College football kickoff brings playoff tweaks, rule updates and new jersey sponsorships

The College Football Playoff will award automatic entries to the champions of the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12, and the top-ranked team from the newly defined Group of Six—Pac-12, American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt—will also qualify. Notre Dame will earn a spot if it ends the season ranked within the top twelve, simplifying last year’s situation. Targeting rules have been softened: a first offense no longer forces a player to miss the next game, while a second offense results in a half-game suspension and a third triggers a full-game ban, with an appeals process available.

Offensive pass interference penalties drop from fifteen to ten yards, and a new fair-catch field-goal option mirrors a recent NFL experiment. The NCAA now permits revenue-generating jersey patches, with deals at Ohio State and Notre Dame reportedly worth $30 million combined, and Progressive insurance securing field logos at several campuses. Sacramento State and North Dakota State become the latest FBS members, and a wave of coaching changes sees 34 programs, led by hires such as James Franklin at Virginia Tech and Matt Campbell at Penn State, reshaping the landscape.