Florida State should not be bowl eligible, but the Seminoles will play Wednesday in the Independence Bowl despite an embarrassing clerical oversight.
The rules of bowl eligibility in college football are relatively straightforward, but sometimes six wins do not count as six wins. This should have been the case for the Seminoles, but no one at the school, the ACC or the NCAA caught it in time, and now the show must go on.
Reddit College Football did catch it, and it has been confirmed by ex-ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy.
The issue is Delaware State, an FCS team that Florida State beat 77-6, has not offered enough scholarships to its players in the most recent two-year period to count as a win for bowl eligibility purposes. An FCS school must extend at least 90 percent of the scholarships allowed (63 at that level). Delaware State’s average over the two-year period checked in at 87.008 percent.
“This monumental error should have been caught at three levels: the school, conference and NCAA,” a bowl industry source told McMurphy. “It’s too late to do anything now, they’ll still play in the game. If it was funny, it would be a comedy of errors.”
It has been a rough year for Florida State. It began with national title aspirations, but quarterback Deondre Francois sustained a season-ending injury against Alabama in their opener. The Seminoles limped to 5-6, and hastily rescheduled a game against Louisiana-Monroe that was originally cancelled because of Hurricane Irma just to reach six wins.
Coach Jimbo Fisher nearly got into an altercation with a fan after losing to Louisville, and eventually became the first coach to win a national title at a school and then leave for another college job in 40 years when he signed a 10-year, $75 million contract with Texas A&M.
The Seminoles have replaced him with Willie Taggart form Oregon, considered one of the best young coaches in the country. Taggart, known at previous stops as an excellent recruiter, has landed two five-star prospects since the early signing period opened Wednesday.