The APR, the NCAA, Bowl Games & You

On Tuesday morning’s Jack & John in the Morning on 1400 KLIN, UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman discussed the proposed reforms to the NCAA regarding academic standing and postseason eligibility.


(Fast forward to 10:00 in to hear Perlman's APR comments)

Already, there have been moves to tie the controversial Academic Progress Rate (APR) to postseason basketball tournament eligibility. But as Perlman pointed out during our talk, he was part of a committee that would like to see the same standards applied to football postseason (read: bowl) eligibility.

As part of the APR/Postseason eligibility initiative, the cut off is being raised from an APR of 900 to 930 based on a rolling four-year average. But as has already been documented, that cut off would have had a significant impact on this past season’s NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament with historic powers like Syracuse and Ohio State being left out of last season’s dance. (Can you say “Huskers back on the bubble”?) Defending champ UConn, with an embarrassing APR of 893, would not be back in the 2012 tourney to defend its title no matter how they performed in the Big East.

Now, the conversation has moved to football and as we all found out last summer, the athletic revenue bus is being driven by the football programs at most of the major Division I schools. That means bowls and potential BCS national championship implications. Knowing that many schools take a bath in red ink when going to bowls, it may not seem like as significant a punishment as learning your top seeded hoopsters are denied a chance to contend for the Final Four. But if you are in a major conference (like Nebraska), you depend on your brethren to represent the league come December and January. Television networks, mainly ESPN, count on seeing your bright, smiling, yet pasty-white Midwestern faces during Capitol One Bowl Week(s). Bowl success equals more prestige equals more television dollars come contract negotiation time.

While it doesn't appear that this proposal affects conference championship games, imagine the red face Jim Delany would have if he were to hand the trophy to a team that couldn't represent the Big Ten at the Rose Bowl.  Or worse yet, was undefeated and still ineligible for the BCS Championship Game?

So what if a straggling program, or two, or more, doesn’t get it done in the classroom – or worse yet – what if your kids are failing to stick around to graduate, thus keeping Dear Old Nebraska U out of a shot at playing in Pasadena come New Year’s Day?

Here are the 2010 bowl games that would have been affected had this policy been in place last season. The teams in bold would have been ineligible:

 

New Mexico Bowl: BYU vs. UTEP

Beef O’ Brady’s Bowl: Louisville vs. Southern Miss

Poinsettia Bowl: San Diego State vs. Navy

Little Caesar’s Bowl: Florida International vs. Toledo

Meineke Car Care Bowl: South Florida vs. Clemson

The four year rolling average saved the bacon of programs like Michigan, which dipped under the 930 threshold last year. The Wolverines will need to watch their P’s & Q’s the next three years as that 928 will be on their report card. Also in jeopardy of postseason bans would be Purdue which must score better than a 925 on their next APR to avoid falling below the threshold. Minnesota would need a 936 or greater to keep their bowl hopes alive.

Former Big 12 rival Colorado is already facing scholarship sanctions due to the APR and they would be bowl ineligible this upcoming season.

In the SEC, Ole Miss would be in trouble along with South Carolina and Arkansas is teetering on the fence of being academically zapped.

Defending Pac 12 champ Oregon is also walking a little to close for comfort to the razor’s edge while Washington State is well below the cut-off line (not that it might matter for the Cougars anyway.)

While much of the college football world is wondering what the NCAA might do to Miami in the wake of the Nevin Shapiro allegations, there is greater clarity here. The NCAA wants to put the “student” back in “student-athlete” and they think they have the way to do it. There is no question that men’s basketball would suffer far greater in terms of marquee names being stricken by academic postseason probation, but the impact of this policy on college football would also be significant and potentially embarrassing for a sport that has already suffered more than a few black-eyes these last few months.

 

You can check the APR of each school over the last six years by going here.

John Bishop, who cost the UNL College of Journalism a chance at the Orange Bowl with his poor academic performance, returns for another season of Husker football analysis this season right here on Sunday School.  Check back here after each Big Red game for his columns or visit Husker Max.com.