Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
Jump to content

Bowl eligibility

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Nick22aku (talk | contribs) at 01:45, 9 November 2009 (→Bowl eligible teams in the 2009 season: Mississippi only has 5 qualifying wins). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Bowl eligibility in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) College Football 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". Under current regulations, in order for this to occur, a team must record at least six wins in the standard 12-game schedule, which may include one win against a Division I FCS scholarship-awarding[1] opponent, or win their conference, and the team must not be on probation. The NCAA allows one victory per season over a Division I FCS (formerly I-AA) team to count toward an FBS team's bowl eligibility, so long as the FCS team has supplied financial aid for football averaging out to at least 56.7 full scholarships (90% of the limit of 63 allowed to FCS schools) over the preceding two years.[2]

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.

On April 26, 2006, the NCAA announced that they were relaxing the rules for eligibility starting with the 2006 season, particularly in light of the new 12 game college football season. Now, teams with .500 records can qualify for bowl games if their conference has a contract with a bowl game. Also, teams with .500 records (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), a team must win seven games.[3]

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. Two NCAA rules combine to make it possible that a team with seven wins will be left out of a bowl game:

  • 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 not already filled by contract must be filled by a team with seven wins before any spare 6–6 team can be accommodated.

In 2008, 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 Papa John's, Independence & St. Petersburg Bowls.

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.[citation needed] A team that wins their conference, regardless of record, is automatically bowl-eligible and is given a waiver of the rule.[citation needed] This is consistent with the NCAA rules college basketball and baseball, 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.[citation needed]

From the NCAA rules:

30.9.2.1 Exceptions – 12 Game Season. During each year in which an institution is permitted to participate in 12 regular-season football games, an institution with a record of six wins and six losses may be selected for participation in a bowl game if that institution is a member of a conference with which the bowl organization has a contractual affiliation, and there is no other team in that conference qualified for selection per Bylaw 30.9.2. If the conference with which the bowl is affiliated has no other institution that is qualified for selection or a team with a 6-6 record, the bowl may invite a team with a 6–6 regular-season record from another conference with which it does not have an affiliation only if there is no other team with a 7–5 record available in the Division I FBS. Additionally, a bowl game without a conference affiliation may invite any team with a record of six wins and six losses if there is no team with a 7–5 record available in the Division I FBS. During a season in which an institution competes in 13 regular season contests, the institution must establish a record of seven wins, six losses or better to qualify for bowl selection.

Bowl eligible teams in the 2009 season

Eligible teams listed with season win-loss record • Records as of November 7 • Current total number of bowl eligible teams: 44

ACC

Big East

  • Currently eligible (3 teams):
  • Also assured of eligibillity (1 team):
    • Winner of the South Florida–Rutgers game on November 12. Both teams will be 6–2 entering the game, with 5 qualifying wins (both have two wins over FCS teams).
  • Cannot become eligible: Loser of the Syracuse–Louisville game on November 14 (both teams 3–6)
  • Must win out to be eligible: Winner of Syracuse–Louisville

Big Ten

Big 12

  • Currently eligible (4 teams):
  • Also assured of eligibility (at least 2 teams):
    • Winner of the Missouri–Kansas State game on November 14
      • Missouri is 5–4 with 5 qualifying wins. Kansas State is 6–4, but has only 5 qualifying wins because it has two wins over FCS schools.
    • Winner of the Texas A&M–Oklahoma game on November 14. Both teams are 5–4 with 5 qualifying wins.
    • Winner of the Iowa State–Missouri game on November 21. Missouri is 5–4 and Iowa State is 5–5, both with 5 qualifying wins. (Each team has one chance to secure eligibility before they meet.)
  • Must win out to be eligible: Colorado 3–6

C-USA

  • Currently eligible (1 team):
  • Also assured of eligibility (at least 2 teams):
    • Winner of the Southern Miss–Marshall game on November 14 (both 5–4 with 5 qualifying wins)
    • Winner of the SMU–Marshall game on November 21 (SMU 5–4 with 5 qualifying wins, and with one game before playing Marshall)
    • Winner of the Southern Miss–East Carolina game on November 28 (East Carolina 5–4, with 5 qualifying wins and 2 chances to secure eligibility before meeting Southern Miss)
  • Cannot become eligible — Rice 0–9, Memphis 2–7
  • Must win out to be eligible: Tulane 3–6, UTEP 3–6

MAC

Mountain West

Pac-10

SEC

  • Currently eligible (6 teams):
  • Also assured of eligibility (at least 1 team):
    • Winner of the Kentucky–Georgia game on November 21 (both 5–4 with 5 qualifying wins; each can secure eligibility on November 14)
    • Winner of the Tennessee–Kentucky game on November 28 (Tennessee 5–4 with 5 qualifying wins as of November 7; each has two chances to secure eligibility before meeting)
  • Cannot become eligible — Vanderbilt 2–8

Sun Belt

WAC

Independents

  • Currently eligible (2 teams):
    • Navy 7–3 -- The Midshipmen are playing a 13-game schedule, as allowed under NCAA rules for a team playing at Hawaiʻi, so they achieved eligibility with their 7th win (all over FBS schools).
    • Notre Dame 6–3
  • Must win out to be eligible: Army 3–6

Notes

  1. ^ Some FCS conferences prohibit the issuance of athletic scholarships. A well-known example of this policy is in the Ivy League.
  2. ^ "Bylaw 30.9.2.2 Exception – Football Championship Subdivision Opponent" (PDF). 2009–10 NCAA Division I Manual. National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 355. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  3. ^ ESPN - NCAA approves 31 bowl games for 2006 - College Football at sports.espn.go.com
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bowl_eligibility&oldid=324758848"