly head more than in the chaos between Oxford and Baton Rouge. We have two tweets, seven minutes apart, that encapsulate the mess that is Ole Miss and LSU, and the offensive coaches. Chase Parham of 247 tweeted at 12:47 pm EST that “running backs coach Kevin Smith won’t return to Ole Miss for the rest of the playoff run. Charlie Weis Jr. is back in Oxford, and he’s likely the only one of the main LSU assistants to continue with the Rebs in CFP.” Seven minutes later, CBS Sports Brandon Marcello tweeted, “News: Pete Golding says he expects every Ole Miss staff member who was hired by Lane Kiffin at LSU will coach for the Rebels through the College Football Playoff.” What a mess!
The two schools’ staff members have had to play this game since Lane Kiffin jilted the Rebels and packed his bag for Baton Rouge. Kiffin was gracious enough “to allow” <insert eyeroll emoji> the offensive staff to return to prepare and coach the Rebels in the Sugar Bowl. Reading the tarot cards, a Bourbon Street staple, one can see that Kiffin clearly didn’t think the Rebels would make it past his buddy Kirby Smart and the Dawgs. He expected the Rebels to lose on January 1 and to turn their full efforts to transforming the LSU roster.
Golding Doesn’t Flinch
This was evident when those who coached Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl win had to jump on I-10 in the morning and take the 50-minute ride to Baton Rouge for a Potal pow wow, with Kiffin. No word on if Kiff had Cafe Du Monde coffee and beignets waiting for them. Remember, Kiffin wanted to stay and coach his team? He pleaded with Keith Carter and the Ole Miss administration. How would that have exactly worked, Lane? Hats off to Carter, he has handled the Chaos perfectly. He also made the right move in naming Pete Golding his new coach.
We now have reason to believe that the only coach returning to Oxford is Charlie Weis Jr. Things could change, but Golding isn’t worried. He hasnt’t been focused on the Lane circus, instead on his players. “I don’t know. Do you know if you’re going to show up at work tomorrow? We don’t know; it’s grown people making decisions. So, I have no idea. We’re gonna go out there and spot the ball. We have plenty enough people that showed up this morning.” Golding and the Rebels will be ready for the Fiesta on Thursday night.
Oregon’s Balancing Act
Where Ole Miss and LSU are the poster children of CFB calendar chaos, Dan Lanning and the Ducks are making it work. Lanning is losing both coordinators once the Ducks’ playoff season ends. Defensive Coordinator Tosh Lupoi is returning to his alma mater, Cal, to become their new head coach. Will Stein, one of the sharpest young minds in CFB and the Ducks’ offensive coordinator, will be headed to Kentucky to be their new head coach.
Lanning didn’t address how work is being divided this weekend for Lupoi and Stein. He also didn’t take his chance or the Peach Bowl to complain about the CFB Calendar chaos; instead, Lanning said the Duck players and coaches have to be malleable. “We can handle chaos, and we’re really malleable. We understand that college football right now is about change. There’s going to be a lot of change. The teams that can do the best at adapting and handling what’s thrown at you. We don’t make the rules; we just have to adapt to them, and our guys handle that.”
Who is best prepared to handle the distraction of the chaotic CFB Calendar? Ole Miss and Oregon appear to be at a disadvantage due to divided staff loyalties. Can they really give their current team the best shot if they have wandering eyes and are trying to build a roster for their future team?
IU and The U Have Their Own Issues
Mario Cristobal doesn’t want to hear or give any credence to that question. He was asked at the Fiesta Bowl press conference about the Ole Miss coaching situation and his thoughts on the impact of the several remaining staff members staying in Baton Rouge with LSU. Cristobal cut right through the fluff and didn’t take the bait. “It has zero impact on our preparation. It’d be safe to say it doesn’t impact their preparation as well.”
Indiana’s Curt Cignetti chatted about the balancing act of managing the Transfer Portal and preparing for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Cignetti shared that Indiana had 13 transfer portal guys on campus right now and that he lost multiple hours of Oregon prep due to hosting visits earlier today. You can imagine what a salty dog Cig would be if his routine or preparation were changed. Something tells us the Hoosiers will still be all right.
Lanning stated that Oregon is experiencing the same challenges in trying to host potential players. None of the four teams left in college football is considered a “blue blood.” They are the new kids on the block. Oregon has been building to this moment for 20 years. They have played in two national championships. Miami hasn’t won or played in a national championship since the Big East sponsored football. Indiana and Ole Miss? Come on. IU was a longtime Big Ten West doormat, and The Grove was more interesting than anything happening inside The Vaught. The Transfer Portal enabled these teams to level up and excel. Sure, they might be hurt with the extra prep. But those are what we call #FinalFourFootballTeamProblems.
The Solution
Anybody can list problems. We also have solutions. Here is one way we can fix the CFB Calendar. We will use the December 2025 calendar for reference.
- November 30: End of regular season.
- December 3 – 5: High School National Signing Day (wait, we still recruit high school kids?)
- December 4 – 6: Get rid of conference championships and start the first round of the 16-team playoff. Two games on Thursday, two on Friday, and four on Saturday, all on the campus of the higher-seeded team. We will take the Top 16 teams as ranked by the Committee. Ohio State not falling, Georgia at #3, and Texas Tech staying at #4 prove that conference championships don’t matter.
- December 8 – Jan 2: Bowl Season (Monday – Thursday only). Army-Navy becomes a permanent bowl game rotating between Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.
- December 11 -13: Quarterfinal Games on campus
- December 20: Semifinal games rotate between Sugar, Orange, Peach, and Fiesta Bowls
- January 1: National Championship game at the Rose Bowl at 5 pm EST, so that we can get that national championship sunset.
- January 10: Heisman Trophy presentation
- May 1 – May 15: Spring Transfer Portal window, no more Winter portal
Main Photo: Amber Searls-Imagn Images
