NCAA rule change helps South Carolina this bowl season
More and more players are either opting out of bowl games or they’re entering the transfer portal. The result? Rosters are looking thinner and thinner for teams this bowl season.
While there’s no question there needs to be conversations had about the future of college athletics and the direction it’s headed in, for now, there’s some things that can be tweaked. On Friday, one of those rules were changed for bowl season.
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According to SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic, the NCAA has issued a one-time blanket wavier for FBS bowl games. With this waiver, it exempts postseason participation from the limit of just four games that a student-athlete is allowed to patriciate in without using a year of eligibility. Meaning, an FBS student-athlete who has already played in four games this season can play this bowl season without losing a year of eligibility.
“The blanket waiver is applicable to FBS postseason (games) that occur after Dec 15, 2022,” Cubelic shared in a tweet.
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This could dramatically change the way USC plans to use players in the Gator Bowl. As Gamecock Central’s Collyn Taylor pointed out, Luke Doty is one of the players. Doty has appeared in four games this season (Georgia State, Georgia, Charlotte, and SC State). Under the old rules, if he played in the Gator Bowl he wouldn’t be able to preserve a year of eligibility. Why? Because the bowl game would be the fifth game that he would’ve played in. This new rule would allow Doty, and others, to play in bowl games without burning that year.
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Under the previous rules, there were already a long list of players who would’ve been able to play without worrying about burning a year of eligibility. That number will only increase now and will give USC, and other teams, more options this bowl season.
Related: Younger players who can play in bowl and not burn redshirts
