NCAA to Discuss Allowing Losing Teams to Play in Bowls

There's still hope, even if your team is one of the eight to have started 0-3 this season.

Brent Schrotenboer of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the NCAA has begun discussions about the possibility of allowing teams with losing records to play in bowl games.

Under existing rules, teams must finish 6-6 or better to be eligible to play in the postseason. Only one victory against a Division I-AA opponent can count toward the necessary six victories.

But in April, the governing body approved 35 postseason games, an all-time high, and that put a strain on the requirements to become bowl eligible.

With 35 bowls, 70 of the 120 teams in I-A will be playing in the postseason. But with USC on probation and banned from bowl play for the next two seasons, the pool of teams has been cut to 119. The margin for error was already razor thin. Last season, 71 teams fell under the category of bowl eligible.

Complicating matters: More I-A teams are losing to I-AA opponents. Of the 90 games involving I-A vs. I-AA, the big boys are 63-6. Last season, I-A teams totaled 89 "easy" wins. They can do no better than 84 this season.

Nick Carparelli, associate commissioner of the Big East, told Schrotenboer that discussions are "ongoing" and no timetable has been set to form a contingency plan if the current number of eligible teams falls below 70.

A strong possibility is that the NCAA will allow teams with two victories over I-AA opponents and 6-6 records to be eligible for postseason play. Five teams fall into that category: Arizona State, Virginia, Syracuse, Ball State and San Jose State.

Although it's mathematically possible for all 120 teams to finish 6-6, it's not going to happen. Nonetheless, Carparelli is pulling for parity.

"I think there’s more parity this year," he said. "That would be working in our favor. If everybody was 6-6, we’d have [that many] bowl-eligible teams, which obviously is an unlikely extreme. But the more parity there is, the more bowl-eligible teams you might have."

Comments

[RHS76]

"I think there's more parity this year"?

Good grief, what a load of hot air! Bowl games for losing teams. (head shaking is disbelief).

[bob cuomo]

It'll be absolutely ridiculous if 5-7 teams get to play in bowl games...As it is, only 50 of the 120 teams DON'T get to play in a bowl. What a joke. Here's a solution: How about if the NCAA grows a pair and gets rid of at least five bowl games. That way only teams with winning records (i.e., deserving teams) will play in a bowl.

[Bo]

Maybe they should just move some D1AA teams up to D1A? Montana to the WAC, Delaware to the Big East.