Targeting penalties, a rare new kicking option and expanded replay challenges headline the changes coming this fall.

College football will look mostly familiar when the 2026 season kicks off—but several important rule changes could have a real impact on games, especially in the closing minutes.

The National Football Foundation and College Football Officiating released their annual breakdown of the NCAA’s new rules Tuesday. The changes cover targeting, pass interference, replay, player safety, helmet communication and even an unusual scoring opportunity most fans have never seen.

Here is what coaches, players and fans need to know.

Targeting No Longer Carries Over Automatically

A player who is disqualified for targeting during the second half will no longer be forced to miss the first half of the next game.

The player will still be ejected from the current game, but the automatic carryover penalty has been eliminated for 2026.

Repeat violations will bring stronger consequences:

• A player’s second upheld targeting foul of the season results in disqualification from that game and the first half of the next game.
• A third or subsequent targeting foul results in an automatic one-game suspension.

Conferences may request a national video review of repeat targeting calls. A future suspension can be vacated only if the national coordinator determines it is clearly obvious that the player should not have been disqualified.

In plain English: one questionable targeting call late in a game will no longer automatically cost a player part of the following week—but repeat offenders will face increasingly serious consequences.

Offensive Pass Interference Drops to 10 Yards

Offensive pass interference will now carry a 10-yard penalty instead of 15 yards.

Defensive pass interference remains a spot foul with a maximum enforcement of 15 yards.

The change reflects the NCAA’s effort to reserve most 15-yard penalties for personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Fair Catch Kick Arrives in College Football

This will be the new rule that sends broadcasters scrambling for the rulebook.

Following a fair catch of a punt or free kick, the receiving team may choose to attempt an uncontested field goal from the spot of the catch.

The kick must be a place kick with a holder or a drop kick—no tee—and the defense must line up at least 10 yards away. If the kick goes through the uprights, it is worth three points.

The head coach must make the decision before the ball is declared ready for play, and the choice cannot be reversed.

Here is where it gets especially interesting: if a fair catch is completed as time expires in either half, the receiving team may attempt the fair catch kick on an untimed down.

It will not happen often, but one day a team will fair-catch a late punt near midfield and attempt a free, uncontested field goal to steal three points before halftime. When it happens, nobody will forget it.

Coaches Receive More Replay Challenges

Head coaches will now begin each game with two replay challenges.

If a coach wins at least one of those first two challenges, the team earns a third. A team must have a timeout available to challenge a ruling, but the timeout will not be charged if the challenge is successful.

That gives coaches another opportunity to correct a critical ruling—but also another decision to make when the game begins tightening around them.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct Gets a Clearer Standard

Officials will continue using judgment when evaluating taunting and conduct that interferes with the orderly administration of the game.

Five actions will now be treated as automatic unsportsmanlike conduct fouls:

• Any gesture depicting gun violence or brandishing a weapon
• Throat-slashing or nose-wipe gestures
• Removing a helmet after the ball is dead, outside approved exceptions
• Clearly late pushing, shoving or striking after the play
• Forcibly pulling or pushing an opponent off a pile after the ball is dead

The goal is greater consistency without turning every emotional celebration into a penalty.

Helmet Communication Expands

Coach-to-player helmet communication will now be permitted throughout NCAA football.

The technology was introduced in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2024 and expanded to the Football Championship Subdivision in 2025. It will now be available in Divisions II and III as well.

Schools are permitted to use the technology; they are not required to do so.

Additional Changes

Other changes include:

• Safety helmet attachments such as Guardian Caps may be worn during games if the helmet and attachment meet applicable safety standards.
• Punt formations using numbering exceptions must follow more clearly defined alignment requirements.
• Replay procedures inside the final two minutes have been adjusted to prevent an offense from gaining additional clock runoff because of a review.
• NCAA Division I teams may display up to two approved commercial or nonprofit logos on jerseys and one approved commercial logo on helmets.

An Important NAIA Distinction

These are NCAA football rules.

They should not automatically be applied to NAIA games unless the NAIA separately adopts or announces the same changes. With 446Sports covering programs across multiple levels of college football, that distinction will matter throughout the season.

Most of the new rules will quietly settle into the background. The fair catch kick will be different. It may remain buried in the rulebook for weeks—or months—but when a coach finally calls for one with the clock at zero, the entire stadium is going to ask the same question:

“Wait…they can do that?”

In 2026, the answer will be yes.

—446Sports Staff