Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention, and starting in 2020, the pandemic made a sport tethered to longstanding traditions and norms reconsider almost everything. From recruiting via video chat to scheduling games on a few days' notice, decision-makers around college football were forced to be open-minded about new ways to approach old problems.
In a sport plagued by perennial issues that can sometimes feel hopeless, could that same spirit of innovation apply to rethinking the entire college football calendar?
Our team of ESPN reporters -- Bill Connelly, Heather Dinich, David M. Hale, Adam Rittenberg and Tom VanHaaren -- spent the offseason putting together proposals to fix the year-round schedule.