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College football coaches argue about almost everything.<\/a> They argue about playoff formats. They argue about NIL. They argue about recruiting calendars, transfer portal windows, kickoff times, and targeting calls. But every once in a while, something happens that unites almost the entire sport. That\u2019s precisely what happened with the NCAA\u2019s new punt formation rule for the 2026 season. And coaches absolutely hate it.<\/p>\n Watch What\u2019s Trending Now!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The rule sounds small at first. It even sounds boring when read straight from the NCAA rulebook. But inside football buildings, special teams coaches reacted to it as if someone had suddenly changed the shape of the football itself. The change focuses on punt formations that involve jersey-number exceptions, especially those with players lined up near the snapper. ESPN\u2019s Rece Davis echoed the dominant sentiment around the rule change.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of these coaches hate it, and for the most part, you have former coaches on the rules committee, but now they are all coaches or former coaches on the rules committee; now they all hate it,\u201d Davis said on today\u2019s ESPN podcast. \u201cWhy would you do it if nobody wants it? It\u2019s like, I think (Bill) Connelly had a great line in his article.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was talking about the playoff, but it applies to this, too. It\u2019s like AI; nobody asked for it. Nobody wants it, and yet you\u2019re going to get it no matter what. It\u2019s sort of like that $1 to Bill Connelly, but this is like the punt rule that nobody wants, nobody understands, and there appears to be no real need for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the new rule, the snapper and the two players lined up next to him automatically become ineligible receivers on punt plays when certain numbering exceptions are used. In simple words, coaches can no longer disguise certain players as eligible receivers during fake punts like they always did. For an average fan, it might not seem much, but for coaches who have deployed those \u2018disguised\u2019 packages for decades, it\u2019s a watershed moment. It forces them back to their drawing boards.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no compelling reason to change it. It was already perfectly fine,\u201d Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said to ESPN\u2019s Pete Thamel. \u201cWe\u2019re not playing for a couple more months. I don\u2019t know why they couldn\u2019t (change it).\u201d But it\u2019s not only Ferentz; according to reports, the Big 10 unanimously voted 18-0 against the new rule, and among them, Ferentz was the most \u201canimated.\u201d<\/p>\n The Iowa head coach\u2019s frustration is understandable, since he has spent his last 27 years punting to win at Iowa. No wonder he described the new rule as a \u201cclown show.\u201d To limit a team\u2019s ability to disguise a fake punt in, say, a rugby formation, the NCAA has now added some strict requirements for offensive linemen in punt formations.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the link to the CFO2026 Preseason Video 1 Scrimmage Kick Numbering. This video lays out the nuts and bolts of the new NCAA \u201cpunt rule.\u201d<\/p>\n \ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8Major Changes:\n
\n1. Formations must be 2\u00d72 on either side of the snapper. Unless there are five players, wearing numbers 50-79 on the\u2026<\/p>\n