Heading into the final weekend of the college football regular season, 77 teams have already clinched eligibility to play in a bowl game. With 41 games, 82 teams will compete in a bowl this December and January.
If you’re curious what it takes to become eligible for a bowl, teams need to win at least six games with at least a .500 winning percentage, and they can only count one win against FCS opponents.
Not every team that satisfies that criteria will compete in a bowl game, especially this year, because there is a decent possibility we’ll end up with more than 82 bowl-eligible teams this time around, which is not always the case.
The list of college football teams heading into the weekend looking for a sixth win include Appalachian State, Auburn, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, Eastern Michigan, Kansas, Louisiana-Monroe, Michigan State, New Mexico, NC State, North Texas, Oregon State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Western Michigan and Wisconsin.
It should be noted that two games this weekend feature five-win teams – Virginia vs. Virginia Tech and Eastern Michigan vs. Western Michigan, so there are essentially 79 bowl-eligible teams at this point.
APR Rankings
However, if the five-win teams struggle this weekend and there ends up being fewer than 82 bowl-eligible teams, it will come down to Academic Progress Rate scores for teams that were one win away from bowl eligibility. Here’s a look at the APR score rankings for teams that could finish 5-7 by the end of this weekend:
- Northwestern (4-7)
- Cincinnati (5-6)
- Wisconsin (5-6)
- Air Force (4-7)
- Wake Forest (4-7)
- Auburn (5-6)
- Virginia (5-6)
- UCF (4-7)
- NC State (5-6)
- Utah (4-7)
- Coastal Carolina (5-6)
- Oregon State (5-6)
- Michigan State (5-6)
- UCLA (4-7)
- Old Dominion (4-7)
- Kentucky (4-7)
- Virginia Tech (5-6)
- Kansas (5-6)
- Eastern Michigan (5-6)
- Arizona (4-7)
- Appalachian State (5-5)
- North Texas (5-6)
- Hawaii (4-7)
- Western Michigan (5-6)
- Utah State (4-7)
- New Mexico (5-6)
- Central Michigan (4-7)
- Houston (4-7)
- Maryland (4-7)
- Charlotte (4-7)
- Louisiana Tech (4-7)
- Louisiana-Monroe (5-6)
College Football Bowl Eligible Teams
Here’s a list of the 77 teams that are eligible for a bowl game as of Thanksgiving Day:
- SEC (13): Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
- Big Ten (12): Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Rutgers, USC, Washington
- ACC (11): Boston College, Cal, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, SMU, Syracuse
- Big 12 (9): Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas State, TCU, Texas Tech, West Virginia
- Pac-12 (1): Washington State
- AAC (7): Army, East Carolina, Memphis, Navy, Tulane, USF, UTSA
- Mountain West (5): Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Jose State, UNLV
- Sun Belt (7): Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, James Madison, Louisiana, Marshall, South Alabama, Texas State
- MAC (6): Bowling Green, Buffalo, Miami-Ohio, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo
- Conference USA (4): Jacksonville State, Liberty, Sam Houston, Western Kentucky
- Independents (2): Notre Dame, UConn
Bowl season will get started on Dec. 14 and run through the College Football Playoff national championship on Jan. 20.
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