"Week Zero" has been around for several years now, and it seems more games are added every year. I've been wondering how soon it becomes the de facto Week 1. Especially with the birth of Godzilla conferences and the use pods instead of divisions for scheduling, conferences will be wanting to expand the schedule. I can see a 16- or 18-team ACC wanting to have four teams vie for the conference title, with its own playoff to determine the champion They cant dig deeper into December, so they might want to have a playoff round over Thanksgiving, which means starting the season in earnest during what is now Week Zero. Other Godzillas might follow suit. The G5 conferences could be dragged along , adding to the games on what is now Week Zero. Seems inevitable.

Interesting speculation. And, along these lines, I wonder if one or more of the G5 conferences will get the Mega-Conference Bug and expand.

How about the Big MAC adds all the schools in the current C-USA except those in the Southwest. The AAC takes Louisiana Tech, UTEP, NMSU and Sam Houston. This effectively puts C-USA out of its misery. Then the Mountain west absorbs the Sun Belt schools. The G5 becomes the G3. Probably far-fetched, but in today's world of Mega-Conference Mania, it seems to me that something like is will probably at least get to the discussion stages.

I believe schools need to get waivers from the NCAA to play in week 0. I think it's useful to have so long as the NCAA doesn't start just accepting them en mass. I think it's usually used to either promote big games (see Navy vs Notre Dame) or help with some flexibility in scheduling if their stadium is not available enough during the regular season, which is my assumption why it seems like its mostly G5 schools playing in week 0.

I think also if you play at Hawaii you automatically can play week 0. That's where most of the opportunities come form and how SDSU could host a game. I think that it will be called "Week 1" when everyone is allowed to play.

If you play at Hawaii you can schedule a 13th regular season game*, though for the past several years no one has wanted to avail themselves of this.

*This rule may have been changed. If it has, I'm sure someone will chime in to scold me for my disgraceful ignorance.

Yes, that's true. But also why you can play week 0. I don't absolutely know that the last part is true but if you look at who has been allowed to play then it must be.

I dunno if the NCAA has ever turned down a Week Zero waiver request. But if the "P" conferences push for more latitude in scheduling that week, I'm certain the NCAA will knuckle under.