Why is Minnesota bowl eligible? Gophers' eligibility for CFB bowl games explained

The Minnesota Golden Gophers finished the 2023 regular season in seventh place in the B10 West. They lost their regular season finale 28-14 against Wisconsin, posting a 5-7 overall record and going 3-6 in the conference.

Despite managing just five wins in the regular season, the Gophers are eligible to play a bowl game.

This is quite an unusual case since the NCAA rules state that a program must have at least six wins during the regular season to play in a bowl game. So, the question that needs to be asked is — how did the Gophers achieve this feat?

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Why is Minnesota bowl eligible?

P.J. Fleck's Minnesota Gophers are bowl-eligible despite posting a 5-7 overall record in the 2023 CFB season

Since there are 41 bowl games, there are 82 spots for programs to claim bowl eligibility. However, after the 2023 CFB regular season came to a close this weekend, only 81 teams had six wins under their belts which made them bowl-eligible.

Among all the teams that had five wins, there was no tiebreaker, point differential, or quality of win to determine which team was eligible to take the remaining spot. Instead, the berth went to the best Academic Progress Rating in the country, which happened to be Minnesota.

Reports indicate that the Gophers surpassed all other five-win teams based on their program's Academic Progress Rate, ranking eighth in the country among the 133 Division I football teams.

This stroke of luck allows Minnesota the opportunity to participate in a bowl game, a chance they nearly missed after losing their last four games in the season.

The bowl game will give the Gophers a chance to end their season with a win. Failing to secure a win would mean P.J. Fleck's team heading into the offseason with five consecutive defeats.

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When will the College Bowl games for 2023-24 be announced?

The bowl games for all 82 teams, including the Gophers, will be announced on Sunday, Dec. 3. The confirmation of the 41 matchups will follow the conclusion of the championship games.