It may depend upon your soil type. I have lots of red clay that jack frosts easily. If it is sowed in the fall, an early hard freeze will push the grass out of the ground and kill it. I had a very beautiful pasture addition and stand of grass on it one fall, and by the first week of December after a hard cold spell, I lost about 75% of it.
I prefer to plant on Late Feb. or early March and I mix fescue with oats. I mow the oats for hay, and the stubble will help prevent washing.
A good time to sow grass is right before a snow. It will come up when the ground temp warms enuff. DOT sows grass on road shoulders here year round, and usually mixes a little oats or rye in with it.