Over the past several years, it's felt as if the NCAA is constantly changing its rules, especially in college football. Most of the rule changes have come off the field as NIL, the Transfer Portal, and revenue sharing have all entered the sport while we've also seen the College Football Playoff triple from 4 teams to 12 teams. While rules off the field continued to change, the NCAA needed to address the rules on the field.
The rule that's sparked the most controversy and has had the biggest calls for a change is how officials handle targeting. During the College Football Playoff, Miami star Xavier Lucas was ejected on a questionable targeting call which led to him being suspended for the 1st half of the National Championship Game. The call drew so much debate that it led to calls for serious rule changes this offseason.
The NCAA finally adjusts broken targeting rules
On Thursday Night, the NCAA finally announced long awaited changes to the penalty structure on targeting calls.
NEWS: There will be no carryover into the next game for a player’s first targeting penalty. The rule tweak was approved today by the DI FBS Rules Oversight Committee. pic.twitter.com/0BTNHhtTDm
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) March 19, 2026
The rules change eliminates the carryover suspension for players who commit their first targeting penalty of the season. A player who is ejected for targeting a second time in a season will be required to miss the first half of the next game. Any player who receives a third targeting penalty in one season will be suspended the entire next game.
The changes also bring into effect an appeals process which will help with calls that were controversial on the field. After a player receives their second targeting call of the year, the National Coordinator of Football Officials will review video of the first two targeting penalties which can help eliminate the suspensions.
For years fans have called for an elimination of the carryover punishment, and this season we'll finally see the change everyone wanted to see. In the College Football Playoff, having the race for the National Championship decided in part because of questionable calls is flawed which truly sparked these changes.