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The 2003 Navy Midshipmen football team leaving the field after their seventh win of the season, assuring them bowl eligibility.

Bowl eligibility in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games. When a team achieves this state, it is described as "bowl-eligible".

For nearly a century, bowl games were the purview of only the very best teams, but a steady proliferation of new bowl games required 70 participating teams by the 2010–11 bowl season, then 80 participating teams by the 2015–16 bowl season. As a result, the NCAA has steadily reduced the criteria for bowl eligibility, allowing teams with a non-winning (6–6) record in 2010, further reducing to allow teams with outright losing records (5–7) to be invited by 2012. For the 2016–17 bowl season, 25% of the bowl participants (20 teams) did not have a winning record.

Current regulations have also adjusted the criteria to allow a team to include one win against teams at the lower FCS level.[1]

Teams that are bowl eligible will usually either play in one of the bowl games that its conference is affiliated with based on conference tie-ins or the team will be chosen from the pool of remaining bowl eligible teams to fill one of the at-large positions. The various reductions in the bowl eligibility criteria are discussed below.

Current criteria

In mid-October 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA waived bowl eligibility requirements for the 2020–21 bowl season, intended "to allow as many student-athletes as possible the opportunity to participate in bowl games this year."[2]

Past criteria

For the 2018–19 bowl season, a team was required to meet the following criteria to participate in a bowl game:

  1. The team must have at least as many wins as overall losses. Wins against non-Division I teams do not count toward the number of wins.[3]
  2. No more than one win against an FCS team may count toward that win total, and only if the FCS team has awarded at least 90% of the scholarships that FCS rules allowed it to award over the last two years.[3] (Currently, that means that wins against Ivy League, Georgetown, Pioneer Football League, and some Northeast Conference teams and do not count.) The requirement that the FCS team must have awarded 90% of its allowed scholarships may be waived if a "unique or catastrophic situation" prevented the FCS team from meeting that requirement.[3]
  3. A team that has a losing record only because it lost its conference championship game remains eligible for a bowl.[3]

If there are not enough eligible teams to fill all the bowl slots, additional teams may be selected, according to the following priorities, which must be applied in descending order:[3]

  1. Teams which would have met the eligibility criteria if not for the fact that they had one win against an FCS team that did not meet the scholarship requirement and no waiver was granted.[4]
  2. Teams which played 13 games during the regular season and finished with a 6–7 record.[4] (This criterion normally applies only to Hawaii and some of its home opponents.)
  3. Teams in their second year of reclassification from FCS to FBS football.[4]
  4. Teams with at least 5 wins and no more than 7 losses, in order of their Academic Progress Rates.[4]

History

On April 26, 2006, the NCAA announced that they were relaxing the rules for eligibility starting with the 2006–07 bowl season, particularly in light of the new twelve-game college football season. Now, teams with a minimum non-losing, or .500, record can qualify for bowl games if their conference has a contract with a bowl game. Also, other teams with a minimum non-losing .500 record (i.e., 6–6) could earn bowl bids if all other FBS teams with winning records have been taken and postseason spots still remain vacant. In thirteen-game seasons (used because of conference championship games, or allowable for Hawaiʻi and any of its home opponents in a given season), a team must win seven games.[5]

Occasionally, there will be more bowl eligible teams than there are spots in the NCAA football bowl games in the season. In these cases, some bowl eligible teams will not be invited to play in any NCAA football bowl game (usually teams from Group of Five conferences). Typically, teams with seven or more wins will not be left out of bowl games, although there are times, most recently the 2012–13 bowl season, that see at least one such team uninvited. Before the 2010–11 bowl season, the Division I rulebook, specifically Bylaw 30.9.2.1, had several provisions that attempted to ensure that teams with seven wins will receive preference for bowl bids:[6]

  • Bowl games that have a contract with a conference must select a team with at least seven wins if one is available.
  • Any bowl berths that become eligible when a conference fails to meet its contracted tie-ins must first be filled by any eligible seven-win teams before any remaining FBS 6–6 teams can be accommodated.
  • Additionally, conferences are not allowed to sign contingency agreements with bowl games that would allow 6–6 teams from their conferences to receive bowl berths at the expense of any potential team with seven or more wins. While this does not prevent conferences from signing contingency agreements that are triggered when a second conference is unable to provide enough eligible teams to fill all of its contracted berths, it does not allow a 6–6 team from the contingency conference access to a bowl game over a seven win team from a third conference.

In the 2008–09 bowl season, these rules affected bowls contracted to the Big 12 and Pac-10, which each had at least one more bowl slot than eligible teams. The same applies to bowls contracted to the SEC. However, in that season, the WAC had a contingency agreement with one of the Pac-10's bowls, specifically the Poinsettia Bowl, providing that the bowl would select a WAC team (ultimately Boise State) if the Pac-10 did not have enough teams to fulfill their bowl contracts. The same contingency agreement applied in that season to the Sun Belt Conference and the PapaJohns.com, Independence, and St. Petersburg bowls. Similarly, these rules affected bowls contracted to the ACC in the 2009–10 bowl season because that conference has nine bowl tie-ins, but only had seven eligible teams that season.

Starting with the 2011–12 bowl season, the rule that required the selection of seven-win teams before any 6–6 teams was eliminated.[7] The first season of the new rule saw Temple go uninvited despite going 8–4, including a win over eventual Big East BCS representative Connecticut. In the 2010–11 bowl season, the UCLA Bruins were invited to a bowl game despite a losing record after playing a conference championship game (6–6 in regular season, played and lost the Pac-12 championship game in extenuating circumstances), while a 7–5 winning team (Western Kentucky) and a 6–6 non-losing team (Ball State) did not receive invites.

Like NCAA sports where a tournament determines an automatic conference bid to the postseason tournament, a team can finish with a losing record (or a winning record but not eligible because of FCS wins) and still appear in a bowl game. In another change to bowl eligibility rules that took effect in 2010–11, a team that wins its conference but has an overall losing record must receive an NCAA waiver to appear in a bowl game.[8] Previously, the waiver required no NCAA action. The new rule is still largely consistent with the NCAA rules in all other team sports, where a team that has a losing record that wins their conference championship through the conference tournament earns the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.[9]

The NCAA typically awarded waivers in extenuating circumstances when a 6–6 team played in a conference championship game as a result of the division winning team being ineligible because of sanctions. This prevents the conference championship game from affecting bowl eligibility of team that advances to the conference championship in case of division-winning teams being sanctioned. The Pac-12 and ACC have both used it for such division champions, UCLA in 2011 and Georgia Tech in 2012, both of which were 6–6 and advanced to the conference championship game as a result of sanctions to the division winning teams (USC in the 2011 Pac-12 South, North Carolina and Miami in the 2012 ACC Coastal). Both lost in their conference championship games, but the NCAA awarded both waivers.[10] Starting with the 2013–14 bowl season, this waiver is established by rule and all 6–6 teams participating in a conference championship game will be bowl eligible.[11]

2012 revised criteria

On August 2, 2012, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors approved a significant change to the process to determine bowl eligible teams, going so far as to potentially allow 5–7 teams to go to a bowl, in case there were not enough regular bowl-eligible teams to fill every game. If a bowl has one or more conferences/teams unable to meet their contractual commitments and there are no available bowl-eligible teams, the open spots can be filled – by the particular bowl's sponsoring agencies – as follows:[12]

  1. Teams finishing 6–6 with one win against a team from the lower Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), regardless of whether that FCS school meets NCAA scholarship requirements. Until now, an FCS win counted only if that opponent met the scholarship requirements—specifically, that school had to award at least 90% of the FCS maximum of 63 scholarship equivalents over a two-year period. In the 2012 season, programs in four FCS conferences cannot meet the 90% requirement (56.7 equivalents)—the Ivy League, which prohibits all athletic scholarships; the Pioneer Football League and Georgetown, which do not currently award football scholarships; and the Northeast Conference, which limits football scholarships to 38 equivalents.
  2. 6–6 teams with two wins over FCS schools.
  3. Teams that finish 6–7 with loss number seven in their conference championship game (that has been eliminated by the conference championship waiver rule).
  4. 6–7 teams that normally play a 13-game schedule, such as Hawaii and their home opponents. The NCAA permits Hawaii to play an additional game during the regular season to recoup its unusually high travel costs to and from the mainland.[13] The team's opponents who play at Hawaii each season are also allowed one more game than their normal limit.[14]
  5. FCS teams who are in the final year of the two-year FBS transition process, if they have at least a 6–6 record.
  6. Finally, 5–7 teams that have a top-five Academic Progress Rate (APR) score. This was later adjusted to allow other 5–7 teams to be selected thereafter—in order of their APR.[12]

2015–20 bowl seasons

The 2015–16 bowl season featured a record 40 bowl games, and three teams with losing records (San Jose State, Minnesota, and Nebraska; each 5–7).[15] Despite this, the Arizona Bowl was unable to fill teams via its Conference USA or alternate Sun Belt Conference tie-ins, leading to both teams being from the Mountain West Conference, marking the first time since the 1979 Orange Bowl that a non-championship bowl game was played between members of the same conference.[16]

The 2016–17 bowl season again featured 40 bowl games, and three teams with losing records (6–7 Hawaii, 5–7 Mississippi State, and 5–7 North Texas).

The 2017–18 bowl season featured 39 bowl games due to the discontinuation of the Poinsettia Bowl, with all bowl slots filled by teams with winning or .500 records; UTSA at 6–5 did not receive a bowl bid, while 15 teams with 6–6 records were selected.

The 2018–19 bowl season again filled all slots for 39 bowl games with teams having winning or .500 records. One team with a winning record, Southern Miss at 6–5, did not receive a bowl invitation, while there were 10 teams with 6–6 records selected.

2020–21 bowl season

The 2020–21 bowl season saw a record nine teams with losing records accept bowl bids, after impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.[17]

Bowl teams with losing records

The following teams entered bowl games with losing records.

Season Team Record Win pct. Bowl game Result Ref.
1945 South Carolina 2–3–3 .438 1946 Gator Bowl L, 14–26 [36]
1963 SMU 4–6 .400 1963 Sun Bowl L, 14–21 [36]
1970 William & Mary 5–6 .455 1970 Tangerine Bowl L, 12–40 [36]
2001 North Texas 5–6 .455 2001 New Orleans Bowl L, 20–45 [36]
2011 UCLA 6–7 † .462 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (December) L, 14–20 [36]
2012 Georgia Tech 6–7 † .462 2012 Sun Bowl W, 21–7 [37]
2014 Fresno State 6–7 † .462 2014 Hawaii Bowl L, 6–30 [38]
2015 Nebraska 5–7 .417 2015 Foster Farms Bowl W, 37–29 [39]
Minnesota 5–7 .417 2015 Quick Lane Bowl W, 21–14 [39]
San Jose State 5–7 .417 2015 Cure Bowl W, 27–16 [39]
2016 Hawaii 6–7 .462 2016 Hawaii Bowl W, 52–35 [40]
Mississippi State 5–7 .417 2016 St. Petersburg Bowl W, 17–16 [40]
North Texas 5–7 .417 2016 Heart of Dallas Bowl L, 31–38 (OT) [40]
2020‡ Houston 3–4 .429 2020 New Mexico Bowl L, 14–28 [41]
Kentucky 4–6 .400 2021 Gator Bowl W, 23–21 [42]
Mississippi State 3–7 .300 2020 Armed Forces Bowl (December) W, 28–26 [43]
North Texas 4–5 .444 2020 Myrtle Beach Bowl L, 28–56 [44]
Ole Miss 4–5 .444 2021 Outback Bowl W, 26–20 [45]
Western Kentucky 5–6 .455 2020 LendingTree Bowl (December) L, 21–39 [46]

† Denotes a team that had a 6–6 regular season record, then lost their conference's championship game before playing in a bowl game.

‡ In addition to the 2020 teams listed, Tennessee accepted an invitation to the Liberty Bowl with a 3–7 record,[47] South Carolina accepted an invitation to the Gasparilla Bowl with a 2–8 record,[48] and Arkansas accepted a bid to the Texas Bowl with a 3–7 record.[49] Tennessee and South Carolina had to withdraw due to COVID-19 issues,[50][51] and the Texas Bowl was cancelled after Arkansas' opponent withdrew due to COVID-19 issues.[52]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Bylaw 18.7.2.2.1 Exception – Football Championship Subdivision Opponent" (PDF). 2010–11 NCAA Division I Manual. National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 316. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  2. ^ a b "DI Council approves football bowl eligibility requirements waiver". NCAA.org (Press release). October 14, 2020. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e 2018-19 NCAA Division I Manual (PDF). Indianapolis: National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2018. p. 332. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  4. ^ a b c d 2018-19 NCAA Division I Manual (PDF). Indianapolis: National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2018. p. 333. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
  5. ^ ESPN - NCAA approves 31 bowl games for 2006 - College Football at sports.espn.go.com
  6. ^ "Bylaw 30.9.2.1 Exception – 12 Game Season" (PDF). 2009–10 NCAA Division I Manual. National Collegiate Athletic Association. pp. 354–55. Retrieved 2009-11-09. [dead link‍]
  7. ^ "Bylaw 18.7.2 Postseason Football Championship and Postseason Bowl Licensing" (PDF). 2010–11 NCAA Division I Manual. National Collegiate Athletic Association. pp. 316–17. Retrieved 2010-11-28. Note that there is no provision in this rule that gives any preference to teams with seven or more wins over 6–6 teams.
  8. ^ "Bylaw 18.7.2.2.2 Waiver for Conference Champion" (PDF). 2010–11 NCAA Division I Manual. National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 316. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  9. ^ "Bylaw 31.3 Selection of Teams and Individuals for Championships Participation" (PDF). 2010–11 NCAA Division I Manual. National Collegiate Athletic Association. pp. 391–94. Retrieved 2010-11-28. See especially Bylaws 31.3.4 and 31.3.4.1.
  10. ^ "Losing record? UCLA still wants a bowl".
  11. ^ Hosick, Michelle Brutlag (May 2, 2013). "DI Board recognizes new conference, changes bowl qualification - NCAA.org". NCAA. Archived from the original on May 4, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. ^ a b Johnson, Greg. "DI Board approves process to fill football bowls in case of shortfall". Archived from the original on 2012-08-03. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  13. ^ "Bylaw 17.27.2 Alaska/Hawaii, Additional Football Contest" (PDF). 2011–12 NCAA Division I Manual. NCAA. p. 305. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  14. ^ "Bylaw 17.9.5.2 (j) Annual Exemptions: Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico. (FBS/FCS)" (PDF). 2011–12 NCAA Division I Manual. NCAA. p. 264. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  15. ^ "Forde-Yard Dash: Bowl edition".
  16. ^ "Commissioner calls bowl matchup of two MWC teams 'a travesty'". ESPN.com. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  17. ^ Schrotenboer, Brent (October 30, 2020). "College football's bowl lineup released with fewer games and an altered schedule". USA Today. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  18. ^ "Pac-12 teams still need to be at least .500 to be bowl eligible in 2020". oregonlive.com. November 4, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  19. ^ "2020-21 Bowl Season Schedule Announced". bowlseason.com. October 30, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  20. ^ "BC Concludes 2020 Football Season". bceagles.com. December 10, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  21. ^ Evans, Jace (December 11, 2020). "Pittsburgh football team elects to not play in bowl game this season". USA Today. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  22. ^ Barber, Mike. "UVA announces it will not play in a bowl game this year; Virginia Tech has yet to decide". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  23. ^ Scarborough, Alex. "LSU football self-imposes one-year bowl ban for 2020 season". ESPN. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  24. ^ "ASU ends season at Oregon State, says it won't participate in a bowl game". Arizona Sports. 20 December 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  25. ^ "Teams opting out of bowls in 2020: Stanford becomes the latest school to decline a bowl invite". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  26. ^ "USC Football Opts Out Of Playing In A Bowl". usctrojans.com. December 19, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  27. ^ Call, Jeff (December 18, 2020). "Utah Utes won't play in bowl game, season finale will be Saturday vs. Washington State". Deseret News. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  28. ^ Gustafson, Brandon (December 18, 2020). "UW Huskies won't pursue a bowl game, end 2020 season at 3-1". mynorthwest.com. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  29. ^ "Pac-12 statement on Washington at USC Pac-12 Football Championship Game". pac-12.com. December 14, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  30. ^ https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-bowl-projections-ohio-state-notre-dame-earn-final-two-playoff-spots-over-texas-a-m/
  31. ^ "Boise State football team announces decision to forego bowl game this season". KTVB. December 20, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  32. ^ Counts, Ron (December 20, 2020). "Boise State won't play in a bowl game, ending streak at 18 straight appearances". Idaho Statesman. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  33. ^ "San Diego State Withdraws from Bowl Consideration". SDSU Athletics. December 16, 2020. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  34. ^ Escobedo, Jozelyn (15 December 2020). "'Our team deserved to play another game': SMU withdraws from Frisco Bowl due to COVID-19". WFAA. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  35. ^ "Frisco Bowl Canceled Over SMU COVID-19 Protocols, Organizers Say". NBC DFW. 14 December 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  36. ^ a b c d e "College Football Teams Which Played in Bowl Games Despite Losing Records". thesportsseer.com. December 30, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  37. ^ McMurphy, Brett (November 30, 2012). "Georgia Tech receives bowl waiver". ESPN. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  38. ^ Verdejo Jr., Angel (December 7, 2014). "Rice to meet Fresno State in Hawaii Bowl". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  39. ^ a b c "Nebraska, Minnesota, San Jose St. taking 5-7 records to bowl". NCAA.com. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  40. ^ a b c "Sub-.500 bowl teams now becoming almost routine". USA Today. AP. December 5, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  41. ^ Helwick, Steve (December 13, 2020). "Houston will play Hawaii in the 2020 New Mexico Bowl in Frisco, TX". underdogdynasty.com. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  42. ^ Wainscott, Brent (December 20, 2020). "Kentucky Set to Play No. 23 NC State in TaxSlayer Gator Bowl". kentuckysportsradio.com. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  43. ^ Horka, Tyler. "Mike Leach, Mississippi State football to play Tulsa in Armed Forces Bowl". The Clarion-Ledger. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  44. ^ "App State bound for the Myrtle Beach Bowl, will play North Texas". greensboro.com. December 13, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  45. ^ Suss, Nick. "Lane Kiffin gets Ole Miss football to first bowl game in five years vs Indiana in Outback". The Clarion-Ledger. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  46. ^ Stephenson, Creg (December 13, 2020). "LendingTree Bowl to feature Georgia State, Western Kentucky". AL.com. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  47. ^ Miller, Michael (20 December 2020). "West Virginia to take on Tennessee in 2020 AutoZone Liberty Bowl". The Smoking Musket. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  48. ^ "Gamecocks are headed to Gasparilla Bowl". TheBigSpur. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  49. ^ Deckelbaum, Kyle (20 December 2020). "Arkansas Razorbacks to face TCU in Texas Bowl". KATV. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  50. ^ "Tennessee Football Pauses Team Activities, Completes 2020 Season". utsports.com (Press release). December 21, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020..
  51. ^ "Tampa's Gasparilla Bowl canceled after South Carolina bails". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
  52. ^ Fornelli, Tom; Kercheval, Ben (December 29, 2020). "2020 Texas Bowl canceled as COVID-19 outbreak at TCU forces it to pull out vs. Arkansas". CBS Sports. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
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