Too many bowl games, (maybe) not enough bowl-eligible teams.
The NCAA’s football postseason licensing subcommittee might have to alter eligibility rules for playing in the postseason depending on how the season plays out.
There are 35 bowl games this year, and there’s a chance not enough teams will meet the current criteria. One option being explored is letting teams with losing records into the postseason.
“The committee has begun to discuss the situation and has a host of options if the circumstances arise,” committee chair Nick Carparelli, Jr., an associate commissioner of the Big East Conference, said this week.
In April, the NCAA added another bowl game, bringing the total to 35. That means 70 teams will have to meet the current qualifications to participate, which include six wins, including five against teams from Division I’s top level, the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Last year, 71 eligible teams emerged to fill 68 slots for 34 bowl games. This year, with Southern Cal ineligible because of sanctions imposed in the Reggie Bush case, it’s not certain that the NCAA would have 70 eligible teams.
Would someone please explain to me again why a playoff system would be bad for college football? I seem to have forgotten the reason. Thanks.
Because then 70 teams wouldn’t get another month of practice….errr, then the student-athletes would miss more classroom time!
Because the 62 teams not included in the playoffs would lose out on all that lovely bowl revenue?
When was it that college and university presidents’ job descriptions changed from “administer a large complex organization” to “raise millions and millions of dollars?”