On Thursday night, week one of the NFL preseason kicks off. While these games are relatively meaningless, they do offer some extra entertainment for the fans and give players extra reps.

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In the college ranks, nothing like this currently exists. Yes, there is spring practice, but scrimmaging against your own team only gets you so far.

After practice, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was asked about implementing preseason games in college and the idea intrigues him.

“Yeah, definitely thought about it,” Day said. “And it would be intriguing and probably a good conversation. But my only concern is that you’re still dealing with 18, 19, 20 or 21-year-old guys, and learning how to take care of each other. I think that’s one of the things that we do in practice right now, and in the NFL they’re pros so they understand rules of engagement and how that works. In college you have to be a little concerned about getting guys injured, just because guys have just been working so hard to kind of prove themselves. And so I think it’s interesting. And maybe in the spring, I think that that would be something that would be interesting as well.

The idea of scrimmages during spring practice makes the most sense, as it can continue to grow the footprint of college football and offer more opportunities for growth.