Report: Florida State actually might not be bowl eligible
In the weird and bizarre winding road that has been the Florida State Seminoles 2017 season, this latest development almost seems fitting.
According to a report from Reddit, Florida State, despite having the requisite 6 wins, could actually still not be bowl eligible.
/r/CFB bases its report on NCAA rules that state a win by an FBS team (FSU) over and FCS team (in this case Delaware State) only counts toward bowl eligibility if the FCS team is utilizing at least 90% of its scholarship limit.
Florida State beat Delaware State in November by a score of 77-6 for its fourth win before beating Florida and then winning a rescheduled game with Louisiana-Monroe in order to reach 6 wins.
However, after receiving data from Delaware State, Reddit reports that Delaware State had not awarded more than 90 percent of its scholarships, thus rendering Florida State’s win over them as one that, by rule, does not count toward bowl eligibility.
You can view the Delaware State
scholarship data here.
Given that we’re less than a week away from the Independence Bowl between Florida State and Southern Miss, even Reddit acknowledges that nothing significant is likely to come of this report in terms of the Seminoles actually not playing in the game. But had the report surfaced earlier in the season, Florida State would likely have missed out on a bowl to the three remaining FBS teams who reached 6 wins but were left out of bowl slots due to the total amount of bowl-eligible teams this season.
Regardless, its quite the scenario, especially considering that Florida State had to win its final three games to secure bowl eligibility, including the rescheduled game against ULM.
According to Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times, the Independence Bowl says it’s an NCAA issue between the teams, but it’s preparing for the game as if FSU and Southern Miss will play.