Nebraska lost Saturday to Northwestern to drop its record to 3-5. This loss dropped the Huskers' chances of making a bowl game — any loss does — but it didn't hurt them as much you might think.
Since 2012, the NCAA has technically allowed 5-7 teams to play in bowl games provided there aren't enough 6-6 teams to fill out the slots. There are a variety of other tiebreakers that come into play — such as FCS teams making the transition to FBS or 6-7 teams that play in conference title games, but the bottom line is: It's possible.
And there are now 40 bowl games. Which is why CBS Sports Jerry Palm — who has long done the best job among national writers of understanding bowl tie-ins and trying correctly project teams into bowl games — has eight projected 5-7 teams in bowl games right now.
Nebraska is one of them. Here's one big reason why:
When the NCAA tiebreaker for bowls heads to 5-7 teams, the Academic Progress Rate score — a four-year rolling average of graduation rates and other academic metrics — comes into play.
And while Nebraska may be mediocre on the field, it is not, and hasn't been, mediocre in the classroom.
The Huskers' 2013-2014 rolling APR score is 985 out of possible 1000.
The only FBS teams with scores higher than that are:
Wisconsin (998)
Northwestern (992)
Duke (992)
Michigan (992)
Stanford (987)
Of those teams, only 5-2 Michigan hasn't officially qualified for a bowl game. But Michigan should do that and add a few more games to the win ledger, too.
Which means Nebraska — and Utah State, which also has a score of 985 — are theoretically at the top of the list for 5-7 teams.
Palm has Nebraska projected to play Duke in the Pinstripe Bowl. Or, if Nebraska really did finish 5-7 and played in a bowl because of its sterling APR, perhaps it should be called the School Bowl.
"I still have eight teams in the bowl projections with 5-7 records," Palm wrote in his projections. "I don't see any realistic way to fill 40 bowls this season without a high number of those sub-.500 teams."
Stay tuned.
Since 2012, the NCAA has technically allowed 5-7 teams to play in bowl games provided there aren't enough 6-6 teams to fill out the slots. There are a variety of other tiebreakers that come into play — such as FCS teams making the transition to FBS or 6-7 teams that play in conference title games, but the bottom line is: It's possible.
And there are now 40 bowl games. Which is why CBS Sports Jerry Palm — who has long done the best job among national writers of understanding bowl tie-ins and trying correctly project teams into bowl games — has eight projected 5-7 teams in bowl games right now.
Nebraska is one of them. Here's one big reason why:
When the NCAA tiebreaker for bowls heads to 5-7 teams, the Academic Progress Rate score — a four-year rolling average of graduation rates and other academic metrics — comes into play.
And while Nebraska may be mediocre on the field, it is not, and hasn't been, mediocre in the classroom.
The Huskers' 2013-2014 rolling APR score is 985 out of possible 1000.
The only FBS teams with scores higher than that are:
Wisconsin (998)
Northwestern (992)
Duke (992)
Michigan (992)
Stanford (987)
Of those teams, only 5-2 Michigan hasn't officially qualified for a bowl game. But Michigan should do that and add a few more games to the win ledger, too.
Which means Nebraska — and Utah State, which also has a score of 985 — are theoretically at the top of the list for 5-7 teams.
Palm has Nebraska projected to play Duke in the Pinstripe Bowl. Or, if Nebraska really did finish 5-7 and played in a bowl because of its sterling APR, perhaps it should be called the School Bowl.
"I still have eight teams in the bowl projections with 5-7 records," Palm wrote in his projections. "I don't see any realistic way to fill 40 bowls this season without a high number of those sub-.500 teams."
Stay tuned.
ens me this is what has become of Husker football; hoping to make a bowl game with what will likely be a losing record.
