College Football

Coach buyouts explained: guaranteed contracts, offset and mitigation clauses, who pays, and how firings became eight-figure transactions.

The 2026 CFP access rules: P4 champion auto-bids, one Group of Six spot, Notre Dame’s top-12 path, and straight-seeded byes for the top 4.

Conference championship games explained: top-2 matchups after divisions died, tiebreaker math, and the 2026 auto-bid stakes that changed everything.

Buy games explained: power programs pay reported $1-2M guarantees for one-off home games – why both sides sign up for the mismatch.

How bowl games select teams: the 6-win rule, conference tie-ins, bowl agreements and where the payout money actually goes.

Power 4 vs. Group of 5/6 explained: which conferences are in each tier, the money gap, CFP access and how the reborn Pac-12 changed the map.

College football has no automatic mercy rule – but coaches can agree to shorten quarters or run the clock in blowouts. The full picture.

Illegal man downfield explained: college’s 3-yard limit vs. the NFL’s 1, the 5-yard penalty, and why RPOs made this football’s most-argued flag.

Onside kick rules in college: the 10-yard requirement, who can recover, when you can attempt one (anytime) – and why recovery rates are so low.

College kickoff rules: kicks from the 35, touchbacks to the 25, and the fair-catch rule that awards the 25 anywhere inside it. Full breakdown.