The NCAA FBS Oversight Committee announced a series of recommendations on Friday. That includes an interesting potential change surrounding bowl eligibility.
As it stands now, teams reclassifying from FCS to FBS are not bowl eligible until their second season at the FBS level. Now, the Oversight Committee has shared a potential rule change, which would modify the deserving team rule, allowing them to go to a bowl immediately if they’re at least 6-6 by record.
“The oversight committee introduced legislation to modify exceptions to the deserving team rule, which determines the requirements that teams need to satisfy to be able to be selected to participate in a bowl game, beginning with the 2026 season. Under the recommendation, schools reclassifying from FCS to FBS would be eligible to compete in bowl games if they meet the definition of a deserving team (e.g., at least a 6-6 record) and can fill one of their conference’s bowl commitments,” the statement read.
“Currently, teams that are reclassifying from FCS to FBS are not eligible to compete in postseason bowl games until their second year of reclassification and may be selected as an alternate only if they otherwise meet the definition of a deserving team and there are not enough deserving teams available to participate in that season’s bowl games.”
