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NCAA Approves Changes to Targeting Penalty for 2026 College Football Season
The trial rule allows first-time targeting offenders to play the next game while establishing formal appeal procedures for later violations, the FBS committee said.
- On Thursday, the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee approved a one-year trial allowing a college football player disqualified for first targeting to play in the following game regardless of which half the penalty occurred.
- Historically, when targeting was called in the second half, players disqualified for targeting had to sit out the first half of the following game, but the trial removes that automatic consequence for at least one season.
- Conferences can initiate an appeal after a second targeting call, which is sent to the NCAA national coordinator of football officials for video review, and if successful, the player avoids sitting out the first half.
- A second targeting now carries a required penalty of sitting out the first half of the next game, while a player with a third targeting must sit out the full following game; no players were disqualified for targeting three times in the 2025 season.
- The one-year trial will take effect for the 2026 season and pairs a first-time exemption with an appeals path, with centralized video review by the NCAA national coordinator helping conferences resolve disputed targeting rulings.
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NCAA changes targeting rules for the 2026 college football season
Changes are coming to the college football targeting rules in 2026. But it isn’t clear the NCAA has found a logical conclusion just yet. For at least one season, a targeting penalty will no longer automatically take a college football player off the field for the following game. The Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee on Thursday approved a one-year trial rule that ladders the punishment for each successive targeting penalty…
Coverage Details
Total News Sources12
Leaning Left4Leaning Right0Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution57% Left
Bias Distribution
- 57% of the sources lean Left
57% Left
L 57%
C 43%
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