The 2026 NCAA Division I FBS football season is the 157th season of college football in the United States, the 121st season organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and the 51st of the highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The regular season began on August 29 and is scheduled to end on December 12. The postseason will begin on December 15, and, aside from any all-star games that are scheduled, end on January 25, 2027, with the College Football Playoff National Championship at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. This will be the third season of the 12-team College Football Playoff (CFP) system.
Conference realignment
On September 12, 2024, the Pac-12 announced that Mountain West Conference (MW) members Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State would join the Pac-12 in 2026. On September 24, 2024, the Pac-12 announced that another MW member, Utah State, would also join alongside the four aforementioned schools in 2026. Because Gonzaga, which also joined the Pac-12 in 2026, does not have a football team, this would have brought the number of Pac-12 football programs to being one short of the number needed to preserve its status as an FBS conference. This addition came later.
On October 1, 2024, UTEP announced that it would join the Mountain West from Conference USA starting in 2026. This gave the MW seven full football-sponsoring members in the 2026 season; it had to add at least one more such member no later than 2028–29 to preserve its FBS status. The needed eighth member proved to be Hawaiʻi, which had been a football-only MW member since 2012. On October 14, Hawaii athletic director Craig Angelos confirmed outside reports that the school would upgrade to full MW membership in 2026. The MW officially announced this move the next day.
On January 7, 2025, the Mountain West added a ninth member in Mid-American Conference member Northern Illinois joining as a football-only affiliate.
In June 2025, it was reported that Texas State would announce its move to the Pac-12 on June 30, 2025, the last day before that school's exit fee from the Sun Belt Conference would have doubled from $5 million to $10 million. Texas State's arrival, announced that same day, marked the ninth full-time member for the Pac-12 and also the eighth and final football member required to preserve FBS status.
On July 15, 2025, the Sun Belt announced its addition of Louisiana Tech for all sports no later than July 1, 2027. After a legal battle between Louisiana Tech and Conference USA over Tech's intended July 1, 2026, departure to the Sun Belt, a buyout agreement was reached that allowed Tech to join the SBC on its desired 2026 schedule.
February 2026 saw two conferences add football-only members—first the MW with 10-time FCS champion North Dakota State, and then the MAC with another FCS upgrader, Sacramento State.
Team Conference in 2025 Conference in 2026 Boise State Mountain West Pac-12 Colorado State Mountain West Pac-12 Fresno State Mountain West Pac-12 Louisiana Tech CUSA Sun Belt North Dakota State MVFC (FCS) Mountain West Northern Illinois MAC Mountain West Sacramento State Big Sky (FCS) MAC San Diego State Mountain West Pac-12 Texas State Sun Belt Pac-12 Utah State Mountain West Pac-12 UTEP CUSA Mountain West
Rule changes The following playing rule changes were approved by the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee on March 19, 2026: The targeting penalty (referring to the "carryover penalty" of missing the first half of the next game) will be altered for a one-year trial: Players disqualified for their first targeting penalty of the season (regardless of which half it occurs) will be permitted to play the entire next game with no carryover penalty. The second targeting penalty by the same player in the same season will incur the carryover penalty unless overturned on appeal to the National Coordinator of Officials. The appeal can include both the first and second targeting penalties. The third or subsequent targeting penalty by the same player in the same season will be a one-game suspension unless overturned on appeal to the National Coordinator of Officials. There is no carryover of targeting penalties to the following season. Adopt the fair catch kick used by the NFL. The decision to make the kick must be made by the head coach before the ball is signaled ready for play and is irrevocable. Also mirroring the NFL rule, offensive pass interference will become a 10-yard penalty; previously this was a 15-yard penalty. Teams will now receive two replay challenges, with a third challenge available if one of the two challenges is successful, also mirroring the NFL rule since the 2024 season. On punts where jersey number exceptions are used (players not wearing 50–79), the snapper and two adjacent linemen on either side lined up in or touching the tackle box are ineligible receivers and become exceptions to the numbering rule when the snapper takes his position. Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties will focus more on taunting, interference with game administration, and celebrations found demeaning to the game or opponent and five automatic unsportsmanlike penalties (throat-slash/nose wipe, pulling players off piles, any gestures of gun violence, removing of helmet after the ball is dead, and non-game-related actions of pushing, shoving, striking, etc.) After the two-minute time-out, if the game is stopped for a replay review, the play clock is frozen at the point of the stoppage. If the ruling on the field is upheld, the play clock will resume from the point it was stopped on the referee's signal. If there are fewer than 10 seconds on the play clock, it will be reset to 10 seconds.
As a result of the ending of the Western Michigan-Michigan game on September 5, the following changes to instant replay and time adjustments was made: The official time for all college football games is the time displayed on the in-stadium game clock. When a replay review requires time to be restored or otherwise adjusted, the replay official's decision will be based on the embedded game clock contained within the program feed. If the broadcaster is unable to provide an embedded game clock, the replay official will use the game-clock graphic displayed as part of the broadcast feed. The Big Ten Conference will allow total transparency on their instant replay process on all conference and home non-conference games effective with games of September 12 (previously this procedure was done on the conference's Friday evening games). The play under review, discussions between the replay officials and the game referee, and views from the replay center will be available to broadcasters, similar to the process used in the United Football League.
Points of emphasis for the 2026 season include: Continued focus on targeting (with the experimental rule eliminating the "carryover penalty" to the following game on the first targeting foul of the season), concussions, and defenseless players. Pre-snap actions by the offense, disconcerting signals by the defense, and offensive line alignment. Closely monitoring feigning injuries. Unsportsmanlike and taunting fouls (with the modification to limit the type of fouls deemed unsportsmanlike). Sideline control, especially for team personnel engaging officials with tablets to discuss a play (automatic unsportsmanlike conduct) and reinforcing that two unsportsmanlike conduct fouls against a coach results in that coach's ejection. Illegal hits on quarterbacks and receivers. Pace of play, game length, and adhering to substitution rules on both offense and defense.
Notable headlines January 23, 2026 – The NCAA approved a rule change to allow teams to add commercial logos from sponsorships on uniforms, equipment and apparel. Teams may add two logos, each up to four inches in size, to uniforms, with one additional logo on equipment, for regular season games. March 5 – The University of Louisiana System filed suit against Conference USA (CUSA) on behalf of system member Louisiana Tech in the school's home of Lincoln Parish. The suit sought to allow the Bulldogs to leave CUSA for the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) on the school's desired July 2026 schedule. April 8 – Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported that the NCAA was considering a new athletic eligibility framework for Division I. Under the proposal, D-I athletes would have five full years of eligibility, starting on their 19th birthday or high school graduation, whichever is sooner. No redshirting would be allowed, even for medical reasons. Existing eligibility waivers for military service, religious missions, or (for women) maternity leave, would not be affected. April 27 – CUSA and Louisiana Tech reached a buyout agreement that allowed Tech to join the SBC that July. June 5 – The NCAA Division I Cabinet slightly modified the age-based eligibility proposal, addressing concerns raised by the men's basketball and men's ice hockey communities, as well as the service academies. Under the new proposal, expected to be voted on by the end of June, athletes' eligibility clocks would start upon their full-time college enrollment or the start of the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever is sooner. June 23 – The Division I Cabinet unanimously approved the age-based eligibility proposal as modified earlier that month, officially taking effect with the end of the Cabinet's meeting the next day. Students enrolling full-time in college for the first time in 2026, plus those who had remaining eligibility under previous rules at the end of 2025–26, can use whichever model is most advantageous to them. Those who exhausted their eligibility under previous rules in 2025–26 will not receive any additional eligibility, even if they initially enrolled in 2022–23 (giving them four years of eligibility). June 24 On the same day the new age-based eligibility model took effect, a group of 15 college basketball players, all of whom graduated from high school in 2022 and exhausted their eligibility under the previous rules in 2025–26, filed suit in Hamilton County, Ohio, challenging the application of the new model to their high school cohort. Other suits on similar grounds were expected to be filed in other states. On the final day of the Cabinet's meeting, it approved two changes to FBS postseason participation rules. First, teams transitioning from FCS will be immediately eligible for bowl games, as long as they finish the regular season no worse than 6–6 (with at least 5 wins over FBS teams) and meet FBS sports sponsorship and reclassification requirements. Second, whenever bowl slots remain empty after all fully qualified teams are placed, the Academic Progress Rate will only be used to exclude teams with 5–7 records from being eligible as alternates, and will no longer determine the order in which alternates are selected. June 26 – The FBS will move to a standardized 14-week regular season beginning in the fall of 2027. Each season will begin in Week 0 (the weekend prior to Labor Day weekend) and conclude the weekend after Thanksgiving. Teams will continue to be permitted to schedule 12 regular season games with two bye weeks in-season. It's unclear how this will impact teams that play 13 regular season games due to the "Hawaii Rule" which grants an additional home game to offset travel costs for playing at Hawaii.