NCAAF teams
Brett McMurphy, College football reporter 8y

Arkansas State, Ga. Southern, App. State accept bowl bids

College Football, Arkansas State Red Wolves, Appalachian St. Mountaineers, Georgia State Panthers, South Alabama Jaguars, Kansas State Wildcats

Arkansas State is headed to the New Orleans Bowl, Georgia Southern to the GoDaddy Bowl and Appalachian State to the Camellia Bowl, sources told ESPN.

All three Sun Belt teams close the regular season Saturday: Arkansas State (8-3) plays Texas State (3-8), Georgia Southern (9-2) faces Georgia State (5-6) and Appalachian State (9-2) visits South Alabama (5-6).

Georgia State and South Alabama can become bowl-eligible with a win Saturday. If one team wins, it would play in the Cure Bowl, a source said. If both teams pull off upsets, one would go to the Cure Bowl and the other to the Arizona Bowl, a source said.

Those games also will have huge implications nationally. Because there are only 75 bowl-eligible teams for 80 bowl berths, teams with 5-7 records will go to bowl games based on the highest APR (Academic Progress Rate) scores.

Kansas State (5-6) also can get bowl-eligible with a win against West Virginia, but the Wildcats are guaranteed a bowl berth -- win or lose -- because they have the second-highest APR among the 5-7 teams.

The 5-7 teams with the highest APRs are Nebraska (985), Missouri and Kansas State (976), Minnesota and San Jose State (975), Illinois and Rice (973). Missouri said it would not accept a bowl bid, while the other schools said it would accept a bid.

Here are the scenarios on which 5-7 bowl teams will get a bowl berth based on Saturday's results:

• KSU, Georgia State and South Alabama all win: KSU bowl-eligible with six wins; Nebraska is in and either Minnesota or San Jose State would be selected.

• KSU wins, Georgia State and South Alabama go 1-1: KSU bowl-eligible; Nebraska, Minnesota and San Jose State go to a bowl.

• KSU wins, Georgia State and South Alabama go 0-2: KSU bowl-eligible; Nebraska, Minnesota and San Jose State go to a bowl, and either Illinois or Rice would be selected.

• KSU loses, Georgia State and South Alabama go 2-0: Nebraska and Kansas State go to a bowl, and either Minnesota or San Jose State would be selected.

• KSU loses, Georgia State and South Alabama go 1-1: Nebraska, Kansas State, Minnesota and San Jose State go to a bowl.

• KSU, Georgia State and South Alabama all lose: Nebraska, Kansas State, Minnesota and San Jose State go to a bowl, and either Illinois or Rice would be selected.

Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson would not confirm his league's bowl matchups to ESPN.

"These three Sun Belt teams are well-deserving bowl teams with nine or more wins," Benson said. "I wish we had more teams bowl-eligible, but these are the top of the class. Whichever bowls get those three teams are getting top-rated teams with great fan bases."

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