NCAA Modifies Bowl Selection Rules

The NCAA has modified the rules for Bowl Selection, stating all 6-6 bowl eligible teams must be placed in bowls before any 5-7 teams.

That may not seem like anything different.  But it is.

Last year there were 77 bowl eligible teams and three 5-7 teams that were selected based on their Academic Performance Rate (APR).  But, when the 5-7 teams were determined, the bowls selected who they wanted.  That meant a 5-7 Nebraska team got to go to the Foster Farms Bowl to play UCLA, while two Mountain West teams wound up playing each other in the Arizona Bowl.

Now, those 5-7 teams will be set aside until all other bowl eligible teams are placed.  That's good news for teams from the non-Power 5 conferences, who now will have preference over any 5-7 team.  Once that is done, the 5-7 teams will be able to select which bowl they want to play in, based on what's left over.

The 5-7 teams will continue to be selected according to APR.