Much has already been said about the inadequacies of the current postseason football schedule. The College Football Playoff’s expansion to 12 teams pushed its final game to late January, encroaching on the most important parts of the NFL schedule. Fans have been left frustrated with complaints of “football fatigue.“

But at the moment, there’s no solution in sight. In fact, things are getting worse before they get better. Recently, the CFP announced that the 2027 National Championship game would be played on Monday, Jan. 25, the latest date in the game’s history. Reports surfaced earlier this week that the playoff committee is not eyeing any major scheduling changes for next year.

So for now, football fans will have to adapt. There will simply be a ton of important football in the month of January, both at the college and professional level. But what about down the line?

Several possible changes to the college football schedule have already been floated. Moving the start of the season up a week. Eliminating conference championship games. Starting the playoff one week earlier. But what if none of those changes need to happen at all?

These ideas are being floated without consideration for a major change that will likely hit the NFL sooner rather than later: an 18-game schedule.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has made no secret about the league’s desire to move to the 18-game regular season. And that change could drastically help the CFP from a scheduling perspective.

So what would an “ideal” combined late-season football schedule look like when the NFL inevitably adds its extra game? How can both entities work together to minimize fatigue, while also offering the most standalone window games?

For this thought exercise, let’s assume a couple of things. One, when the NFL moves to an 18-game schedule, the league will eliminate one preseason game (from three down to two). Two, the league will add a second bye week for each team. These changes seem to be generally accepted as the best way to accommodate the additional regular season game.

As such, the NFL would start its regular season one week earlier and end one week later than in the current format, meaning the Super Bowl would be played on the Sunday of Presidents Day weekend, a day the league has long coveted for its potential to increase viewership and essentially make the game a holiday itself.

How then, would the puzzle pieces fit together between the CFP and the end of the NFL schedule? For simplicity’s sake, let’s pretend the 18-game schedule was implemented this season. Using this year’s postseason teams for both the college and NFL playoffs, here’s what an “ideal” future schedule may look like (changes are in bold):

CFP Round One/NFL Week 17 of 20

• Friday, Dec. 19, 4 p.m. ET: SMU-Penn State
• Friday, Dec. 19, 8 p.m. ET: Indiana-Notre Dame
• Saturday, Dec. 20, 12 p.m. ET: Clemson-Texas
• Saturday, Dec. 20, 1 p.m. ET: NFL regular season game
• Saturday, Dec. 20, 4:30 p.m. ET: NFL regular season game
• Saturday, Dec. 20, 8 p.m. ET: Tennessee-Ohio State

One of the biggest complaints about this year’s CFP schedule was its first-round conflicts with the NFL. Luckily, this is easily avoidable without major changes to either entity’s season-long calendars. This year, the CFP opted to play one game on Friday and three games on Saturday, thereby competing head-to-head with the NFL in two separate TV windows. Predictably, that didn’t go too well for the CFP. By moving one additional first-round game to Friday, the CFP can limit its head-to-head competition with the NFL to one window. Better yet, the early afternoon Saturday windows can be staggered so fans can watch some of each game.

CFP Quarterfinals/NFL Week 19 of 20

• Tuesday, Dec. 31, 6:30 p.m. ET: Penn State-Boise State (Fiesta Bowl)
• Wednesday, Jan. 1, 1 p.m. ET: Texas-Arizona State (Peach Bowl)
• Wednesday, Jan. 1, 5 p.m. ET: Ohio State-Oregon (Rose Bowl)
• Wednesday, Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m. ET: Notre Dame-Georgia (Sugar Bowl)
• Thursday, Jan. 2, 8:15 p.m. ET: NFL Thursday Night Football

There have been plenty of complaints about playing CFP games on New Year’s Eve, and they are completely valid. Ideally, these games would be played on Jan. 2 rather than New Year’s Eve. However, that only works if there’s no NFL competition on Jan. 2. This year, under a presumed 18-game NFL schedule, Amazon’s Thursday Night Football package would be airing its final game of the season. Thus, the Fiesta Bowl stays on New Year’s Eve but moves its kickoff up one hour — a more favorable time slot for folks that have other obligations on the holiday. In years with no NFL competition, whichever quarterfinal game is not being played on New Year’s Day will be played the day after, leaving New Year’s Eve free of important football games.

CFP Semifinals/NFL Week 20 of 20

• Thursday, Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m. ET: Notre Dame-Penn State (Orange Bowl)
• Friday, Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m. ET: Ohio State-Texas (Cotton Bowl)
• Saturday, Jan. 11, 4:30 p.m. ET: NFL regular season game
• Saturday, Jan. 11 8 p.m. ET: NFL regular season game

This week would not need any changes from its original schedule, but the CFP would greatly benefit from the NFL still being in its regular season. Instead of playing its two semifinal games leading directly into the NFL Wild Card round, and potentially being overshadowed by NFL postseason excitement, college football would still be front-and-center in media coverage.

CFP National Championship/NFL Wild Card Round

• Friday, Jan. 17, 7:30 p.m. ET: Ohio State-Notre Dame (National Championship)
• Saturday, Jan. 18, 4:30 p.m. ET: Los Angeles Chargers-Houston Texans
• Saturday, Jan. 18, 8 p.m. ET: Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens
• Sunday, Jan. 19, 1 p.m. ET: Denver Broncos-Buffalo Bills
• Sunday, Jan. 19, 4:30 p.m. ET: Green Bay Packers-Philadelphia Eagles
• Sunday, Jan. 19, 8 p.m. ET: Washington Commanders-Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Monday, Jan. 20, 8 p.m. ET: Minnesota Vikings-Los Angeles Rams

Perhaps the best part about the NFL moving to an 18-game schedule is that the CFP National Championship game can be played before the NFL postseason even begins. Under the expanded NFL schedule, the CFP title game would be forced to move from its current, widely unpopular, Monday kickoff, to a Friday kickoff in order to make room for the Monday night NFL Wild Card game. That could be a blessing in disguise for the CFP National Championship.

This year’s title game, which was played the Monday following the NFL’s Divisional Round, felt largely overshadowed by the weekend’s NFL games. The lackluster ratings seemingly support that sentiment. Once the NFL moves to an 18-game schedule, college football has the opportunity to wrap its postseason up before the NFL begins. Such a move could help suppress complaints that the college football season feels too long with the 12-team playoff since the season would now be ending at a “normal” time relative to NFL season.

It’s fair to question whether or not this proposed schedule would help the complaints of “football fatigue.” But that feeling might be more a product of having so many important games all at once rather than simply having too much football to watch. Under this new schedule, do-or-die elimination games would be more spread out, which might allow people to pace themselves in a way they couldn’t this season.

Either way, it seems like Roger Goodell isn’t the only person who should be rooting for the 18-game schedule as soon as possible. The CFP committee should want to see that too.