College Football Rule Question - a little help

College Sports 2 replies 278 views
BigAppleBuckeye's avatar
BigAppleBuckeye
Posts: 2,935
Dec 2, 2009 3:50pm
I was reading the Notre Dame post about Irish players voting on whether or not to accept a bowl bid (Notre Dame's record is 6-6).

When Ohio State finished 6-6 in 1999, why didn't they get a similar shot at a bowl?
E
enigmaax
Posts: 4,511
Dec 2, 2009 4:09pm
For one, there were about ten less bowls back then.

The next part I could be wrong about - I think the wording of bowl eligibility at the time was that a team had to have a winning record. Since there were 11 games at the time, normally six games would do it. But since Ohio State was 6-6 with an extra game, they weren't eligible. I know there were some changes implemented when 12-game seasons became the norm (for example, one win over an FCS school can be counted toward bowl eligibility EVERY year instead of every three or four years) and I think one of those was specifically wording it so that 6 wins is a minimum.

Again, I'm a little foggy on those details. I do know there were 6-5 teams that also did not make bowl games that year.
3reppom's avatar
3reppom
Posts: 765
Dec 2, 2009 4:09pm
There were fewer bowl games in 1999 than there are in 2009. There were 21 in 1999 there are 33 this year.