NCAA Announces 5-7 Teams Will Be Eligible for Bowl Games

But with the proliferation of bowls, and the sponsors needed to pay for them, 5-7 teams now have to disqualify themselves.

Missouri announced Monday that it will not play in a bowl game, aiding a pair of Big Ten teams. The Omaha World-Herald first reported the decision.

The NCAA will not be involved in selecting teams for bowl games but will provide a pool of teams eligible to be selected by the bowls still looking for teams after the six-win teams are exhausted. Including assistants, Nebraska would have paid $435,000 in bonuses.

The list of 5-7 teams that could potentially fill a spot is as follows. Witty said contract wording might be tweaked in the future to cover going to a bowl with a losing record. The Illini will receive an invitation if Georgia State and South Alabama lose on Saturday.

The council approved a recommendation made by the football oversight committee that was necessary to fill the record 40 bowls after not enough teams met the standard bowl-eligibility requirements.

On Monday, the NCAA announced that the remaining bowl slots would go to the seven-loss teams that have the highest Academic Progress Rate (APR). All teams eligible for postseason play and reaching six victories will be selected. The Tigers are in transition as they look for a new coach to replace Gary Pinkel.

Big Ten bowl-eligible teams include Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State, Northwestern, Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn State and Indiana.

The football oversight committee plans to form a task force in January to study bowl eligibility.