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College football’s rulebook just got a refresh, and some of these changes could genuinely reshape how games play out this fall. The 2026 rule changes touch everything from targeting penalties to jersey patches, and a handful of them are going to matter a lot on Saturdays.
Targeting punishment now separates dangerous hits from borderline calls more clearly. Pass interference enforcement got tweaked too, and that alone could shift field position in ways that actually affect drives. Officials are also working with new guidance on unsportsmanlike conduct, especially around taunting and celebrations directed at opponents.
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Consistency is the goal here. That’s always easier said than done once judgment calls get involved, though. Expect coaches, players and fans to deal with some growing pains early on as officiating crews figure out how to apply these new standards in live game situations.
Here’s what’s changing and how it could play out once the season actually starts.
Targeting penalties get a second look
Targeting calls have wiped out a lot of playing time over the past several seasons, and that’s by design. The rule exists to cut down on head and neck injuries. But it’s also ejected players for hits that weren’t nearly as dangerous as the penalty made them look.
That’s changing. A player’s first targeting foul of the season no longer carries over into the next game. So if you get flagged in the third quarter this week, you’re not sitting out the first half next week anymore.
Get hit with a second targeting foul in the same season, though, and you’re out for the first half of your next game. A third one? That’s a full game plus the following one, gone. For context, only six players in all of FBS last season racked up two or more targeting fouls, so this mostly protects players who make one mistake.
Steve Shaw, the NCAA’s secretary-rules editor for football and national coordinator of officials, explained the thinking behind it during a recent interview with 365 Sports. His committee didn’t want players getting nuked for simply making a tackle.
This is technically a one-year trial.
“Our officials are human,” Shaw said. “One of the biggest changes we’ve made for the good, once it goes to replay, you must confirm all aspects of targeting. We made the change to say if you can’t absolutely confirm all aspects, we’re going to overturn it because we don’t want to disqualify a player on a marginal, not really sure but (call). So that has really helped.”
One specific play pushed this change forward, according to Shaw. Miami defensive back Xavier Lucas got flagged for targeting in the fourth quarter against Ole Miss during the College Football Playoff semifinal. Under the old rule, that meant Lucas missed the first half of the national championship game against Indiana, arguably the biggest moment of his career, over a penalty from an entirely different game.
Shaw is retiring on Sept. 1 and plans to work as a rules analyst for TV networks this season. He noted that the definition of targeting itself hasn’t really changed. It’s still a hit on a defenseless player showing some “indicator” of malice (a launch, leading with the head, a lowered head) combined with forcible contact to the head or neck.
“This is an experimental rule this year and the commissioners were content (on that),” Shaw said. “They wanted to make sure this doesn’t change behavior back and start a new trend of targeting.”
There’s also an appeals path now. If a player picks up a second or third targeting foul, individual conferences can start an appeal, and the NCAA’s national coordinator of football officials reviews the video. Win the appeal, and the player is cleared to play the full game with no suspension.
Offensive pass interference gets cheaper
Coaches have been complaining about this one for years, and the rules committee finally listened. Offensive pass interference is now a 10-yard penalty instead of 15.
Shaw said coaches described the old penalty as a “drive-killer” and pushed for something that matched what defenses get charged for the same mistake. Right now, a defensive pass interference call is a spot foul, capped at 15 yards.
“We really want to reserve 15-yard penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct and personal fouls,” Shaw said. “Illegally batting the ball or illegally kicking the ball used to be a 15-yard penalty, those are 10 now. This is part of that. It gives the offense a chance to keep the drive going, but it doesn’t change how we call pass interference.”
Five automatic ejection triggers
The committee cleaned up how unsportsmanlike conduct gets interpreted. Taunting still draws a flag every time, especially anything aimed at an opponent that disrupts or delays the game. Players can still celebrate a big play together, though; Shaw made clear that’s not going away.
Five specific actions now trigger an automatic unsportsmanlike call:
- Brandishing a weapon or simulating gun violence
- A throat-slash or nose-wipe gesture
- Removing your helmet on the field
- Dead-ball fouls like pushing, shoving or striking
- Pulling or pushing an opponent off a pile after the whistle
Rack up two unsportsmanlike penalties in a game, and you’re automatically ejected. No exceptions.
The fair-catch kick makes a comeback
College football brought back something called the fair-catch kick, and it’s a fun little wrinkle. If a team calls for a fair catch on a kick, they now have the option to attempt a fair-catch kick instead, basically a free kickoff attempt with the defense lined up 10 yards away and no rush allowed.
No tee allowed for the kicker, but the receiving team can attempt a field goal from wherever the catch happened. Picture a team fair-catching a punt near midfield right before halftime and then just… trying a 50-yard field goal with zero pressure. That’s now legal.
There’s a wrinkle on the other end too. If the kicking team’s ball goes untouched by the defense, the receiving team gets the ball at the spot of the kick. And if the kick comes up short, a returner is allowed to catch it and try to bring it back.
For reference on just how rare successful free kicks are: the last one at the NFL level came in December 2024, when Cameron Dicker of the Chargers drilled a 57-yarder right before halftime against Denver.
No more hiding players on punts
Punt formations require five players lined up on the scrimmage line wearing numbers 50 through 79. That’s been the rule for a while. But special teams coaches got creative with disguising eligible receivers, and the NCAA decided enough was enough. Gunners and speed players can no longer be hidden within the formation.
“The rule was never designed for the punting team to be able to disguise who the eligible receivers are and who’s on the line and who’s not, who can receive a pass and who can’t,” Shaw said. “Coaches would also play the shell game, shift everybody and get set for a second then snap it. The defense had no chance.”
Every punt formation now needs a snapper, two guards and two tackles, with the tackles required to stay within (or touching) the tackle box, five yards from the snapper. Teams can still run a 2×2 look, but if they do, the defense automatically knows those five players are ineligible based on jersey number alone.
“There was a play from last year where Notre Dame, their right guard, who had always been covered up, goes down and catches a pass and the defense didn’t know to cover the guard,” Shaw said. “The left guard was downfield, No. 47, he was six or seven yards downfield when the pass was thrown but nobody recognized he was downfield. That’s where we are now, they’ll either (have to) change jersey numbers or be in a 2×2.”
Shaw put it simply: the committee is trying to stop coaches from running “crazy” formations built purely to exploit a loophole.
Jersey patches are officially here
For the first time, schools can sell ad space on jerseys. The NCAA is now allowing sponsored patches on uniforms, which gives athletic departments a fresh revenue stream right as roster costs keep climbing. Some college football rosters this season are running past $30 million, so brand exposure through a jersey patch isn’t a small deal financially.
Ohio State struck a partnership with JPMorganChase that puts a circular Chase Bank logo on jerseys across all 36 Buckeyes varsity sports programs. According to Yahoo Sports, the deal is worth more than $15 million annually, which briefly made it the richest patch deal announced this year.
Then Notre Dame topped it.
The Fighting Irish signed a six-year deal with SoFi Technologies covering all sports, reportedly worth between $18 million and $20 million per year. Several other programs have already lined up their own patch sponsors, including:
- Arkansas (Tyson Foods)
- BYU (Entrata)
- California (Dialpad)
- Illinois (Busey Bank)
- Kansas (Ripple)
- LSU (Woodside Energy)
- Memphis (FedEx)
- Michigan State (MSU Federal Credit Union)
- Oklahoma State (Osage Nation)
- Tennessee (Axle Logistics)
- Wisconsin (Culver’s)
- Vanderbilt (SRM Concrete)
It’s not just jerseys either. Some schools are now selling ad space right on the playing surface itself. The Big 12 struck a first-of-its-kind deal with Monster Energy back in July, naming the company as an entitlement partner across football and basketball.
Per the conference’s official release, a co-branded Monster Energy and Big 12 logo will show up on jerseys, fields and courts, with more integration planned across the conference’s digital and social channels.
