College Football

Here are the new NCAA APR rankings, which you’ll probably only have to care about if your football team is bad

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

Updated May 23, 2018, 6:12 PM UTC

This is the same photo I used last year, because Northwestern led FBS then, too

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 multi-year APR getting first dibs. Ties are broken by single-year APR.

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 — this year, Morgan State football, Alabama A&M basketball, and a few teams in non-revenue sports are postseason-banned because of it — 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.

Based on this year’s Division I football list (in full below), the first 5-7 FBS teams to be in line for bowl bids would be:

Northwestern
Air Force
Vanderbilt
Navy
Duke
Michigan
Clemson
And so forth

Of course, all of them hope to not need that lifeline anyway. I think Clemson is probably fine.

Updated NCAA APR rankings

Team	Score	Subdivision
Northwestern University	997	FBS
Columbia University-Barnard College	995	FCS
Dartmouth College	995	FCS
University of Pennsylvania	994	FCS
Brown University	993	FCS
U.S. Air Force Academy	993	FBS
Vanderbilt University	993	FBS
Cornell University	992	FCS
Duke University	992	FBS
Lafayette College	992	FCS
U.S. Naval Academy	992	FBS
Fordham University	991	FCS
Georgetown University	991	FCS
Princeton University	991	FCS
University of New Hampshire	991	FCS
Villanova University	991	FCS
Yale University	991	FCS
College of the Holy Cross	990	FCS
University of Michigan	990	FBS
University of Dayton	989	FCS
Colgate University	988	FCS
Elon University	988	FCS
Clemson University	987	FBS
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	986	FBS
University of Nevada, Reno	986	FBS
University of Washington	986	FBS
University of Wisconsin-Madison	986	FBS
Boston College	985	FBS
Bucknell University	985	FCS
Houston Baptist University	985	FCS
Stanford University	985	FBS
Kansas State University	984	FBS
Middle Tennessee State University	984	FBS
University of Alabama	984	FBS
University of Central Florida	984	FBS
University of Pittsburgh	984	FBS
Drake University	983	FCS
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities	983	FBS
University of Richmond	983	FCS
University of Utah	983	FBS
Wofford College	983	FCS
Butler University	982	FCS
Temple University	982	FBS
The Ohio State University	982	FBS
U.S. Military Academy	982	FBS
University of Cincinnati	982	FBS
Bryant University	981	FCS
Central Michigan University	981	FBS
College of William & Mary	981	FCS
Harvard University	981	FCS
University of Louisville	981	FBS
University of Maryland, College Park	981	FBS
Auburn University	980	FBS
Georgia Institute of Technology	980	FBS
Kent State University	980	FBS
Pennsylvania State University	980	FBS
Samford University	980	FCS
University of Connecticut	980	FBS
University of Nebraska, Lincoln	980	FBS
Baylor University	979	FBS
Ohio University	979	FBS
Wake Forest University	979	FBS
Miami University (Ohio)	978	FBS
Towson University	978	FCS
Davidson College	977	FCS
Marist College	977	FCS
Rice University	977	FBS
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville	977	FBS
University of Florida	977	FBS
Boise State University	976	FBS
Coastal Carolina University	976	FBS
Indiana University, Bloomington	976	FBS
University of California, Berkeley	976	FBS
University of Mississippi	976	FBS
Arizona State University	975	FBS
Mississippi State University	975	FBS
North Dakota State University	975	FCS
Stony Brook University	975	FCS
University of Toledo	975	FBS
Furman University	974	FCS
Missouri State University	974	FCS
University of California, Davis	974	FCS
Virginia Military Institute	974	FCS
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick	973	FBS
University at Buffalo, the State University of New York	973	FBS
University of Southern California	973	FBS
California Polytechnic State University	972	FCS
Illinois State University	972	FCS
Jacksonville State University	972	FCS
Murray State University	972	FCS
University of North Texas	972	FBS
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga	972	FCS
University of Tennessee, Knoxville	972	FBS
University of Texas at Austin	972	FBS
Iowa State University	971	FBS
Lehigh University	971	FCS
Northern Illinois University	971	FBS
University of Kentucky	971	FBS
University of Maine, Orono	971	FCS
Western Carolina University	971	FCS
Colorado State University	970	FBS
University of Colorado, Boulder	970	FBS
University of Iowa	970	FBS
University of San Diego	970	FCS
University of Texas at El Paso	970	FBS
Arkansas State University	969	FBS
Oklahoma State University	969	FBS
University of Louisiana at Monroe	969	FBS
University of Oregon	969	FBS
University of South Dakota	969	FCS
University of Virginia	969	FBS
Washington State University	969	FBS
Oregon State University	968	FBS
Tulane University	968	FBS
University of Memphis	968	FBS
University of Missouri, Columbia	968	FBS
University of Texas at San Antonio	968	FBS
Presbyterian College	967	FCS
Syracuse University	967	FBS
University of California, Los Angeles	967	FBS
Jackson State University	966	FCS
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale	966	FCS
The Citadel	966	FCS
University of Notre Dame	966	FBS
Mercer University	965	FCS
Sacred Heart University	965	FCS
Stetson University	965	FCS
Texas Christian University	965	FBS
University of Rhode Island	965	FCS
Utah State University	965	FBS
North Carolina State University	964	FBS
University of Hawaii, Manoa	964	FBS
University of Miami (Florida)	964	FBS
University of Northern Iowa	964	FCS
Alcorn State University	963	FCS
Gardner-Webb University	963	FCS
Idaho State University	963	FCS
Texas A&M University, College Station	963	FBS
University of Georgia	963	FBS
Wagner College	963	FCS
Western Michigan University	963	FBS
Appalachian State University	962	FBS
James Madison University	962	FCS
North Carolina A&T State University	962	FCS
Portland State University	962	FCS
University of Central Arkansas	962	FCS
Valparaiso University	962	FCS
Eastern Washington University	961	FCS
Norfolk State University	961	FCS
University of South Carolina, Columbia	961	FBS
Western Illinois University	961	FCS
Eastern Kentucky University	960	FCS
Florida Atlantic University	960	FBS
Marshall University	960	FBS
Northwestern State University	960	FCS
Purdue University	960	FBS
Southeast Missouri State University	960	FCS
University at Albany	960	FCS
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	960	FBS
University of South Florida	960	FBS
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	960	FBS
Eastern Michigan University	959	FBS
University of Wyoming	959	FBS
Western Kentucky University	959	FBS
East Tennessee State University	958	FCS
South Dakota State University	958	FCS
University of Idaho	958	FBS
University of South Alabama	958	FBS
University of Tennessee at Martin	958	FCS
Ball State University	957	FBS
Tennessee Technological University	957	FCS
Troy University	957	FBS
University of Louisiana at Lafayette	957	FBS
Louisiana State University	956	FBS
Old Dominion University	956	FBS
San Diego State University	956	FBS
Southern Methodist University	956	FBS
University of Oklahoma	956	FBS
San Jose State University	955	FBS
University of Delaware	955	FCS
New Mexico State University	953	FBS
Saint Francis University (Pennsylvania)	953	FCS
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte	953	FBS
McNeese State University	952	FCS
Michigan State University	952	FBS
Montana State University-Bozeman	952	FCS
Southern Utah University	952	FCS
Stephen F. Austin State University	952	FCS
Georgia State University	951	FBS
University of Houston	951	FBS
University of Northern Colorado	951	FCS
Duquesne University	950	FCS
Kennesaw State University	950	FCS
University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff	950	FCS
University of Montana	950	FCS
West Virginia University	950	FBS
Brigham Young University	949	FBS
East Carolina University	949	FBS
Louisiana Tech University	949	FBS
The University of Southern Mississippi	949	FBS
Indiana State University	948	FCS
Texas Southern University	948	FCS
Alabama State University	947	FCS
California State University, Fresno	947	FBS
Campbell University	947	FCS
California State University, Sacramento	946	FCS
Tennessee State University	946	FCS
Texas Tech University	946	FBS
University of Arizona	946	FBS
University of New Mexico	946	FBS
Weber State University	946	FCS
Central Connecticut State University	945	FCS
Florida International University	945	FBS
Jacksonville University	945	FCS
University of Kansas	945	FBS
Mississippi Valley State University	944	FCS
North Carolina Central University	944	FCS
South Carolina State University	944	FCS
The University of Tulsa	944	FBS
Bethune-Cookman University	943	FCS
Liberty University	943	FBS
Monmouth University	943	FCS
University of Nevada, Las Vegas	943	FBS
Austin Peay State University	942	FCS
University of the Incarnate Word	942	FCS
Florida State University	941	FBS
Hampton University	941	FCS
Nicholls State University	941	FCS
Texas State University	941	FBS
University of Akron	941	FBS
University of North Dakota	941	FCS
Bowling Green State University	940	FBS
Northern Arizona University	940	FCS
Charleston Southern University	939	FCS
Prairie View A&M University	939	FCS
University of Massachusetts, Amherst	939	FBS
Delaware State University	937	FCS
Youngstown State University	936	FCS
Abilene Christian University	935	FCS
Morehead State University	935	FCS
Lamar University	934	FCS
Robert Morris University	934	FCS
Southeastern Louisiana University	934	FCS
Sam Houston State University	932	FCS
Georgia Southern University	931	FBS
Eastern Illinois University	930	FCS
Grambling State University	923	FCS
Southern University, Baton Rouge	905	FCS
Morgan State University	893	FCS
Alabama A&M University	891	FCS

In 2015, the first year of this new rule, all three 5-7 bowl teams won their bowls. In 2016, Mississippi State won while North Texas fell to a bizarre 5-8 record. 2017 failed to be blessed with 5-7 teams, so we’re due.

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