College Football Bowl Eligibility Tracker (2025)
A guide to CFB teams reaching the FBS postseason
Below is a college football bowl eligibility tracker for the 2025-26 season. This page is updated through the announcement of the bowl schedule.
The daily newsletter includes exclusive recruiting and transfer portal scoops with the latest stats and roster movement inside every QB room. Each post includes the day’s FBS, FCS, D2, D3, NAIA and JUCO quarterback transactions. Subscribers unlock the most popular content on GunslingerBuzz.com below, and these pages are updated daily on the site.
QB Rooms
FBS | FCS | D2 | D3 | NAIA | JUCO
Track the latest stats and roster movement inside every QB room, in addition to recruiting and transfer portal commitments. Attention Recruits! Use these links to identify which teams do not have a commit in future classes.
QB Recruits
2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029
Track the latest recruiting news on every FBS, FCS, D2, D3, NAIA and JUCO quarterback commitment and uncommitted QBs with an FBS offer.
QB Transfers
2026
Track the latest transfer portal news on every player joining or leaving an FBS, FCS, D2, D3, NAIA or JUCO quarterback room.
A paid subscription gets you access to everything for $10/month or $100/year.
Email GunslingerBuzz@gmail.com or DM on Twitter with news tips.
College Football Bowl Eligibility
College Football Bowl Eligibility Criteria
When it comes to the 2025-26 college football postseason, here’s a quick overview:
The final day of the 2025 regular season is on Nov. 29 with bowl games expected to be announced on Dec. 7. Bowl season begins Dec. 13 and ends Jan. 19. The postseason consists of 35 traditional bowl games, four CFP first round games, four quarterfinal games, two semifinal games and one national championship game. That adds to up to 46 matchups with 82 FBS programs set to play beyond conference championship weekend, not including the Army-Navy Game.
To qualify for bowl eligibility, teams must win at least six games, and they can only count one win against FCS opponents. If there are too many bowl-eligible teams, some may be left out of postseason play.
If there are not enough bowl-eligible teams, the first two spots would go to Delaware and Missouri State, which are transitioning from the FCS, assuming they satisfy the bowl-eligibility criteria. After that, it will come down to Academic Progress Rate scores for teams one win away from bowl eligibility, which is why in some years you see teams with a 5-7 record competing in bowl games.
Keep in mind, bowl-eligible teams could opt out of postseason play for a variety of reasons. This happened during the 2024 bowl season when Marshall opted out of the Independence Bowl due to high the number of outgoing players, leading to Louisiana Tech filling the spot.
Before the countdown to bowl season even began, one program was already eliminated. Akron was ruled ineligible for postseason play in May due to a failing Academic Progress Rate score during the 2023-24 season.
College Football Bowl Teams (80)
Below is a full list of FBS programs that will compete in a bowl game:
SEC (11) - Alabama, Georgia, LSU, ***Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Big Ten (12) - Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, USC, Washington
ACC (11) - Cal, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, NC State, Pitt, SMU, Virginia, Wake Forest
Big 12 (8) - Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah
Pac-12 (1) - Washington State
American (9) - Army, East Carolina, Memphis, Navy, North Texas, ***Rice, Tulane, USF, UTSA
Mountain West (7) - Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah State
Sun Belt (10) - ***Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, James Madison, Louisiana, Old Dominion, Southern Miss, Texas State, Troy
MAC (5) - Central Michigan, Miami (OH), Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan
Conference USA (5) - FIU, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Louisiana Tech, Western Kentucky
Independents (1) - UConn
Teams Opting Out of Bowl Games (10)
The following teams were bowl eligible but declined to participate:
Iowa State
Kansas State
Notre Dame
The following teams finished 5-7 and could’ve taken a bowl spot but declined to participate:
Auburn
Baylor
Florida State
Kansas
Rutgers
Temple
UCF
One Win Away From Bowl Eligibility (4)
Here’s the full list of programs that won five games and did not get a bowl invite:
SEC - Kentucky
Big Ten - None
ACC - None
Big 12 - None
Pac-12 - None
American - None
Mountain West - None
Sun Belt - Marshall
MAC - Buffalo, Kent State
Conference USA - None
Independents - None
Eliminated From Bowl Eligibility (40)
The following programs fell short of five wins or were ineligible for non-football reasons:
SEC - Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina
Big Ten - Maryland, Michigan State, Purdue, UCLA, Wisconsin
ACC - Boston College, North Carolina, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia Tech
Big 12 - Colorado, Oklahoma State, West Virginia
Pac-12 - Oregon State
American - Charlotte, FAU, Tulsa, UAB
Mountain West - Air Force, Colorado State, Nevada, San Jose State, Wyoming
Sun Belt - Georgia State, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama
MAC - *Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, UMass
Conference USA - Liberty, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State, Sam Houston State, UTEP
Independents - None
FBS APR Rankings
Below is a look at the APR score rankings for every FBS program:
Ohio State
Alabama
Michigan/North Carolina
Clemson/Wake Forest
Cincinnati
Northwestern
Air Force/Minnesota
Iowa State/Wisconsin
Auburn/Florida State/Kansas State/Notre Dame
Missouri
Rice
Duke/NC State
Boise State/Boston College/Miami/Oklahoma State/Texas/Tulane/UCF
Ball State/Stanford
James Madison/Louisville/Utah
Arkansas/East Carolina/Virginia
Coastal Carolina/Florida/Indiana/Iowa
Liberty/Texas Tech
Army/Ole Miss/West Virginia
Georgia/Kentucky/Mississippi State/Nevada/Old Dominion/UNLV/Vanderbilt/Western Kentucky
Rutgers/Washington
Eastern Michigan
Nebraska/USC/Virginia Tech/Wyoming
Fresno State/Oklahoma/South Carolina
Baylor/Pitt
Arizona State/Toledo
Kansas/Purdue/Troy
Cal/Illinois/Sam Houston State
**Delaware
Arizona/Bowling Green/Georgia State/Georgia Tech/Temple
Appalachian State/Michigan State
UCLA
San Diego State
Northern Illinois/Oregon State
Navy/South Alabama/Tennessee/Washington State
TCU
Maryland/UTSA
Colorado/Marshall/USF
SMU/Texas State
Miami (OH)/Middle Tennessee
Colorado State/Georgia Southern/Memphis/Syracuse
Ohio
Texas A&M
FIU/Kennesaw State
BYU/New Mexico State
Louisiana
North Texas
LSU/UTEP
New Mexico
Kent State/San Jose State
Arkansas State/UConn/Western Michigan
FAU/Hawaii/Penn State
Oregon/UAB/UMass
Central Michigan
Tulsa
Houston
Utah State
Southern Miss
Buffalo
Jacksonville State
Louisiana-Monroe
Louisiana Tech
Charlotte
**Missouri State
*Akron is ineligible for postseason play due to a failing APR score during the 2023-24 season.
**Delaware and Missouri State qualified for a bowl game despite transitioning to FCS by satisfying the bowl eligible criteria and a lack of six-win programs.
***Appalachian State, Mississippi State and Rice qualified for a bowl game despite finishing 5-7 due to a lack of six-win programs, teams opting out and APR scores.