NCAA announces guidelines for selecting bowl replacement teams

With the spread of the Omicron variant and uptake in COVID-19 cases, the NCAA has issued guidance for replacement bowl participants in the event a team is unable to participate. 

On Thursday, the Division I Football Oversight Committee announced it would follow its guidelines already in place for selecting bowl teams: schools will be chosen in descending order beginning with the school with the highest multi-year Academic Progress Rate. The APR came about in 2003 and “holds institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete for each academic term,” per the NCAA website.

Schools are aware of where they stand in the rankings, but the ranked list is not public incase they would like to decline to participate. 

The news comes just one day after Texas A&M had to pull out of the Gator Bowl against Wake Forest due to virus cases. Rutgers will likely replace them after winning their first three games and finishing 5-7. Other 5-7 schools in the mix, should they be needed, include Illinois, FAU and Syracuse. Typically, a team must be 6-6 to participate in a bowl.

All bowls can be postponed as late as Jan. 10 to allow for extra preparation time should new additions need it.

On Wednesday, the College Football Playoff announced its own set of updated forfeiture rules and other changes in light of the situation with COVID-19, but there will be no replacement teams.

Wake Forest-Rutgers likely to be finalized

The third matchup in history between Wake Forest and Rutgers is likely to occur at the Gator Bowl on Dec. 31 at noon ET, being one of four games that day. The Arizona Bowl will kick off at 2 p.m. ET, with both College Football Playoff semifinals taking place later in the afternoon.

Since 2012, TaxSlayer has been the title sponsor for the Gator Bowl. Traditionally, programs from the ACC, Big Ten, and SEC participate in the Jacksonville, Fla.-based bowl game. In 2010, West Virginia was the last team not from one of those three conferences to participate, still being a member of the Big East.

Wake Forest appeared in the inaugural Gator Bowl back in 1946, defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks 26-14. This season will be the program’s second appearance, ending the 75-year hiatus.

Wake Forest leads the all-time series between the two teams 2-0, and they have not played since 1999.

On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.