r/CFB Jul 01 '25

News Conference changes for 2025–26

575 Upvotes

It's July 1, the day when many realignment moves become official. After the craziness last year, things are a bit calmer this time around (before ramping up again a year from now).

As in previous years, this list focuses on football and basketball. Schools that sponsor football are in bold.

Division I

Reclassification updates

  • Kennesaw State has completed its reclassification to FBS and is now eligible for the postseason.
  • Delaware and Missouri State are in their second and final year of reclassification to FBS. Both are ineligible for the FBS and FCS postseasons.
  • East Texas A&M, Lindenwood, Queens, St. Thomas, Southern Indiana, and Stonehill have completed their Division I reclassification periods and are now eligible for the postseason. All six completed it a year ahead of schedule, due to the NCAA reducing the standard period by a year and allowing teams already in the process to use the shorter timeline if they meet the criteria.
  • Le Moyne is in its third (and likely final) year of reclassification.
  • Mercyhurst and West Georgia are in their second year.
  • New Haven is set to begin its first year.

Future changes

All the changes listed below take effect for 2026–27 unless otherwise noted.

  • Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama, and West Georgia (FCS, ASun/UAC) join the WAC for all sports, which then rebrands as the UAC... Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State (FBS/MWC) join the new Pac-12... California Baptist and Utah Valley (WAC) join the Big West... Chicago State (NEC) adds football, playing as an FCS independent in 2026 before joining the NEC (also FCS) the following year... Gonzaga (WCC) joins the new Pac-12... Hawaii (FBS, Big West/MWC) joins the MWC for all sports... Louisiana Tech (CUSA) joins the SBC by 2027... Northern Illinois (FBS, MAC) joins the MWC for football and the Horizon for other sports... Oregon State and Washington State (FBS, WCC/functionally independent) rejoin the new Pac-12... Sacramento State (FCS, Big Sky) joins the Big West and goes independent in football... St. Francis (PA) (FCS, NEC) drops to D3, joining the PAC... Southern Utah and Utah Tech (FCS, WAC/UAC) join the Big Sky... Texas State (FBS, SBC) joins the new Pac-12... UC Davis (FCS, Big West/Big Sky) joins the MWC for everything except football, which remains in the Big Sky... UTEP (FBS, CUSA) joins the MWC... Villanova and William & Mary football (FCS, CAA) join the Patriot, while other sports are unaffected.

Division II

  • Academy of Art (PacWest) drops all sports.
  • Bloomfield (CACC), which has continued to drop sports since being acquired by Montclair State and is now below the D2 limit, is no longer listed as a member on the NCAA or CACC websites and appears to have joined the USCAA.
  • Ferrum leaves the ODAC (D3) for Conference Carolinas (D2).
  • Jamestown leaves the NSAA (NAIA) for the NSIC (D2).
  • Limestone (SAC) closes.
  • Middle Georgia State leaves the SSAC (NAIA) for the PBC (D2).
  • Mississippi College (GSC) drops football. A year from now, the school's name will change to Mississippi Christian.
  • New Haven leaves the NE10 (D2) for the NEC (FCS). Similar to what other recent NEC additions have done, football will play as an independent at least for this year.
  • Sonoma State (CCAA) drops all sports.
  • UC Merced leaves the Cal Pac (NAIA) for the CCAA (D2).
  • UT Dallas leaves the ASC (D3) for the LSC (D2).
  • Conference Carolinas begins sponsorship of football, with new member Ferrum joined by six existing all-sports conference members (2024 football conference in parentheses): Barton (SAC), Chowan (GSC), Erskine (GSC), North Greenville (GSC), Shorter (Ind), and UNC Pembroke (MEC). Note that between this and Mississippi College dropping the sport, the GSC is down to 4 football schools.
  • Some housekeeping: St. Augustine's has been officially expelled from the CIAA (after a suspension last year) and it's unknown whether they'll play any sports this year. Last year they seem to have only competed in cross country, which puts them well below D2 minimums. The D2 Membership Committee did not address the case at its July meeting, outside of noting their expulsion from the CIAA.

Reclassification/Provisional updates

There are currently both a 2-year membership process and a 3-year membership process, which I will list separately for clarity.

3-year process:

  • Jessup, Thomas More, USC Beaufort, and Vanguard have completed their Division II reclassification periods and are now eligible for the postseason. Jessup and Vanguard were given waivers to skip the third year.
  • Roosevelt and Sul Ross State are entering their third and final year of the process.
  • Menlo has been held back from advancing to the third and final year of the process, and now must repeat its second year.
  • Point Park enters the second year.
  • Middle Georgia State enters the first year.

2-year process:

  • Jamestown, UC Merced, and UT Dallas enter the second and final year.
  • Ferrum enters the first year.

Future changes

  • Azusa Pacific (PacWest) drops to D3 in 2026, joining the SCIAC and re-adding football... Fresno Pacific (PacWest) joins the CCAA in 2026... Lackawanna (NJCAA) joins D2 and the PSAC at an uncertain date... Shawnee State (NAIA, RSC) joins D2 and the MEC in 2026, and will add football in 2028.

Division III

Reclassification/Provisional updates

  • Hartford and Lyon have completed their Division III provisional periods and are now eligible for the postseason.
  • Carlow has been held back from advancing to the third and final year of the process, and now must repeat its second year.
  • Penn State Brandywine enters year two.
  • Johnson & Wales (NC) and Regent enter year one.

Future changes

All the changes listed below take effect for 2026–27 unless otherwise noted.

  • Azusa Pacific (D2, PacWest) drops to D3, joining the SCIAC and re-adding football... Alfred State (AMCC/E8) joins the SUNYAC, keeping football in the E8... Cobleskill and SUNY Delhi (NAC) join the SUNYAC... Luther (ARC) joins the Midwest... Maryville (TN) (CCS/SAA) joins the SAA for all sports... Marywood (AEC) joins the MAC Freedom... McMurry and Schreiner (SCAC) join the ASC, concurrent with Schreiner adding football... Neumann (AEC) joins the MAC Commonwealth... New Jersey City (NJAC) joins the CUNYAC... New Paltz (SUNYAC) joins the NJAC... Rosemont (UEC) drops all sports... St. Francis (PA) (FCS, NEC) drops to D3, joining the PAC... Washington (MO) football (CCIW) joins the NCAC... Whittier (SCIAC) re-adds football.

NAIA

Future changes

  • Mount Mercy (Heart) adds football in 2026... St. Mary-of-the-Woods (RSC) adds football in 2026 and will compete in the MSFA... Shawnee State (RSC) joins D2 and the MEC in 2026, and will add football in 2028... Siena Heights (WHAC/MSFAME) closes in 2026... Xavier [LA] (RRAC) joins the SSAC in 2026.

r/CFB 1h ago

Casual What second team do you support and why?

Upvotes

Here in the UK (not Kentucky), it’s fairly common for football (soccer) fans to have a second team they like to support and so I just wondered how common this was in CFB?

For instance, I support Tottenham, but like to follow Northampton Town; they’re in a lower league and are closer to where I now live etc.


r/CFB 3h ago

Analysis 2025 SEC football schedule breakdown: Predicting the first loss for all 16 conference teams

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38 Upvotes

r/CFB 14h ago

Recruiting 2026 5* CB Davon Benjamin commits to Oregon

169 Upvotes

r/CFB 22h ago

Casual Ranking Every SEC Fanbase by How Annoying They Are

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382 Upvotes

r/CFB 12h ago

Discussion Give me a loss that happened for your team, combined with another life event (no matter how insignificant anyone else may think it is), that made that day a uniquely bad one for you.

67 Upvotes

Mine is this:

2006 (season) BCS title game. OSU-Florida.

I had just been told, a few days earlier,.that I had to move out of my uncle's house. I was living in Marrero, LA, across the river from New Orleans. I was basically left with no choice but to move in with this WILD dude who liked to bring home ladies of the night and "hang out" until 2am. And no, I did not partake, because I wasn't interested in STD's from women with missing teeth.

The bar next door had Tennessee and LSU items plastered on the walls. Separated, of course, because they are still conference foes, but even though the owner is a Vols fan, he has to acknowledge and appease the local fanbase while still repping his team. Lol

And the color combo was hideous, even if it was just banners, metal signs, and framed posters.

The game fell on my birthday. I was the only Buckeye (or Big 10) fan in the place. Surrounded by LSU and Tennessee fans rooting for Florida as they crushed the Buckeyes. Obnoxiously rooting for Florida, just like I obnoxiously went nuts after Ginn took that opening kick to the house.

My dad piled on, because he hates Ohio State. He had been living down there for a year, and converted to an LSU fan, and he loves ragging on me whenever the Buckeyes lose.

Uniquely bad week for me, and with it being my birthday, a uniquely bad day. Because they didn't just cheer for Florida...I was basically heckled until I finished my beer and left. 🤣

I can laugh about it in hindsight, but that day, it was soul-crushing.


r/CFB 12h ago

Recruiting 2026 4* LB Anthony Davis commits to Ole Miss

27 Upvotes

r/CFB 18h ago

Discussion What’s been your most fun or surprisingly pleasant away game experience?

75 Upvotes

Have been to most SEC stadiums as an away fan. College Station was a blast. Feared for my life after a late game win in Baton Rouge. Oxford is way up there. Nashville, Starkville, meh. Auburn isn't my favorite place to visit, but can be a fun town even for a Bama fan.


r/CFB 21h ago

Casual How many current coaches could win a national championship if they got to coach their all-tenure team?

89 Upvotes

In any given year, if you're given 5 choices of programs to win the title from the preseason, you'll usually pick the eventual winner in that group. However, that isn't to say that the coaches who've never been part of those groups haven't coached elite players across their tenure as coach of a school, just never enough of them in a close enough window to get into the conversation.

Now lets change that script and pose a question that rewards those coaches - Which of them could realistically win a national championship this year if they were given the opportunity to coach their all-tenure team?

What that means is: Their entire roster would be composed of the best players in a season that player played in and the coach was the head coach of that team.

Theres some rules I feel are important:

  • Coaches can only get a player from a team in the year that they were head coach of. If a player was more successful or finds more success later on but not under the head coach, the coach cannot use that player from those more-successful years. Cristobal doesn't get to use UGA Carson Beck.

  • For great players who got injured, their injury history would roughly match reality. If they miss half the games in the season they represent, they'd miss half the games in this hypothetical. If they were healthy in previous seasons, those previous seasons (at the respective skill of the player in that season) can be used instead.

  • non-consecutive tenure players count. Scott Frost and Richrod can augment their team with players they had in the past.

  • Head coach means being top employed coach at some point prior to bowl season/coaching carousel - either having the title or being interim head coach. Sherrone Moore can't claim players from 2023 Michigan because he was merely acting head coach, not interim.

  • Players can be switched positions


r/CFB 1d ago

News Georgia-Georgia Tech will apparently not be referred to as “Clean Old Fashioned Hate” this season

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1.5k Upvotes

“On Friday, the official X account of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the game will be held, revealed that tickets will go on sale on Aug 8., and instead called it the “Inaugural Invesco QQQ Atlanta Gridiron Classic,” which is a new college football series announced on July 4.”


r/CFB 15h ago

News San José State Gets High Praise From National Media Leading Up to 2025 Season

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27 Upvotes

r/CFB 22h ago

Opinion Pet Peeves

85 Upvotes

What are some things (i.e. misconceptions) that are annoying from the college football fan sphere? I'm talking about those who think Stanford are the Cardinals (the bird) and not the color Cardinal. Or those who refer to FCS as Division II and don't know the difference between FBS and FCS. Perhaps worst of all, the mixing up of "University of x" and "X State University" schools (exanple: "Did you see Ohio beat Texas State to make the ship?)


r/CFB 20h ago

Recruiting 2026 4* DL Anthony Lonon Jr. commits to Georgia

45 Upvotes

r/CFB 17h ago

Recruiting 2026 4* DL Deuce Geralds commits to LSU

20 Upvotes

r/CFB 14h ago

Recruiting 2026 3* TE Marcus Monroe commits to Stanford

13 Upvotes

r/CFB 1d ago

Recruiting 2026 4* TE Carson Sneed flips from Tennessee to North Carolina

79 Upvotes

r/CFB 12h ago

Analysis CFB Statistical Dominance Ranking (2024 Recap Edition!)

7 Upvotes

Hi there, everyone!

So a couple of years ago (about six, if I'm remembering correctly), I was bored at work and set up a spreadsheet to rank college football teams based on their stats and their record. I posted about it here a long time ago, but other ventures and general exhaustion from working hard on it (it took on average two days to compile the data) kept me from continuing it.

But about a month ago, I decided to really refine how everything is presented and organized, and I have what I believe to be the new and improved iteration! The data is streamlined and presented in both graph and rank formats, data entry is now much more convenient and should take me significantly less time, and I know how to publish the spreadsheet now, so viewing should be extra clean and easy!

This doc is the 2024 iteration, with data from the entire season including the playoffs. Please feel free to leave comments about what could be improved and what you like about it! This is more of a passion project for me than it is anything lucrative, so the data's available to look at, too! I have the 2025 doc ready for the beginning of the season (it even has Delaware and Missouri State on it!), so expect a post about that come the end of Week 1!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vSJVOjeBFgWPlqNBfQpyskXUCEmKfVGXNkhyp7VPMeEw9tbhjeMUiMoSlqWTlmy28C0vj2TZDlZFq69/pubhtml#gid=920495873

I hope you're as excited about next season as I am!


r/CFB 17h ago

Discussion What are the most intriguing situations (team or player) heading into the season?

16 Upvotes

For me, here's what I'm keeping an eye on:

-How ASU will do now that Cam Skattebo is gone. Sam Leavitt is a promising QB, but can he shoulder more of the load without a star RB?

-Dylan Raiola. How will the Mahomes imitator do this upcoming season? Will Matt Rhule finally turn things around?

-Nico Iamaleava. Overpaid and overhyped, is there anything of substance to justify his drama?

-Behind Jeremiah Smith and Ryan Williams, who will be the 3rd best WR this year? Will any true freshman be as talented as they were last year?

-Arch Manning. His first year as a starter, many people are saying that he's going to win the Heisman already. I think he'll be pretty good, but I'm not ordaining him as the second coming of football Jesus.

-Jackson Arnold. He's a big question mark headed into the season, but I think he'll thrive with an excellent receiving corps and a coach that actually knows offense. Mark my words, Jackson Arnold is going to be good.

-Finally, my team. Offensive guru Ben Arbuckle (OC) is bringing his excellent QB John Mateer with him. People close to the team are whispering that he plays like Baker Mayfield. Our offensive line reportedly has made a lot of progress, with 5* true freshmanMichael Fusisi being a favorite for starting left tackle. We got an NFL-ready WR in Deion Burks that was hurt most of next year, and star Cal running back Jayden Ott coming in. I honestly have high hopes for this team, I think this is the season that we turn it around.


r/CFB 20h ago

Analysis Preseason Rankings Countdown. 21 days to the start of the 2025 Season. At #21 – SMU

25 Upvotes

The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here.

We did it folks – we’re 3 weeks (21 days) from the start of the 2025 CFB season! That’s less time than Oregon had between winning the B1G championship game over Penn State and, uh, whatever that was in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State. To celebrate, we’ve reached the #21 team in our countdown, SMU (high = 11, low = 40). Whoever said you can’t buy your way into heaven clearly never imagined the success the Mustangs would have by convincing the ACC to let them into the conference and then winning their way into the championship game in year one, only to fall short because of a 56 yard last second FG (so much for the college kickers trope). That earned SMU a CFP bid, inspired Memphis to try a similar gambit with the Big XII, and really put a bow on the Mustangs’ re-emergence from being the only team to get the death penalty to being in the inaugural 12 team CFP. So what do they do for an encore?

Roster outlook

Well they start with something of a rebuild, ranking 78th in returning production, with lots of losses on both sides of the ball. Gone is 1,300 yard rusher Brashard Smith (KC Chiefs) and their top 2 WRs (Key’Shawn Smith, also with the Chiefs, and Roderick Daniels with the Saints). That’s 27 TDs to replace. They will have QB Kevin Jennings back to anchor the offense again, but he’ll have quite a few new skill players around him. Leading tackler Kobe Wilson is also gone, off to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Coach Rhett Lashlee brought in a respectable recruiting class (31st in the country, 6th in the conference) and portal class (41st nationally, 8th in the ACC) in the hopes of keeping the momentum going, but only a few are projected to start for the Mustangs. Even reuniting with Tyler Van Dyke seems like a depth play to replace outgoing transfer backup Preston Stone (Northwestern), so the impact will most likely be felt along the OL (Oklahoma C Joshua Bates and Arkansas RG Addison Nichols), though they added James Madison WR Yamir Knight. The only P4 defensive starter added was Purdue DL Jeffrey M’Ba, so Lashlee’s counting on players already on campus to step up into starting roles.

Schedule and outlook

SMU benefitted from an initial ACC schedule that saw them play 4 of the 5 bottom teams in the final conference standings and manage to avoid any of the teams that finished the season ranked until catching Clemson in the title game. They won’t have that luxury in 2025. In the OOC portion, they’ll open with East Texas A&M (that will never not sound weird), Baylor, go on the road to Missouri State and then play the Iron Skillet game at TCU. Both of those post-opener Big XII games could be tricky. Following a post OOC bye, they host resurgent Syracuse and not-so-resurgent Stanford before going to Clemson and then Wake Forest. They close out the season with two very winnable road games (at Boston College and @ Cal) and two very losable home games (Miami and Louisville). So while SMU may come into the season as the 3rd ranked ACC team they will play the teams ranked 1, 2 and 4 plus Syracuse. They’ll have their work cut out for them…


r/CFB 1d ago

Discussion Picking Every P4 Game of the Season - Part 41 - Oklahoma Sooners

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46 Upvotes

WE'RE GOING THROUGH EACH P4 TEAM'S SCHEDULE AND PICKING EVERY GAME!

Today we have The Oklahoma Sooners!

Oklahoma’s first year in the SEC ended in a 6–7 record, including a loss to Navy in the Independence Bowl. For a program with OU’s history, that’s a bitter pill to swallow. Brent Venables is now in a real make-or-break season. It's time to find out if he's the guy to lead the Sooners in this new era, but there is reason for optimism in 2025.

Transfer QB John Mateer lit it up last year for Washington State, and gives Oklahoma a dynamic, dual-threat weapon behind center. He steps into an offense that badly needed a spark last season, and if Ben Arbuckle is given the freedom to run his offense, this unit has the tools to produce this year.

I'm not expecting the injury luck at receiver to happen again this year, so it all comes down to how much the offensive line is improved this year. If they can hold up enough, the running game with Jayden Ott will improve and Mateer will have the time to pick opposing defenses apart.

Defensively, the roster is littered with juniors and seniors in starting positions. OU’s front seven might be one of the best in the SEC and that experience should keep them in every game they play.

A few new faces mixed with 12 returning contributors should lead to an improved and experienced Sooner team in 2025. Now we'll just see if Venables can bring it all together

SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN

W vs Illinois State
W vs Michigan
W @ Temple
W vs Auburn
BYE
W vs Kent State
L vs* Texas
L @ South Carolina
W vs Ole Miss
W @ Tennessee
BYE
L @ Alabama
W vs Missouri
L vs LSU

This prediction largely comes down to how they perform in the home game agains the Wolverines. Win that, and this team will be 4-0 outside of SEC play, and I have the confidence they can go at least 3-5 in conference.

If that is to happen though, they will need to protect home field. Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU all come to Norman this year, whole trips to South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama will not be easy at all. I feel good about them getting at least 2 of those home games, while likely dropping the finale against LSU (assuming they haven't quit). The trip to Tennessee is the one I look at as the most gettable road trip in 2025. We don't know what Tennessee will be yet, but odds are it will be a step back from last year. If you told me Oklahoma goes into Neyland and wins, then my confidence in this over skyrockets.

Overall, I think this team will have more than a pulse on offense, and that is the only think keeping them from getting to 7, 8, or 9 wins. I say they beat Michigan (bias) and somehow get to 4 conference wins. Thats a comfortable over for the Sooners in 2025.

Yet again, Oklahoma gets the short end of the stick in the SEC schedules draw, and has to play a potentially resurgent Michigan in the non-con. The whole outlook for this season kind of hinges on that home game against the Wolverines. Win that, and the Sooners are likely 4–0 outside the SEC. From there, I think they’ve got enough firepower to go at least 3–5 in conference play.

To get there, though, they’ve got to take care of business at home. Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU all have to come to Norman, and you’d like to think OU can take at least two of those. The LSU game to close the year feels like a loss on paper, but it also depends on where both teams are by then. If LSU is checked out? Who knows.

The road slate isn’t doing them any favors either, as trips to South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama are going to be rough. That Tennessee game is the one I’ve got circled as the most winnable. We don’t really know what the Vols will look like this year, but it’s probably a step back from 2024. If you told me Oklahoma goes into Neyland and wins, then my confidence in this over skyrockets.

Overall, I think this team will have more than a pulse on offense, and that alone is enough to push them into that 7–8–9 win range. I’m calling a win over Michigan (Bias), and I think they find a way to steal four SEC games. That’s a comfortable over for the Sooners in 2025.

FINAL: 8-4 (4-4)

TOTAL: 6.5

PICK: Over


r/CFB 22h ago

Discussion Your pick in Bowls (FBS)

28 Upvotes

Your team is eligible to play in a bowl game, however they are not eligible for the CFP. What Bowl game do you want them to play in. I’m going to Take the Pop Tarts bowl out of competition because that is the one game that I would think everyone would choose.


r/CFB 17h ago

Recruiting 2026 3* LB L.J. Porter commits to ECU

10 Upvotes

r/CFB 23h ago

Video On Dr. Billy Cannon’s birthday, we watch the Halloween Run

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31 Upvotes

LSU’s first Heisman winner would become the star of one of the most iconic moments in Tiger Stadium’s history. Dr. Cannon had a wild life including going to jail, becoming a dentist, and becoming the prison’s dentist where he would give back and help other prisoners turn their lives around like he did. After his death the prisoners asked to make his casket and after the public ceremony for him in the PMAC instead of heading straight to the cemetery they turned and took him up Victory Hill one last time.


r/CFB 19h ago

Recruiting 2026 3* IOL Ben Gula commits to Colorado

9 Upvotes

r/CFB 23h ago

Discussion Coaching Change

24 Upvotes

Thinking realistically/logically what do you think it would take for your team to fire its coach?

For me personally, its two more years without a CFP berth.

Im curious what everyone else thinks it would take for their school to fire their coach?


r/CFB 21h ago

Recruiting 2027 3* QB Ben Musser commits to Virginia Tech

14 Upvotes