Why Minnesota Is Bowl Eligible With Only Five Wins

Minnesota entered its last game of the season against Wisconsin just one victory shy of its sixth win of the season to secure a bowl game only to fall short—sort of. Despite the Gophers losing the rivalry matchup, they’re still bowl-bound as a five-win team thanks to quite the technicality.

There are a total of 41 bowl games in college football, meaning there are 82 spots available. But after Saturday’s regular season came to a close, there were only 81 teams with six wins under their belt that were also eligible. So, among all the five-win teams, the tie breaker wasn’t their point differential or quality of wins — but their grades. 

Minnesota beat out every other five-win team because of the program’s Academic Progress Rate (APR), according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The only other team that would have beat them out with five wins because of their grades would have been Wake Forest. However, the Demon Deacons fell short over the weekend and finished the season 4–8 after a 35–31 loss to Syracuse. 

The bowl games will be revealed Dec. 3 after the conference championship games.