The proposal seeks flexibility for 5-7 teams to fill bowl games

The NCAA’s Football Oversight Committee voted Thursday to adopt a proposal that gives conferences the flexibility to choose 5-7 teams that have met certain academic standards to fill bowl opportunities if there aren’t enough eligible teams.

Under the proposal, if all eligible teams are selected to play in a bowl and all schools that meet an exception other than the 5-7 team exception are selected, a conference with an incomplete bowl commitment can choose which of the 5-7 teams will participate in that bowl. The conference must select a 5-7 team that has achieved the minimum 930 Multi-Year Academic Progress Rate required to be eligible for postseason participation.

Currently, if a 5-7 teams need to be selected for participation, those teams are available as options in descending order of their multi-year APR.

Bowl season executive director Nick Carparelli told ESPN in January that there were 41 FBS bowl games last season, including six College Football Playoff bowls. That leaves 70 teams that have played in non-CFP bowls, and only three of them were under the .500 bowl-eligibility mark at 5-7. Carparelli said that over the past five seasons, an average of 81 teams have played in FBS bowls with a record of 6-6 or better.

The proposal is not final until it is reviewed by the Division I Cabinet at its June meeting.