NCAA examining bowl-waiver rule
The NCAA is considering doing away with a controversial procedure that grants teams a waiver to play in a bowl game.
According to CBSSPorts.com, the NCAA is proposing that six-win teams entering a conference championship games can qualify for a bowl game without a waiver.
In 2011, the NCAA passed a rule prohibiting bowls from picking a 6-7 team over an eligible 6-6 team. The NCAA's decision to grant a waiver and allow a team with a losing record in a bowl meant that a non-automatic qualifying team with a .500 record or better would be shut out.
UCLA and Georgia Tech filed a waiver in back-to-back years. The NCAA approved those waivers, but under the new system, schools won't need a waiver.
In 2011, UCLA finished the regular season at 6-7 after a loss to Oregon dropped the Bruins below .500. making them ineligible. Yet the Bruins were granted a waiver and lost to Illinois in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl to finish 6-8.
Mid-American commissioner Jon Steinbrecher was one of the more vocal critics when Georgia Tech was granted a waiver in 2012.
"I could not disagree more with the rationale provided," Steinbrecher said in a statement. "One of the reasons for the development of the policy covering this matter was to clearly create a selection order to manage just this situation.
In August, the NCAA established criteria for qualification in case there aren't enough bowl qualifiers, including teams that "finished with a 6-7 record, with the seventh loss being in a conference championship game."
One commissioner at Wednesday's BCS meetings told CBSSports.com there's a mild push - and not just by the smaller conferences -- for a winning record required to make a bowl game.
