{"id":822016,"date":"2026-03-19T23:01:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T23:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/822016\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T23:01:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T23:01:18","slug":"ncaa-makes-big-change-to-targeting-penalties-before-college-football-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/822016\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Makes Big Change to Targeting Penalties Before College Football Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring practice is underway for many college football<\/a> teams, and the NCAA<\/a> is beginning to tweak some rules ahead of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

This time of year is typically when we see adjustments to rules or negative trends in the sport, as well as defining what will become a “point of emphasis” for officials during games. Each year is different, but some of the rule changes announced on Thursday could have a big impact on the outcome of games.<\/p>\n

Among the most significant changes is the enforcement of the targeting penalty in future games. Targeting has been widely argued against by fans as both an unclear and too harsh rule. The penalty is typically called against the defense when launching into the head or neck area of a player. That costs the defense 15 yards and always requires an ejection of the offending player.<\/p>\n

More News: Duke Makes NCAA History in Disappointing Start to March Madness<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

More News: Michigan Makes Yaxel Lendeborg Announcement Before March Madness<\/a><\/p>\n

That’s where the change is taking effect this season. Typically, if a player is ejected for targeting in the second half of a game, they are suspended for the first half of the following game. <\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee approved a one-year trial that modifies the penalty structure. Players who are called for targeting will still be ejected, but won’t be suspended for any portion of the following game. If a player is ejected for targeting for a second time, they will have to sit out the first half of the next game, as the rule has been. <\/p>\n

If a player is called for targeting for a third time, they must sit out the entire next game. Thankfully, no player was called for targeting on three separate occasions last season.<\/p>\n

Conferences also have the right to appeal first and second targeting offenses, and the NCAA will conduct an official video review.<\/p>\n

Among other rule proposals, the oversight committee approved the change of offensive pass interference from 15 yards to 10 yards, while denying a proposal that would require players to wear leg coverings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spring practice is underway for many college football teams, and the NCAA is beginning to tweak some rules…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[331,7,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-822016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116258334777118653","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}