PISCATAWAY, NEW JERSEY – NOVEMBER 29: Ethan Grunkemeyer #17 of the Penn State Nittany Lions passes the ball against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the first half at SHI Stadium on November 29, 2025 in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Getty Images
The final 10 remaining bowl spots were filled during the last week of the college football regular season. The 2025-26 postseason includes 82 FBS programs, On3’s Brett McMurphy reported, and the regular season finished with 80 bowl-eligible teams. Without enough bowl-eligible programs, the first spots will go to Missouri State and Delaware as they transition from the FCS level.
Both Missouri State and Delaware announced they will participate in a bowl game on Saturday night, further confirming McMurphy’s report of the number of bowl games.
Keep in mind, bowl-eligible teams could opt out of postseason play for a variety of reasons. This is fairly uncommon, but it happened last season when Marshall opted out of the Independence Bowl due to high the number of outgoing players, leading to Louisiana Tech filling the spot.
If a team decides to opt out of bowl participation, the next spots would go to 5-7 teams based on Academic Progress Report rankings, which can be found at the bottom of this article.
The College Football Bowl Eligibility Tracker is your guide to following which teams may reach the postseason.
College Football Bowl Eligibility Criteria:
The future of the College Football Playoff is in question but when it comes to this year’s postseason, here’s a quick overview.
The final day of the 2025 regular season is on Nov. 29 with bowl games expected to be announced on Dec. 7. Bowl season begins Dec. 13 and ends Jan. 19. The postseason consists of 35 traditional bowl games, four CFP first round games, four quarterfinal games, two semifinal games and one national championship game. That adds to up to 46 matchups with 82 FBS programs set to play beyond conference championship weekend, not including the Army-Navy Game.
To qualify for bowl eligibility, teams must win at least six games, and they can only count one win against FCS opponents. If there are too many bowl-eligible teams, some may be left out of postseason play.
If there are not enough bowl-eligible teams, the first two spots would go to Delaware and Missouri State, which are transitioning from the FCS, assuming they satisfy the bowl-eligibility criteria. After that, it will come down to Academic Progress Rate scores for teams one win away from bowl eligibility, which is why in some years you see teams with a 5-7 record competing in bowl games.
Before the countdown to bowl season even began, one program was already eliminated. Akron was ruled ineligible for postseason play in May due to a failing Academic Progress Rate score during the 2023-24 season.
College Football Bowl Eligible Teams (80)
Eight teams became bowl eligible during Week 14 including Arkansas State, Army, Georgia Southern, Kansas State, Louisiana, Penn State, Texas State and Washington State.
Delaware also reached six wins, and Missouri State is in the same situation after already securing six victories before the regular season finale. Here’s the full list of programs that secured at least six victories and are bowl eligible:
- SEC (10) – Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
- Big Ten (12) – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, USC, Washington
- ACC (11) – Cal, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, NC State, Pitt, SMU, Virginia, Wake Forest
- Big 12 (10) – Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas State, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah
- Pac-12 (1) – Washington State
- American (8) – Army, East Carolina, Memphis, Navy, North Texas, Tulane, USF, UTSA
- Mountain West (7) – Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah State
- Sun Belt (9) – Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, James Madison, Louisiana, Old Dominion, Southern Miss, Texas State, Troy
- MAC (5) – Central Michigan, Miami (OH), Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan
- Conference USA (5) – FIU, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Louisiana Tech, Western Kentucky
- Independents (2) – Notre Dame, UConn
One Win Away From Bowl Eligibility (14)
Kent State is the only team that moved to one win way from bowl eligibility during Week 14. Stanford and Hawaii will be added to this list if they win their late games on Saturday night. Here’s the full list of programs that finished one victory away from six wins:
- SEC – Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State
- Big Ten – Rutgers
- ACC – Florida State
- Big 12 – Baylor, Kansas, UCF
- Pac-12 – None
- American – Rice, Temple
- Mountain West – None
- Sun Belt – Appalachian State, Marshall
- MAC – Buffalo, Kent State
- Conference USA – None
- Independents – None
Eliminated From Bowl Eligibility (38)
Twelve teams were eliminated from bowl eligibility after Week 14 including Ball State, Eastern Michigan, FAU, Liberty, Maryland, New Mexico State, North Carolina, South Alabama, South Carolina, Tulsa, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Stanford and Hawaii will be added to this list if they lose their late games on Saturday night. The following programs are no longer eligible to participate in a bowl game, meaning they fell short of the five-win mark or are ineligible for non-football reasons:
- SEC – Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina
- Big Ten – Maryland, Michigan State, Purdue, UCLA, Wisconsin
- ACC – Boston College, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia Tech
- Big 12 – Colorado, Oklahoma State, West Virginia
- Pac-12 – Oregon State
- American – Charlotte, FAU, Tulsa, UAB
- Mountain West – Air Force, Colorado State, Nevada, San Jose State
- Sun Belt – Georgia State, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama
- MAC – *Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, UMass
- Conference USA – Liberty, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State, Sam Houston State, UTEP
- Independents – None
FBS APR Rankings
Below is a look at the APR score rankings for every FBS program.
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Michigan/North Carolina
- Clemson/Wake Forest
- Cincinnati
- Northwestern
- Air Force/Minnesota
- Iowa State/Wisconsin
- Auburn/Florida State/Kansas State/Notre Dame
- Missouri
- Rice
- Duke/NC State
- Boise State/Boston College/Miami/Oklahoma State/Texas/Tulane/UCF
- Ball State/Stanford
- James Madison/Louisville/Utah
- Arkansas/East Carolina/Virginia
- Coastal Carolina/Florida/Indiana/Iowa
- Liberty/Texas Tech
- Army/Ole Miss/West Virginia
- Georgia/Kentucky/Mississippi State/Nevada/Old Dominion/UNLV/Vanderbilt/Western Kentucky
- Rutgers/Washington
- Eastern Michigan
- Nebraska/USC/Virginia Tech/Wyoming
- Fresno State/Oklahoma/South Carolina
- Baylor/Pitt
- Arizona State/Toledo
- Kansas/Purdue/Troy
- Cal/Illinois/Sam Houston State
- **Delaware
- Arizona/Bowling Green/Georgia State/Georgia Tech/Temple
- Appalachian State/Michigan State
- UCLA
- San Diego State
- Northern Illinois/Oregon State
- Navy/South Alabama/Tennessee/Washington State
- TCU
- Maryland/UTSA
- Colorado/Marshall/USF
- SMU/Texas State
- Miami (OH)/Middle Tennessee
- Colorado State/Georgia Southern/Memphis/Syracuse
- Ohio
- Texas A&M
- FIU/Kennesaw State
- BYU/New Mexico State
- Louisiana
- North Texas
- LSU/UTEP
- New Mexico
- Kent State/San Jose State
- Arkansas State/UConn/Western Michigan
- FAU/Hawaii/Penn State
- Oregon/UAB/UMass
- Central Michigan
- Tulsa
- Houston
- Utah State
- Southern Miss
- Buffalo
- Jacksonville State
- Louisiana-Monroe
- Louisiana Tech
- Charlotte
- **Missouri State
*Akron is ineligible for postseason play due to a failing APR score during the 2023-24 season.
**Delaware and Missouri State would be able to participate in a bowl game over the 5-7 teams if they satisfy bowl eligibility criteria.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikbuchinger/2025/11/29/2025-college-football-bowl-eligibility-tracker-final-update/
