College football

The 2026 FBS season is the 157th season of college football and the third with a 12-team College Football Playoff (CFP). The regular season began on August 29 and ends on Saturday, December 12. The postseason starts on December 15 with the first bowl games and, apart from all-star games, ends with the CFP National Championship on January 25, 2027, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Things that changed for 2026:

• New rules for who gets into the playoff. Every champion of the four power conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC) is guaranteed a bid, plus the highest-ranked Group of Six team, which does not have to be a conference champion. Notre Dame is guaranteed an at-large bid if it is ranked in the top 12.
• A rebuilt Pac-12. The conference is back in 2026 after a two-year pause, with eight football members, most of them from the Mountain West and Sun Belt.
• Three fewer bowl games than last year, and two new ones (Puerto Rico, San Juan), with the Poinsettia Bowl returning.
• A one-year trial on targeting: a first targeting disqualification no longer carries over into the next game.

The weekly flow is simple: Saturday games, weekly committee rankings in the last six weeks, conference championship games in early December, then the playoff.

Conference championship games we can date: Big 12 on Friday, December 4, at AT&T Stadium (Arlington); ACC on Saturday, December 5. We could not read dates for the other championship games. The playoff field and the first-round campus sites are announced on Selection Day, Sunday, December 6, according to the College Football Playoff.

The table also lists the Notre Dame and Big Ten games NBC has scheduled for the next four weeks.

The playoff is the one thing that is easy: ESPN holds the CFP rights under a six-year extension and ABC simulcasts selected games. TNT Sports sublicenses a small package: two first-round games, two quarterfinals and one semifinal each year from 2026-27. The National Championship on January 25 airs on ESPN and, for the first time since 2010, on ABC.

The regular season depends on the conference:

• Big Ten: FOX, CBS and NBC (also FS1 and Big Ten Network). Streams: Fox One, Paramount+, Peacock.
• Big 12: ESPN and FOX networks, with some games on TNT Sports. Streams: ESPN app.
• ACC: mostly ESPN networks, including ABC and ACC Network; the conference also has games on other networks. Streams: ESPN app.
• Notre Dame: NBC and Peacock, with more than 25 Big Ten and Notre Dame games in total.
• SEC and Pac-12: not covered in sources we could use in this pass; this page will be updated.

Local: school and conference deals vary, and some games are on streaming services only. Check your local listings.

Twelve teams make the field. The selection committee ranks the top 25 each week for the last six weeks.

1. Bids: four power-conference champions, the highest-ranked Group of Six team, and the seven highest-ranked remaining teams. If Notre Dame is ranked in the top 12, it is in.
2. Seeding and byes: the top four teams in the final ranking get a first-round bye, whether or not they are conference champions.
3. First round (December 18 and 19): 5 hosts 12, 6 hosts 11, 7 hosts 10, 8 hosts 9, at the better seed's home field or another venue it picks.
4. Quarterfinals (December 30 to January 1): at the Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Cotton bowls. The Rose Bowl is always played on New Year's Day. The top seeds choose their bowl in seed order.
5. Semifinals (January 14 and 15): at the Orange and Sugar bowls.
6. National Championship (January 25): neutral site, Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

The bracket is not reseeded.