What does Bowl eligible mean? Looking at Bowl eligibility rules and format in college football

A team that becomes bowl eligible has the opportunity to receive an invitation to a post-season game known as a "bowl." Those games are played after the 13 matchups of the regular season and after every conference's championship game.

Having bowl eligibility doesn't necessarily mean the school will get the invitation to go play one, but it is highly unlikely that a team from Division I won't get invited.

To become bowl eligible, a school needs to have a winning record. Historically, this means that teams need a 7-6 record or better.

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Expansion of college football has led to watered-down standards for bowl eligible teams

In the past, bowl games were reserved for only the top teams in college football, with the few spots available being fought over by the best schools. However, the expansion of the sport and the rise of its popularity has meant that all stakeholders have sought to cash in on the profits and expand the number of bowl games.

By the 2010-11 season, filling the bowls required 70 teams. By the 2015-6 season, that number had grown to 80 teams. Given this necessity, the NCAA started watering down the requirements for programs to become bowl eligibile. For the 2010 season, teams with a .500 record (6-6) started to become bowl eligible. In some seasons, even teams with a losing record of 5-7 have been invited to bowls.

In 2015-17, 25% of bowl participant schools didn't have a winning record.

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What are the official standards for bowl eligibility?

The official standard to become bowl eligible is the following:

1. The team must have at least as many wins as overall losses. Wins against non-Division I teams do not count toward the number of wins.
2. No more than one win against an FCS team may count toward that win total, and only if the FCS team has awarded at least 90% of the scholarships that FCS rules allowed it to award over the last two years. (Currently, that means wins against Ivy League, Georgetown, Pioneer Football League and some Northeast Conference teams do not count.)
3. A team with a losing record only because it lost its conference championship game remains eligible for a bowl.

If there aren't enough teams to fill the 82 bowl spots for this season with the above criteria, the following criteria must be used to fill the remaining slots:

1. Teams would have met the eligibility criteria if not for the fact that they had one win against an FCS team that did not meet the scholarship requirement, and no waiver was granted.
2. Teams that played 13 games during the regular season and finished with a 6–7 record.
3. Teams in their second year of reclassification from FCS to FBS football.
4. Teams with at least five wins and no more than seven losses, in order of their Academic Progress Rates.