Jacksonville State bowl eligibility, explained: Why Gamecocks are ineligible for 2023 bowl game
Jacksonville State’s debut at the highest level of college football has been an unquestionable success, three-quarters of the way through its first season against an FBS schedule.
The Gamecocks are 7-2 overall heading into their Week 10 matchup at South Carolina and, at 5-1 in conference play, are second in the Conference USA standings, behind only Liberty.
Jacksonville State has been carried, at least in part, by an excellent defense that’s allowing just 18.8 points per game. That mark ranks it 22nd among 133 FBS teams and fifth among programs from Group of Five conferences.
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In coach Rich Rodriguez’s offense, quarterback Zion Webb and running back Malik Jackson have created a formidable duo, with the pair combining for 1,075 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns this season while each averages at least 5.4 yards per carry.
At 7-2, the Gamecocks would have already secured bowl eligibility under normal circumstances. At this point, the question would be which bowl they’ll play in, not whether they’ll even get invited to one.
The situation in which Jacksonville State finds itself, however, isn’t exactly normal.
As a program that is completing its transition from the FCS to the FBS, it is ineligible for postseason competition unless a certain sequence of events unfolds that would offer it a door into a bowl game. The Gamecocks aren’t the only ones trapped in this dilemma, as fellow FBS newcomer James Madison faces the same restrictions despite an 8-0 record and a No. 24 ranking in the most recent US LBM Coaches Poll.
Here's everything you need to know about Jacksonville State’s 2023 season, its bowl prospects and how, if at all, it could sneak into a bowl game in its first season at the FBS level:
Jacksonville State transition to FBS
After moving up to FCS in 1996, Jacksonville State eventually became a consistent power at that level.
From 2010-20, the Gamecocks made the FCS playoffs eight times, which included a loss in the national championship game in 2015. Since the start of the 2014 season they’re 89-31.
Between that success, its location in a football-mad part of the country and a demonstrated history of hiring successful coaches – including Rodriguez, who led West Virginia and Arizona to major bowl games – Jacksonville State seemed well-positioned to make the move up to the FBS level.
The 2022 season was the first of the Gamecocks’ two-year transition period to the FBS. Unlike James Madison, which immediately began playing a majority FBS schedule, Rodriguez’s team took the more common route for programs making the jump up to FBS and remained at the FCS level. In 2022, it played just one FBS team, Tulsa, which defeated it in a 54-17 rout.
That lopsided loss wasn’t an indication of what awaited Jacksonville State once it joined Conference USA for this season. It got off to a 5-1 start and even after a 31-13 loss to Liberty on Oct. 10 likely ended its hopes of a first-place finish in the conference standings, it recovered nicely with a 20-17 win against Western Kentucky on Oct. 17 before routing Florida International 41-16 a week later.
The Gamecocks’ accomplishments are made all the more impressive when contrasted against Sam Houston State, which made the move from the FCS into Conference USA at the same time. Despite being a strong FCS program, one that won the national championship in 2021, the Bearkats have struggled with the step up in competition. Heading into a game Saturday against FCS Kennesaw State, they’re 0-8, though four of those losses have come by seven points or fewer.
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Why can’t Jacksonville State play in a bowl game in 2023?
Jacksonville State’s inability to compete in a bowl ties back to its status as a new FBS program.
During that two-year transition period to the FBS that the Gamecocks are in the second year of enduring, a team cannot compete in a bowl game unless special circumstances arise.
The rule is in place to prevent universities from making rash, short-sighted decisions to try to compete at a level for which they might not be equipped from an institutional, infrastructural or financial standpoint. The difference between the FBS and FCS is significant in many ways, particularly when it comes to roster-building. At the FCS level, teams have a scholarship maximum of 63. In the FBS, it’s 85.
James Madison, Jacksonville State’s FCS-to-FBS compatriot, has tried to work around the rule unsuccessfully to this point.
The program sent a waiver request to the NCAA to shorten its transition period from two years to one, but that was denied in April. In a letter to fans, James Madison athletic director Jeff Bourne wrote that he believed the school had “already checked every box” in preparing itself to move up to the FBS. Last month, the NCAA denied a request from Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares to make James Madison bowl eligible for this season.
When will Jacksonville State be eligible for a bowl?
Thankfully for the Gamecocks, soon.
Jacksonville State’s two-year FBS transition period ends after this season, meaning that it will be eligible for postseason play beginning in the 2024 season.
How Jacksonville State could make a bowl in 2023
It is possible, though, that the Gamecocks won’t have to wait that long until they can compete in a bowl game.
NCAA bylaw 18.7.2.1.3 outlines the types of teams that can participate in bowl games if there are an insufficient number of bowl eligible institutions. There are four exceptions listed, with teams meeting the criteria of the first exception chosen before ones who meet the criteria of the second and so on.
The third exception is for “an institution that is in its final year of reclassification from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision” provided that transitioning team meets two other qualifications, with Jacksonville State does.
The exceptions listed ahead of it are for teams that had “one victory was against a Football Championship Subdivision opponent that had not met the required average of the permissible maximum number of grants-in-aid per year in football during a rolling two-year period and the institution's waiver request was denied” and teams that played 13 games and had six wins, but finished with seven losses.
As of Thursday morning, and with a month remaining in the regular season, 40 eligible teams have earned the necessary six wins for a bowl and 21 others have five wins, putting them within a victory of joining that group. Including the College Football Playoff semifinals, there are 40 bowl games, meaning there are 80 spots to fill.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jacksonville State football ineligible for 2023 bowl game. Here's why
