The NCAA has begun discussions about the possibility of having teams with losing records play in bowl games this season -- a possibility that some say isn’t good for college football.
In April, the NCAA approved an all-time high of 35 bowl games for the 2010 postseason, up from 34 last year. At the time, the NCAA said it would later address what would happen if there weren’t enough teams with the minimum six wins necessary to fill those 70 spots.
No contingency plan has materialized yet as NCAA officials hoped it wouldn’t be necessary. But now some factors have arisen that may make it more likely that teams with losing records might be needed to fill all the bowl games.
“It’s early, but sure there’s concern, absolutely,” said Bruce Binkowski, executive director of San Diego’s two bowl games.
The decision will be made by the NCAA’s football postseason licensing subcommittee, chaired by Nick Carparelli, associate commissioner of the Big East Conference. Carparelli said Tuesday discussions are “ongoing” and no timetable has been set to form a contingency plan if fewer than 70 teams have 6-6 records or better. In the meantime, at least two factors likely will drag down the number of bowl-eligible teams.
--There are fewer chances for teams from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) to get “easy” wins. FBS teams each year schedule teams from the slower, smaller Football Championship Subdivision in order to increase their chances of getting the minimum six victories for a bowl berth. Last year, FBS teams were 89-5 in such games. By season’s end, there were 71 bowl-eligible teams for 68 bowl berths.
This year, FBS teams are 63-6 against the FCS, according to the NCAA, with 21 more such games left on the schedule. That means, at most, FBS teams will have 84 “easy” wins, down from 89 last year, when there were just enough teams eligible to fill the 34 bowls.
--USC has been to a bowl game for nine straight seasons but won’t play in one this year. In June, the NCAA penalized USC with a two-year bowl ban after finding former running back Reggie Bush had accepted improper cash and benefits in 2004 and 2005. USC is now 3-0. The more the Trojans win, the more wins they take away from other teams trying to reach six victories.
Meanwhile, Carparelli’s subcommittee is rooting for parity. It’s mathematically possible that all 120 teams in the FBS could finish 6-6.
“I think there’s more parity this year,” Carparelli 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.”
Only eight of 120 FBS teams have started 0-3 and made their bowl chances already appear dim. But hope might not be lost for them if they only need 5-7 records this time.
“I don’t necessarily think it’s a good thing if you have a losing record and you’re going to a bowl,” said San Diego State Athletic Director Jim Sterk, who previously served on the NCAA bowl subcommittee. “I don’t think that’s good for college football.”
The 35 bowls were told their games would be filled regardless of whether there were enough eligible teams. The Navy Midshipmen, if they gets six wins, will play a team from the Mountain West Conference this year in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. If Navy (2-1) fails to get six wins, the Poinsettia would have to find an eligible at-large team -- unless there aren’t enough 6-6 teams and Navy is somehow ruled eligible at 5-7.
If there weren’t enough eligible teams, Binkowski’s guess is that strength of schedule or proximity would factor into which 5-7 teams could be selected.
Another possibility is allowing teams with two wins against FCS teams to count both toward bowl eligibility. Currently, only one such victory counts per year. But only a handful of teams have scheduled two FCS games this year, including San Jose State (1-2) and Ball State (1-2).
“If it looks like it is going to be a problem, I could see some calls being made and decisions coming down,” Binkowski said.
