There are either too many bowl games, or not enough good teams. (The answer is obviously “both.”)
The NCAA Football Oversight Committee will meet today to figure out what to do in the very possible instance that there aren’t enough bowl-eligible teams to populate all of the bowl games, according to CBS Sports.
There are a record 41 bowls this season—it could have been 42—so 82 teams, or more than 62 percent of FBS schools, will go to a game. Problem is, only 71 teams are bowl-eligible right now, with 14 others needing a win to reach the magic six wins. Will 11 of the 14 win their way to .500? Probably not!
There is nothing in the rules that accounts for this possibility. That’s because when they were written, no one foresaw this kind of bowl inflation—as recently as 1995 there were just 18 bowl games.
“When the legislation was written, there was no language in the legislation that clearly described the practical application of how to use those 5-7 teams,” said Karl Benson, Sun Belt commissioner. “The intent was that a bowl game would not go dark. If that was the intent, what they crafted and what they’re interpreting does not guard against that.”
The committee is expected to settle on using APR to determine the last few teams in. I look forward to 5-7 Kentucky and 5-7 San Jose State comparing graduation rates to determine who wins a bid to the St. Tydecho’s Feastday Eve Bowl Sponsored By Señor Frog’s.