These aren’t exactly the stakes Florida and Florida State had in mind for their end-of-the-season rivalry game.
The Gators and Seminoles both enter Saturday’s clash at 5-6, meaning the winner becomes bowl eligible. That’s one of four games next weekend pitting two five-win teams against each other. The others are Maryland-Rutgers, Charlotte-Old Dominion and Florida Atlantic-Middle Tennessee.
There’s enough space for 82 FBS teams to play in bowls this season. Right now 72 teams already have secured bowl eligibility. The winners of the four games listed above will bring the total to 76, and there are plenty of other teams that also are a victory away from bowl eligibility. In years when there haven’t been enough six-win teams to fill all the spots, teams with losing records have been allowed to play.
Here’s this week’s schedule for the teams on the bowl eligibility bubble:
Tuesday
Ball State (5-6) vs. Buffalo
Thursday
San Jose State (5-6) vs. Fresno State
Friday
South Alabama (5-6) vs. Coastal Carolina
TCU (5-6) at Iowa State
Saturday
California (4-6) at UCLA
Charlotte (5-6) at Old Dominion (5-6)
Florida Atlantic (5-6) vs. Middle Tennessee (5-6)
Florida State (5-6) at Florida (5-6)
LSU (5-6) vs. Texas A&M
Maryland (5-6) at Rutgers (5-6)
Memphis (5-6) vs. Tulane
North Texas (5-6) vs. Texas-San Antonio
Southern California (4-6) vs. BYU
Syracuse (5-6) vs. Pittsburgh
Troy (5-6) at Georgia State
Tulsa (5-6) at SMU
Virginia Tech (5-6) at Virginia
West Virginia (5-6) at Kansas
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The following 72 teams are already bowl eligible:
Air Force
Alabama
Alabama-Birmingham
Appalachian State
Arizona State
Arkansas
Army
Auburn
Baylor
Boise State
Boston College
BYU
Central Florida
Central Michigan
Cincinnati
Clemson
Coastal Carolina
East Carolina
Eastern Michigan
Fresno State
Georgia
Georgia State
Houston
Iowa
Iowa State
Kansas State
Kent State
Kentucky
Liberty
Louisiana-Lafayette
Louisville
Marshall
Miami
Miami, Ohio
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Missouri
North Carolina State
Nevada
North Carolina
Northern Illinois
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Oregon
Oregon State
Penn State
Pittsburgh
Purdue
San Diego State
SMU
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Texas-El Paso
Texas-San Antonio
Texas Tech
Toledo
UCLA
Utah
Utah State
Virginia
Wake Forest
Washington State
Western Kentucky
Western Michigan
Wisconsin
Wyoming
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