{"id":1042679,"date":"2026-09-04T10:27:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T10:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1042679\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T10:27:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T10:27:23","slug":"2026-college-football-study-guide-100-things-coaches-players-and-teams-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1042679\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 college football study guide: 100 things, coaches, players and teams to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of Colorado vs. Georgia Tech.<\/a><\/p>\n

The 2026 college football season is finally here. Let this be your study guide.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long offseason since Indiana claimed a shocking national championship<\/a>. What happened in the offseason, what\u2019s new and what do you need to know about all 138 teams<\/a>? We pulled bits of news, analysis and rankings from months of The Athletic\u2019s coverage together in one place to help.<\/p>\n

What you need to know<\/p>\n

1. The season already started last weekend! <\/strong>\u201cWeek 0\u201d as a concept is on its last legs<\/a>, but we were treated to eight Football Bowl Subdivision games<\/a> last Saturday, including Bill Belichick and North Carolina upsetting TCU<\/a> in college football\u2019s latest foray into Ireland<\/a> and USC fans abstaining from Week 0 (or perhaps staying away from extreme heat<\/a>) at a sparsely attended win over San Jose State.<\/p>\n

2. Our first full week of college football is here<\/strong>. Week 0 was the preamble. Week 1 is a five-day marathon that extends from Thursday (headlined by Colorado-Georgia Tech) to Friday (Miami-Stanford) to a full Saturday (Clemson-LSU) to Sunday (Notre Dame-Wisconsin at Lambeau Field, Ole Miss-Louisville in Nashville) to Monday night (Florida State-SMU).<\/p>\n

3. Who\u2019s eligible to play college football?<\/strong> It\u2019s complicated<\/strong>. After the NCAA instituted new rules giving (and limiting) players to five years to play five seasons<\/a>, many players in the Class of 2022 have filed lawsuits to obtain an extra year. A few have been granted, but the NCAA has also won some court battles<\/a>. Most names you probably don\u2019t know. Most controversially, the list includes a few players who have been in NFL training camps this summer and are trying to join Lane Kiffin at LSU<\/a>. Those players are heading to court in Louisiana with the SEC and NCAA<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Three storylines to watch: Indiana, Arch and Kiffin<\/p>\n

Stewart Mandel<\/p>\n

4. We can stop calling players \u201ctrue\u201d or \u201credshirt\u201d freshmen<\/strong>. It\u2019s now five years to play five seasons, which means no more decisions about holding freshmen back to preserve eligibility. Expect some career records to be shattered in coming years.<\/p>\n

5. Targeting penalties have been tweaked<\/a>:<\/strong> A player ejected for targeting in the second half of a game no longer has to sit out the first half of the next one, unless it\u2019s their second offense (in which they\u2019ll miss the first half of the next game) or third (miss the entire next game).<\/p>\n

6.<\/strong> You may remember Texas Tech mega booster Cody Campbell and the inescapable \u201cSave College Sports\u201d<\/a> commercials from last season. You\u2019ll now be hearing plenty from Nick Saban<\/a> about the <\/strong>Protect College Sports Act<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> which has support from senators on both sides of the aisle but has yet to be voted on after taking awhile to get the Big Ten and SEC on board<\/a> ahead of the summer recess. If passed, the bill would dial back unlimited, unrestricted transfers to previous NCAA standards, which allowed each athlete to be immediately eligible one time after transferring. It would also enshrine the NCAA\u2019s recently passed age-based eligibility rule, which gives athletes a five-year window to compete and eliminates most exceptions.<\/p>\n

7. A big part of the appeal of returning to college for players? Money. <\/strong>Though the House v. NCAA settlement<\/a> dictated that colleges could share a maximum of about $21 million with athletes across all sports, top spenders are spending more than twice that<\/a> on football rosters alone by facilitating name, image and likeness deals. Wisconsin, which hasn\u2019t finished ranked since 2019, has a roster being paid north of $25 million<\/a>. Others like Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas and Texas Tech could be knocking on the door of $50 million.<\/p>\n

8. Standout Power 4 players are making seven figures. <\/strong>Most good starting quarterbacks in the Power 4 conference are in the $1 million to $4 million range, according to reporting by The Athletic\u2019s Sam Khan Jr<\/a>. Some are commanding more. Even high school senior running back David Gabriel Georges is expected to earn $2 million per year<\/a> when he arrives at Tennessee next year. Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith said he was told he could earn over $10 million<\/a> if he entered the transfer portal.<\/p>\n

9.<\/strong> Revenue sharing is leading to schools finding new ways to make money. Say hello to jersey patches<\/strong><\/a> this season.<\/strong> Not all jerseys have sold space to advertisers (yet<\/a>), but among the biggest paydays, Notre Dame has signed up SoFi for up to $20 million annually<\/a> and Ohio State has added Chase Bank for about $17 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

10. You\u2019ll see more sponsors on the field too \u2014 like Monster Energy in the Big 12.<\/strong> The conference partnership<\/a> is reportedly worth about $20 million annually and includes co-branded patches for football and men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball, along with field and court logo branding. Big 12 schools are expected to receive $1 million each.<\/p>\n

11.<\/strong> The SEC is now fighting LSU, but first came<\/a> the Big 12 vs. Texas Tech<\/strong>. A big-money player you won\u2019t be seeing this fall? Cincinnati transfer Brendan Sorsby, who was set to make about $4 million with the Red Raiders. Texas Tech fought to keep Sorsby eligible after he admitted placing more than 9,000 wagers, including bets on Indiana while a member of the team, but amid severe backlash<\/a>, he opted to prepare for the NFL in 2027 instead after the league didn\u2019t hold a supplemental draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

12. Texas Tech, now playing a villain role<\/a> in the eyes of many, will turn <\/strong>to quarterback Will Hammond<\/strong><\/a>, who tore his ACL during a season in which the Red Raiders won their first Big 12 title and achieved their first top-10 finish. Texas Tech also opted for more controversial insurance: ex-Boston College and Florida State QB Tommy Castellanos, who was granted an injunction<\/a> to return for an extra season.<\/p>\n

13. The College Football Playoff still has 12 teams<\/strong>, but the Big Ten (now supported by the ACC and Big 12) is continuing to push for future expansion to 24<\/a>.<\/p>\n

14. <\/strong>Some Playoff rules did change<\/a>. Notre Dame needs to finish in the top 12 for an automatic bid.<\/strong> Last year, the Irish were dramatically left out on the final day with a No. 11 ranking. Now, they\u2019d be in automatically.<\/p>\n

15. Power 4 conference champions get auto bids to the CFP.<\/strong> Previously, bids went to the five highest-ranked conference champions. Two Group of 6 champions got in last year because Duke won the ACC with an 8-5 record. Now the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC are guaranteed spots for their champions.<\/p>\n

16. A Group of 6 team will make the Playoff, but it doesn\u2019t have to win its conference<\/strong>. An automatic bid goes to the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 and Sun Belt.<\/p>\n

17. The Pac-12 is back<\/strong>. Oregon State and Washington State were left behind in conference realignment but are now joined by Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State from the Mountain West and Texas State from the Sun Belt in the reshaped conference.<\/p>\n

18. There are <\/strong>138 FBS teams<\/strong><\/a>. Welcome to FCS superpower North Dakota State<\/a>, which joined the Mountain West, and Sacramento State<\/a>, which is expanding the Mid-American Conference from Massachusetts to California.<\/p>\n

19. Other <\/strong>realignment moves to know<\/strong><\/a>: <\/strong>Louisiana Tech replaced Texas State in the Sun Belt, leaving Conference USA. And the Mountain West added UTEP from Conference USA and Northern Illinois from the MAC.<\/p>\n

20. The Sun Belt is the only conference broken into divisions<\/strong>. Every other league sends its top two teams to its conference championship.<\/p>\n

21<\/strong>. The ACC changed its tiebreakers<\/strong> after Duke won a five-way tie to play Virginia in Charlotte last year. Head-to-head matchups will remain the top tiebreaker, followed by winning percentage, but subsequent tiebreakers involving three or more teams<\/a> will be settled by which team ranks highest in Sport Source Analytics\u2019 Team Success Ranking, which is one of the metrics used by the College Football Playoff committee. This would have sent Miami to the ACC title game last year.<\/p>\n

22. ACC teams are now playing nine conference games \u2026 mostly<\/strong>. Due to preexisting nonconference contracts, five schools (Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and UNC) are still playing eight games<\/a> this season.<\/p>\n

23. The SEC is also playing a nine-game schedule<\/strong>, joining the rest of the Power 4. Not all coaches are happy about this<\/a>. Expect even more strength of schedule arguments involving 9-3 teams in the Playoff race.<\/p>\n

24. There are 35 <\/strong>non-Playoff bowl games<\/strong><\/a>. Welcome to the Puerto Rico Bowl, which debuts on Dec. 22, and welcome back the Poinsettia Bowl, which will be played on Dec. 23 in San Diego for the first time since 2016. Gone are the Bahamas Bowl, LA Bowl and Detroit\u2019s GameAbove Sports Bowl.<\/p>\n

25. The national championship game will be on Jan. 25 in Las Vegas<\/strong>. CFP semifinals are at the Orange (Jan. 14) and Sugar (Jan. 15) bowls, and quarterfinals are at the Fiesta (Dec. 30) and Rose, Peach and Cotton (Jan. 1). The No. 1 seed now gets to pick its preferred bowl sites, followed by the No. 2 and 3 seeds.<\/p>\n

26. The transfer portal window has been <\/strong>reduced to 10 days<\/strong><\/a> and is expected to open Jan. 4.<\/p>\n

27. Northwestern opens its $875 million new stadium on Oct 2.<\/strong> Penn State will be the first visitor to the new Ryan Field, which has a student section without seats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

28. Circle Nov. 7 on your calendar<\/strong>. The biggest Saturday of the season features seven games between teams ranked in the preseason AP poll: No. 2 Oregon at No. 1 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia at No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 13 Alabama at No. 11 LSU, No. 5 Texas at No. 25 Missouri, No. 18 Penn State at No. 17 Washington, No. 14 BYU at No. 21 Utah and the highly anticipated rematch between No. 7 Miami and No. 4 Notre Dame in South Bend. (There\u2019s also Michigan-Michigan State and Oklahoma-Florida.)<\/p>\n

29-33. Circle these other five games, among many others<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n