Hi everyone, I have a bonus article this week as I look over the new rules for college football for this upcoming season... And rate them.

Enjoy!

https://open.substack.com/pub/marshduck/p/2026-new-rules-review?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8foswi

David, David, DAVID! Thanks for checking these changes out and giving us a layman's view of them. Usually these articles are so boring, but you really summarized the changes in an easy reading style and gave us some excellent ponder points.

My thoughts?

I agree with you about the targeting rule change--it is mostly accidental, and I'm glad that players do not have to miss the first half of the next game if the offense was in the second half.

Fair Catch Kick: It is OK, and I could see it adding potential points before halftime...once a year.

Taunting: You make great points here as well. This one will impact games the most, and yet is a cluster to define. In the end...it is going to be entirely subjective by a particular referee, which can hurt on the road. (In Columbus?)

The other issue I see with it is the how most of these young men are "full-of-themselves" which gets validated on social media as well. There were many times this last year when our defender went too far with jabbering at the WR after the play was finished, and I thought we were lucky to not get a penalty.

David, Friday with Marsh is an unexpected treat. Please keep the articles coming.

Rules? After listening to Mississippi coach Pete Golding, I wasn't sure that college football has any rules. 🤑

🤪Looking at the lead-in photo, do college football games now start with a tip-off?

Interesting column in today's Register Guard...not behind a paywall...which provides the author's ten Oregon football individual player records unlikely to be broken.

Not sure if any will never be broken because of game rule changes, but it is something to consider as we reflect on game/individual records. What was the context of rules at the time?

For example, in 1989 the use of tee's on FG and Xpoint was discontinued. The Div I FG record is 67 yds...3 players share the record...all before 1989.

@David Marsh Thank you for the updates!

I don’t understand the Fair Catch Kick. So we are addicting another special teams rule that allows teams not to actually have to play football? I know it will be rare, but this kind of stuff makes me crazy.

This has soccer written all over it. What’s next? Maybe we can get rid of OT and go to a best of 5 FGs for each team to decide the game? 🤮

1 hour ago, GeotechDuck said:

I don’t understand the Fair Catch Kick. So we are addicting another special teams rule that allows teams not to actually have to play football? I know it will be rare, but this kind of stuff makes me crazy.

It's been in the NFL forever... As in 1920. It's super rare as it needs very particular circumstances to set it up.

"....best of 5 FGs for each team to decide the game?"

Nah, start at the 10 and keep backing up 5 yds with dual attempts until one opponent misses.

Alex "Mongo" Karras of the Detroit Lions used to mimic them, calling out in falsetto: "I keeck a touchdown! I keeck a touchdown."

3 hours ago, GeotechDuck said:

@David Marsh Thank you for the updates!

I don’t understand the Fair Catch Kick. So we are addicting another special teams rule that allows teams not to actually have to play football? I know it will be rare, but this kind of stuff makes me crazy.

This has soccer written all over it. What’s next? Maybe we can get rid of OT and go to a best of 5 FGs for each team to decide the game? 🤮

Terrific comment. But it comes out of rugby more than soccer. It's long been a rule in Australian Rules Football and is akin to a free kick in soccer.

In the regular season, I'm all in favor of getting rid of overtime. And in the postseason, I'm in favor of adopting the NFL postseason OT rules. IMO, starting from the 25-yard line is chicken spit.