Bowl season: APR pecking order explains priority for struggling teams
With bowl season on the horizon, the APR (Academic Progress Record) explains what the priority for bowl games will be for struggling team.
The bowl eligibility mark is 6-6, but there likely won’t be enough 6-6 teams to fill all the bowl games, giving a few 5-7 teams the chance to land in a bowl game while still under the eligibility mark.
APR sets the pecking order for which teams are selected first in the scenario that there aren’t enough eligible teams. APR is a system that holds programs accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes, rewarding teams that have a better APR.
In the case that there aren’t enough bowl-eligible teams, a few teams like Minnesota, Mississippi State, South Carolina and others could reach a bowl game at 5-7.
If it comes down to that, here is the pecking order for those teams — though some of them have the chance to reach bowl eligibility with wins this weekend.
- Minnesota (5-6)
- Wake Forest (4-7)
- Rice (5-6)
- Miss State (5-6)
- UCF (5-6)
- South Carolina (5-6)
- Mich State (4-7)
- Ball State (4-7)
- Army (5-6)
- Cal (5-6)
- Florida (5-6)
