College Football

New NCAA APR rankings show which 2017 football teams have bowl-eligibility cushions

The NCAA’s chosen metric for academic progress also factors into bowl season.

May 10, 2017, 5:51 PM UTC

Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images

What happens to bowl season if there aren’t enough college football teams with six wins or more? Since 2015, the NCAA’s allowed bowls to dip into teams with 5-7 records, with the leaders in APR getting first dibs.

What’s APR? That’s Academic Progress Rate, the NCAA’s attempt to measure how well a program has done at advancing its athletes toward graduation over a rolling period of four years at a time. New scores are now out for every sport.

It’s essentially a pass/fail grade, with schools at the lower end being penalized and others proceeding as normal. Plenty of people have critiqued elements of the system, including its tendency to more harshly punish schools with resource disadvantages. This year, Division I’s two football programs to incur penalties are Savannah State, which is dropping down to Division II, and Alabama State.

Here’s the full list:

2015-2016 NCAA football APR scores

2017 level	School	Multi-Year Rate	Penalty
FCS	Dartmouth College	998
FBS	Northwestern University	995
FBS	U.S. Air Force Academy	995
FCS	University of Pennsylvania	994
FCS	Elon University	993
FBS	University of Michigan	993
FCS	College of the Holy Cross	992
FBS	Duke University	992
FBS	University of Minnesota, Twin Cities	992
FBS	Vanderbilt University	992
FCS	Georgetown University	991
FBS	U.S. Naval Academy	991
FCS	University of Dayton	990
FBS	University of Wisconsin-Madison	990
FCS	Yale University	990
FCS	Columbia University-Barnard College	989
FCS	Brown University	988
FCS	Cornell University	988
FBS	University of Louisville	988
FCS	University of New Hampshire	988
FCS	Princeton University	987
FCS	University of Richmond	987
FCS	Villanova University	987
FBS	Stanford University	985
FCS	Butler University	984
FCS	Drake University	984
FCS	Lafayette College	984
FBS	Rice University	984
FBS	University of Central Florida	984
FBS	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	984
FBS	University of Maryland, College Park	984
FBS	University of Washington	984
FBS	Georgia Institute of Technology	983
FBS	Middle Tennessee State University	983
FBS	University of Utah	983
FCS	Bucknell University	982
FCS	Davidson College	982
FBS	Indiana University, Bloomington	982
FBS	U.S. Military Academy	982
FCS	Bryant University	981
FCS	University of California, Davis	981
FBS	University of Toledo	981
FCS	Wofford College	981
FBS	Auburn University	980
FBS	Clemson University	980
FCS	College of William & Mary	980
FCS	Fordham University	980
FBS	University of Alabama	980
FBS	University of Florida	980
FBS	University of Texas at El Paso	980
FBS	Boise State University	979
FBS	Coastal Carolina University	979
FCS	Harvard University	979
FBS	University of North Texas	979
FBS	Boston College	978
FCS	Houston Baptist University	978
FBS	Kent State University	978
FCS	Murray State University	978
FBS	University of California, Berkeley	978
FCS	University of Tennessee at Chattanooga	978
FBS	University of Texas at Austin	978
FBS	University at Buffalo, the State University of New York	977
FBS	University of Nebraska, Lincoln	977
FBS	Miami University (Ohio)	976
FBS	Northern Illinois University	976
FCS	Samford University	976
FBS	University of Cincinnati	976
FBS	Wake Forest University	976
FCS	Colgate University	975
FBS	Kansas State University	975
FBS	The Ohio State University	975
FBS	University of Connecticut	975
FBS	University of Pittsburgh	975
FBS	Central Michigan University	974
FBS	Michigan State University	974
FBS	Mississippi State University	974
FBS	Ohio University	974
FBS	University of Missouri, Columbia	974
FBS	University of Oregon	974
FBS	Baylor University	973
FCS	Lehigh University	973
FBS	Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick	973
FCS	Mercer University	972
FCS	Stony Brook University	972
FBS	Temple University	972
FBS	University of Tennessee, Knoxville	972
FBS	Arizona State University	971
FCS	Furman University	971
FCS	Jackson State University	971
FBS	Purdue University	971
FBS	University of California, Los Angeles	971
FBS	University of Iowa	971
FBS	University of Mississippi	971
FBS	University of South Carolina, Columbia	970
FBS	Utah State University	970
FCS	Illinois State University	969
FBS	Iowa State University	969
FBS	Pennsylvania State University	969
FBS	University of Nevada, Reno	969
FBS	University of Notre Dame	969
FBS	Marshall University	968
FBS	Syracuse University	968
FBS	University of Colorado, Boulder	968
FBS	University of Hawaii, Manoa	968
FBS	University of Southern California	968
FBS	University of Virginia	968
FCS	Valparaiso University	968
FCS	Marist College	967
FCS	Towson University	967
FBS	Tulane University	967
FCS	University of Rhode Island	967
FBS	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	967
FBS	Colorado State University	966
FCS	Missouri State University	966
FCS	Sacred Heart University	966
FBS	University of Arkansas, Fayetteville	966
FCS	University of Maine, Orono	966
FBS	Arkansas State University	965
FCS	Idaho State University	965
FCS	Jacksonville State University	965
FCS	Tennessee Technological University	965
FBS	University of Memphis	965
FBS	University of Miami (Florida)	965
FBS	University of Oklahoma	965
FBS	University of South Florida	965
FBS	University of Texas at San Antonio	965
FCS	Eastern Kentucky University	964
FCS	North Dakota State University	964
FCS	The Citadel	964
FCS	University of San Diego	964
FBS	University of Wyoming	964
FBS	Washington State University	964
FBS	University of Louisiana at Monroe	963
FCS	University of Northern Iowa	963
FCS	University of South Dakota	963
FCS	University of Tennessee at Martin	963
FCS	Montana State University-Bozeman	962
FBS	Texas A&M University, College Station	962
FCS	California Polytechnic State University	961
FCS	East Tennessee State University	961
FCS	Presbyterian College	961
FCS	South Carolina State University	961
FBS	University of Georgia	961
FCS	Gardner-Webb University	960
FCS	North Carolina A&T State University	960
FCS	Western Carolina University	960
FBS	Louisiana State University	959
FCS	Southeast Missouri State University	959
FCS	University at Albany	959
FBS	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	959
FBS	Appalachian State University	958
FBS	San Jose State University	958
FCS	Texas Southern University	958
FBS	University of Kentucky	958
FBS	University of New Mexico	958
FBS	Western Michigan University	958
FBS	North Carolina State University	957
FCS	Northwestern State University	957
FCS	South Dakota State University	957
FCS	Stetson University	957
FBS	The University of Southern Mississippi	957
FCS	University of Delaware	957
FCS	James Madison University	956
FCS	McNeese State University	956
FBS	Oregon State University	956
FCS	Stephen F. Austin State University	956
FBS	The University of North Carolina at Charlotte	956
FCS	Wagner College	956
FBS	Ball State University	955
FCS	Campbell University	955
FCS	Eastern Washington University	955
FCS	Hampton University	955
FCS	Jacksonville University	955
FBS	Old Dominion University	955
FBS	San Diego State University	955
FBS	Texas Christian University	955
FBS	Troy University	955
FBS	University of Arizona	955
FBS	Western Kentucky University	955
FBS	University of Louisiana at Lafayette	954
FCS	University of Montana	954
FBS	Oklahoma State University	953
FCS	University of Central Arkansas	953
FCS	Duquesne University	952
FCS	Norfolk State University	952
FCS	Portland State University	952
FBS	University of South Alabama	952
FCS	Virginia Military Institute	952
FCS	Western Illinois University	952
FBS	Brigham Young University	951
FBS	Southern Methodist University	951
FBS	New Mexico State University	950
FCS	Southern Illinois University at Carbondale	950
FBS	Florida Atlantic University	949
FCS	Indiana State University	948
FCS	Austin Peay State University	947
FBS	East Carolina University	947
FBS	Eastern Michigan University	947
FBS	Texas Tech University	947
FBS	University of Akron	947
FCS	University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff	947
FBS	Bowling Green State University	946
FCS	Charleston Southern University	945
FBS	Georgia State University	945
FCS	Liberty University	945
FCS	Monmouth University	945
FCS	Southern Utah University	945
FBS	California State University, Fresno	944
FCS	California State University, Sacramento	944
FCS	Central Connecticut State University	944
FCS	Prairie View A&M University	944
FCS	University of Northern Colorado	944
FCS	Weber State University	944
FCS	Delaware State University	943
FBS	University of Kansas	943
FBS	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	943
FCS	Alcorn State University	942
FBS	The University of Tulsa	942
FBS	University of Houston	942
FCS	Morehead State University	940
FCS	Northern Arizona University	940
FCS	Saint Francis University (Pennsylvania)	940
FBS	Texas State University	940
FCS	University of North Dakota	940
FBS	West Virginia University	940
FBS	Florida State University	939
FCS	Kennesaw State University	939
FCS	Robert Morris University	939
FBS	University of Massachusetts, Amherst	939
FCS	University of the Incarnate Word	939
FBS	Louisiana Tech University	937
FCS	Nicholls State University	937
FBS	Florida International University	936
FCS	Mississippi Valley State University	936
FCS	Youngstown State University	936
FCS	Tennessee State University	934
FBS	Georgia Southern University	933
FCS	Lamar University	933
FCS	Bethune-Cookman University	932
FCS	Sam Houston State University	932
FCS	Southeastern Louisiana University	932
FCS	Alabama State University	931
FCS	Eastern Illinois University	931
FCS	Grambling State University	930
FCS	North Carolina Central University	930
FCS	Abilene Christian University	929
FCS	Howard University	928
FBS	University of Idaho	927
FCS	Florida A&M University	918
FCS	Savannah State University	896	Postseason-ineligible
FCS	Alabama A&M University	869	Practice reduction
FCS	Southern University, Baton Rouge	860
FCS	Morgan State University	853

NCAA

Based on that, the first 5-7 teams to be in line for bowl bids would be:

Northwestern
Air Force
Michigan
Duke
Minnesota

But, of course, all of them hope to not need that lifeline anyway.

In 2015, the first year of this new rule, all three 5-7 bowl teams won their bowls, and last year, Mississippi State won while North Texas fell to a bizarre 5-8 record.

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