Some of the more challenging words I write every single year are the ones that start this series on Day 100. How could I possibly encapsulate my excitement or energy about an entire upcoming season into a single paragraph, or even a single post, without sounding like a blabbering idiot for two thousand words?!? I make no promises, people. But now I’m already into my fourth sentence and you’re still here reading it, and frankly the majority of you have read this very same post, or a variance of it, for the last fourteen years. My friends, my college football diehards, my Louisville football crazies…we made it.

While the ‘The Countdown’ mostly stays the same year in and year out the world of college football has experienced some significant shifts over the last decade, with how we compensate players, to how a Champion is crowned, and all the little tasty appetizers in between that keep us talking and “tweeting” for weeks on end. What better way to kickoff the start of the offseason countdown than to take that thirty thousand foot view of what’s going on in the world of college football.

What’s New In College Football

While there will continue to be debate about an expanded CFP or what the sport may look like in 2027 and beyond, currently the 12 team format remains just as it did last year. Being a purist, I was not a fan of expanding the playoff to include so many teams, I honestly thought it was unnecessary and a money grab…but it was pretty freaking awesome. Lots of good games, more head to head of the best teams in the sport, and ultimately the better teams played their way deeper in the bracket. I’ll complain if they go to 14 or 16 (please no 24), but I’ll also continue to watch no matter what they do. And, if we’re being real with each other (circle of trust fully unlocked), this expansion allows a team like Louisville to play their way into the biggest event in the sport, and changes like that should never be ignored.

The ACC, in all its wisdom, opted to go to a 9 game conference schedule format to keep up with the other leagues, and will also require each team to play at least one other major conference opponent for a total of ten Power Four games on the schedule. The problem is Jim Phillips and his posse forget to check existing contracts, and count the number of teams in the league so “the math ain’t mathing” in 2026, meaning five teams will actually play eight conference games this year, and the rest of the league will play nine…..the most #goacc thing possible. Moving forward they will treat the ACC as a sixteen team league so all can play nine games and one team will rotate on an eight game schedule and be forced to play two power four opponents to reach the ten game total. If this sounds dumb to you, it is, and there is a stronger possibility that the ACC adds an 18^th team or the whole thing is blown up before we get too deep into the chaos.

Speaking of chaos, imagine the season coming down to the wire with two teams, and one has played a full conference game less than the other…how’s that shaking out? After last years tie-breaker debacle which allowed 7-5 Duke to play for, and win, the ACC title, the ACC said it would update its tie breaker policy to presumable include some type of CFP ranking in it’s “step by step guide to public scrutiny”, sorry I mean tie-breaker policy. If you’re wanting to read up on that, well, you’re going to be waiting like the rest of us, because nothing has been released. I’m sure they’ll get around to it at some point before the football, you know, actually starts….maybe.

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As a quick aside as it relates to the ACC and scheduling, the college football sickos got together and said “you know what this sport really needs, what everyone is clamoring for across the country, something never done before in the history of the sport…..a little college football in South America”. Actually, no one asked for that, but the ACC and the networks which control them said lets roll the NC State and Virginia fanbases down to Rio de Janeiro on Week 0 and let them battle it out, in the jungle, in August. Because when I think Carnival, samba, and Copacabana I know my mind immediately goes to a bunch of flamboyant fans in ties and blazers cheering for Virginia football. While I imagine they’ll all enjoy the beaches and the game…the residents in Rio will be shocked when they learn which type of ‘football’ this really is, and will likely be approach by UVA alum about the viability of opening up a few offshore accounts.

New Rules and Such

Hand up, I’ve been the guy Week One of the season screaming at the ref for blowing a call only to learn ten minutes later that an offseason rule change had somehow not graced my timeline during the summer, and “I” in fact was the “goofy looking cornball who didn’t know the rules” and not the man in the black and white stripes. ‘Apologies to you and your family, sir.’ So, to avoid this I made it is my mission to inform everyone willing to listen of any new rules for the upcoming season. Thankfully nothing too crazy in 2026.

The biggest, and most applicable to Louisville, is that targeting penalties no longer carryover on your first offense. It was dumb when they announced it, so kudos for the self awareness and the reversal. This means a targeting call and ejection in the second half of a game, no longer carries over to the first half of the following game. With a second and third offense the penalties will grow progressively more impactful (can carryover), but for Louisville this means the penalty Clev Lubin committed in the bowl game last year will not impact his ability to…wait for it…forgo the NFL draft, return to school, and play the first half of the season opening contest in a completely different year against Ole Miss. Yes, that is what would have happened before the change. Amen, for sanity!

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There has also been an Offensive pass interference adjustment this year, where the penalty is now only 10 yards instead of the 15 that it was previously. Separately, any reviews under two minutes on the clock will automatically freeze the clock as to not let precious seconds run off after a review cycle has been completed.

The last one I’ll highlight is obscure, and we may never see it all season, but at the college level I honestly think it could come into play a few times. The “fair catch kick” rule is now the same as the NFL, in that if a player signals for a fair catch off a kickoff or punt, and catches it in the air, the offense has the option to free kick from that spot, and if it goes through the uprights, it’s worth three points, just like a FG. One may wonder, “why would you ever do that when you have the ball first and ten from that same spot”, well thanks for asking buddy. The most likely scenario is when there is little to no time on the clock, meaning the clock has expired while the ball is in the air, or only a second or so remain. You likely don’t have time for a drive or to move the ball upfield for a shorter attempt so might as well give it a shot before half. The other factor to consider is that of course most kickoffs and punts land far outside the area of typical field goal range…but I emphasize “most”. We saw last year a few punts land on the 50 or even shorter, so signaling a fair catch at the 50 with one second on clock before half or end of regulation could trigger a kick attempt, an attempt that through all the challenges noted above does actually have a distinct advantage for the offense. You see, the unique thing about this rule is that if acted upon the defense can’t be within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. Yep, your big leg kicker basically gets to attempt a 60+ yarder as the clock expires, but with no defense on the line. In the college game I believe we have just the right mix of poor punts, and deep ball kickers, that I actually think we see this come into play more than some might expect.

This actually happened for the first time in decades last year in the NFL.

New Expectations

The chatter at the end of last year was concerning for Louisville specifically as the Head Coach, Jeff Brohm, appeared to...

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