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Just like on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, the news poured in Saturday from locations across the country, with places like Lafayette, La.; Norfolk, Va.; Pasadena, Calif.; and, finally, Honolulu delivering their final totals.
No, it wasn’t election night, but rather the final day of major college football’s regular season. While the blue bloods jockeyed for conference title game and playoff berths, rank-and-file teams with five victories sought a sixth win to secure a trip to a bowl game.
That was the case Saturday for the Gophers, who lost 28-14 to Wisconsin at Huntington Bank Stadium and finished their regular season with a 5-7 record. Still, Minnesota had one more way to reach a bowl game, and that would play out into Sunday morning.
If there are not enough six-win teams to fill the 82 spots in the 41 bowl games, the NCAA will allow five-win teams with the best Academic Progress Rate scores to fill any open spots. This year, though, the NCAA allowed James Madison (11-1) and Jacksonville State (8-4) to bump ahead of any five-win teams because they are in transitionary years in the move from FCS to FBS.
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The Gophers followed this route in 2015, when they finished 5-7 but advanced to the Quick Lane Bowl on the strength of their APR score.
Entering Saturday, 71 of the 82 bowl spots were filled (including James Madison and Jacksonville State), meaning no more than 10 teams could earn their sixth win in order for the Gophers to make a bowl.
Through the afternoon games, things were not looking good for Minnesota. Eight more teams had secured bowl eligibility, leaving the Gophers’ elimination number at 3.
One key result for Minnesota was Syracuse’s 35-31 win over Wake Forest, preventing the Demon Deacons from winning a fifth game. Wake owned the APR tiebreaker over…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/gophers-football-insider-last-second-005400130.html
Author : Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Publish date : 2023-11-27 00:54:00
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