The College Football Calendar: From Spring Practice to the Championship

By 4Football Staff · September 21, 2026 · 11 min read

College football is a year-round business. Follow the calendar from spring practice and summer workouts through fall camp, the regular season, the transfer portal, bowls and the playoff.

The fans see college football for about four months. The players and coaches live it for twelve. By the time the kickoff of the first Saturday arrives, a team has spent most of a year preparing: lifting, practicing, studying film, recruiting, repairing its roster through the transfer portal, and grinding through a summer of conditioning and a demanding fall camp. By the time the national championship is decided, the next season's work has already begun.

This guide walks through the full calendar in order, starting with the quiet months after the season and ending with the final game. Exact dates change from year to year, and several rules, especially around recruiting and transfers, have been revised repeatedly in recent years. We give the usual timing and tell you where to confirm specifics.

Why the calendar matters

The calendar explains a lot of things that look confusing from the outside. Why do coaches change jobs in December, while their teams are still preparing for a bowl? Why do players announce transfers in the middle of winter? Why does a recruit sign a letter of intent before he has played his senior bowl? Each of those questions has an answer in the calendar.

It also explains the difference between levels. The highest division, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), runs on a schedule built around the conference championships, bowls and the playoff. The Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and the lower divisions have their own playoffs and their own dates. We note the main differences along the way.

Winter: the season ends and the roster turns over

December: championship week and the first signing period

The regular season ends around the weekend after Thanksgiving, with rivalry games. The first weekend of December is usually conference championship weekend, which we describe in our guide to conference championship games. The following Sunday brings the selection of the playoff field and the bowl matchups. The Army-Navy game is traditionally played in the same stretch of the calendar, in early to mid December.

December is also when most college football offseason business starts:

• The early signing period. High school seniors who are ready to commit may sign a letter of intent in a window in December. Most recruits who plan to sign do so then, and the rest wait for the February period. See national signing day and the commitment process.
• Coaching changes. Schools that part ways with a head coach usually announce it as the regular season ends. New hires are often made in the weeks that follow, sometimes while the former staff is still working on bowl preparation.
• The transfer portal. The NCAA sets windows in which players can enter the portal. These windows have changed several times, so confirm the current dates with the NCAA or your school. Our transfer portal explainer covers how it works.
• Award season. The Heisman Trophy presentation takes place in December, along with many other individual honors. See the Heisman voting guide.

Late December and January: bowls and the playoff

The bowl season stretches from mid-December into early January. Teams that qualify for a bowl spend several weeks preparing, balancing practice with final exams and the holidays. Some players decide not to play in a bowl, usually to protect themselves before the NFL draft or because they are transferring; our article on bowl opt-outs describes why.

The College Football Playoff runs inside this window. The first-round games come in December, the quarterfinals around New Year's Day, and the semifinals a week or so later, followed by the national championship game in January. The format has changed over the years, so see the playoff format explained for the current structure. The lower divisions have their own playoffs, which end at different times. The FCS championship is usually played in January, while the Division II and Division III finals come in December.

January: the first weeks of the new cycle

Even before the title game ends, the next cycle has started.

• Midyear enrollees. Some signed recruits graduate high school early and enroll in January, so they can join workouts and take part in spring practice.
• The NFL draft decision. Players who are eligible and want to enter the draft must declare by a deadline in January. Declaring early for the NFL draft is one of the biggest choices a college player makes.
• Winter conditioning. Strength and conditioning work resumes as the spring semester begins.
• Staff turnover. Assistants move between jobs, and new coordinators install systems.

Late winter and spring

February and March

The traditional national signing day in February is now a quieter affair because so many players sign in December, but it remains the second signing window. In late February and early March, the NFL Scouting Combine takes place for draft prospects, and in the weeks after it, college programs host pro days, when scouts come to campus.

Many schools have offseason programs, which include lifting, running and film study, within limits set by the NCAA on the hours players may spend on team activities.

Spring practice

Spring practice is the first chance to see the new roster. The NCAA caps the number of spring sessions, and schools usually spread them over several weeks in March and April, though the schedule varies by school and by league. Check the current NCAA rules for the number allowed.

Spring practice does several things:

• It installs new schemes, particularly when a coordinator or head coach is new.
• It lets young players and transfers compete for jobs.
• It tests players who were hurt or redshirted the previous fall.
• It gives coaches data for the depth chart.

Practices usually end in a spring game, an intrasquad scrimmage open to fans at many schools. What these games tell you is limited; we cover that in spring games and what they tell you. The NFL draft usually takes place in late April, and former college players hear their names called.

May: finals and a pause

May brings final exams and the end of the academic year. Players go home or stay on campus for summer classes. Coaches turn to recruiting for the next class.

Summer

Summer is where programs quietly do most of their growing.

• Voluntary and limited workouts. Teams do strength work, conditioning and passing sessions, within the NCAA's limits on organized activities.
• Summer school. Many players take classes, which helps with eligibility and progress toward degrees.
• Recruiting camps and visits. High school prospects attend camps and campus visits. The rules on what visits are allowed and when change often, which is why we cover the details in the recruiting calendar.
• Media days. In July, the conferences hold media events where coaches and select players preview the year. This is when the preseason all-conference teams and projected order of finish appear.

Fall camp and the preseason

In early August, teams report for fall camp, a few weeks of intense practice. Camp is where depth charts are settled and starters named. Camp includes scrimmages, practices in pads, install days and a growing emphasis on the opening opponent.

Preseason rankings come out in this period. The first national polls are released in August and, whatever their value, shape expectations. If you want to understand how those rankings work, read our guide to polls, committees and computers. The rankings page on this site tracks the current state.

Camp is also the last time the roster gets set. Scholarship and roster limits are governed by NCAA and conference rules that have shifted in recent years; our article on scholarships and roster limits describes the system.

The regular season

Week 0 and the opening weeks

The season begins in late August, sometimes with a handful of games in a "Week 0" before the main opener on the weekend of Labor Day. Most FBS teams play a 12-game regular season, with one or more bye weeks built into the schedule. Early-season games are mostly non-conference matchups, often against opponents from other leagues, and often against lower-division teams. We explain how those are arranged in non-conference scheduling and guarantee games.

Conference play

Conference play begins in September in most leagues. By October each team has established its record, and the conference standings begin to matter. Bye weeks and the schedule of rivalries give the middle of the year its rhythm.

The ranking season

In early November, the playoff committee releases its first rankings, and from then on a new ranking arrives every week. Teams that are still in contention are watched for every result. Games in the last month of the season matter in a way the early weeks do not, because each loss can cost a team a place in the playoff.

Senior Day and rivalry week

The last home game for many teams is Senior Day, a pregame ceremony honoring seniors and their families. See homecoming and Senior Day traditions for how those are done. Thanksgiving weekend brings many of the sport's best-known rivalries, and then the conference championship weekend closes the regular season.

The post-season by level

Dates differ each year; check the governing bodies. We describe the lower-level systems in the FCS playoffs and in how Division II and Division III playoffs work.

A month-by-month overview

One player's year, month by month

It helps to follow a single hypothetical player, a sophomore linebacker we will call Marcus, through the cycle. He is not a real person, and the details are only illustrations of how the calendar feels from the inside.

In December his team finishes its regular season and prepares for a bowl, which means practices around final exams. In January, with the bowl behind him, he returns to campus, and the strength staff begins a new offseason program. In February and March, the coaches put him through winter workouts, and in March the team begins spring practice, where he competes for a starting job against a transfer who arrived at midyear. April brings the spring game, and in May he finishes exams and stays on campus for summer classes.

June and July are workouts, film and, for those who qualify, summer jobs and internships arranged around the team schedule. In early August he reports for fall camp, where the depth chart is set. In late August the season starts. He plays through September and October, has a bye week in the middle, and meets his rival the weekend after Thanksgiving. If the team makes a bowl, he has one more month of practice. Then the cycle starts again.

Two things stand out. First, a player's competitive season occupies only about a third of the year, but his obligations continue throughout it. Second, every step is bounded by rules, from the hours of practice allowed to the rules about when a season counts against a player's eligibility. Those limits are set by the NCAA and the conferences and are revised from time to time, so a player or a parent should always confirm them with the school's compliance office.

What the calendar looks like at other levels

The pattern described above belongs to the top level of college football. The other levels share its general shape but differ in the details:

• FCS and Division II and III generally play fewer regular-season games than FBS and have their own playoff structures.
• NAIA and junior colleges follow their own associations' calendars, with some programs playing in the fall and others adding spring games.
• High school football runs on state calendars, usually starting in late summer and ending in late fall, with state championship games in November or December. Our high school section lists schools and schedules.
• The NFL runs on a different cycle entirely, with the college calendar feeding its draft each April.

Knowing which level you are following saves confusion about why a team's season seems to end earlier or later than another's.

How the calendar affects what you see

Once you know the calendar, a lot of the sport's news makes sense.

• Coaching moves in December happen because the regular season is over, and many athletic departments want their new coach in place before the signing period.
• Transfer decisions in winter happen because the portal opens just after the season, and players want to enroll for spring.
• Surprising preseason hype happens because ranking voters have only returning players and recruiting classes to go on.
• Short rosters in bowl games occur because the bowl comes after the portal, the NFL deadline and the start of the next recruiting cycle.

The calendar also has a human side: a player's career is built on seasons, and each year of eligibility is precious. Our article on redshirting and the eligibility clock shows how players use their time.

For game-by-game information during the season, see our college football section, the live scores and the schedule page.

The short version

• College football runs year-round: signing and transfers in winter, spring practice, summer workouts, fall camp, then the season.
• The regular season is usually 12 games for FBS teams, followed by conference championships, bowls and the playoff.
• December is the busiest month off the field: signing period, coaching changes, awards and the start of the portal.
• Spring practice and the spring game are for installing schemes and sorting the roster, not for predicting the season.
• Rules for transfers, recruiting and rosters change often; confirm current dates with the NCAA, your conference or your school.
• Lower divisions have their own playoffs on their own schedules.