Report: NCAA to decide Monday on best course of action to fill bowl slots
Monday is reportedly the big day when the NCAA will make a decision on the best way to fill bowl slots if 80 teams do not reach the six-win mark.
According to a report from CBS Sports, the NCAA Football Oversight Committee has a conference call scheduled to figure out what it will do if it needs to assign teams with only five wins to bowl games. There are currently 71 bowl eligible teams, meaning there are nine slots available to fill the 41 bowl games with two weeks remaining in the season.
There are 13 teams with a 5-6 record and one game left on their schedule. South Alabama, 5-5, has two more games on its schedule.
The report says that the NCAA could choose teams based on their Academic Progress Rate. There is also a chance that some bowls “may not be played,” though that scenario is unlikely.
From CBS Sports:
Language remains unclear from three-year old legislation that basically took the NCAA out of regulating bowls. When the NCAA backed out, it retained the right to dictate how spots would be filled if there weren’t enough bowl-eligible teams.
Those involved generally believe the NCAA will settle on populating bowls with sub-.500 teams based on their rank in the Academic Progress Rate. The 12-year-old metric ranks teams on their graduation rates. Football as a whole historically has the lowest APR among mainstream NCAA sports.
The solution will be “more art than science,” said one person involved in the process. The NCAA and committee waited until this point in the season because the situation is clearer.
In addition to the 14 five-win teams, there are also four teams – Texas, Kansas State, Georgia State and Louisiana-Lafayette – with four wins and two games remaining.
The following teams can clinch bowl eligibility with a win this weekend:
AAC: East Carolina (5-6) vs. Cincinnati (6-5), Tulsa (5-6) at Tulane (3-8)
ACC: Virginia Tech (5-6) at Virginia (4-7)
Big Ten: Indiana (5-6) at Purdue (2-9), Nebraska (5-6) vs. Iowa (11-0), Minnesota (5-6) vs. Wisconsin (8-3), Illinois (5-6) vs. Northwestern (9-2)
C-USA: Old Dominion (5-6) vs. Florida Atlantic (2-9)
MAC: Buffalo (5-6) vs. UMass (2-9)
MWC: San Jose State (5-6) vs. Boise State (7-4)
Pac-12: Washington (5-6) vs. Washington State (8-3)
SEC: Kentucky (5-6) vs. Louisville (6-5), Missouri (5-6) at Arkansas (6-5)
Sun Belt: South Alabama (5-5) at Georgia Southern (7-3)
– – – – – – –
Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
