K-State, Georgia St wins mean no more than 3 5-7 bowl teams

Kansas State earned its bowl bid on the field and the biggest win in Georgia State history means one less team with a 5-7 record in the postseason.

Championship Saturday began with 75 bowl-eligible teams and only three more that could get there. Kansas State took care of business by beating West Virginia 24-23 to finish 6-6. Georgia State, in its sixth season playing Division I football, beat Sun Belt Conference rival Georgia Southern 34-7 for its sixth victory.

South Alabama was playing Appalachian State on Saturday night trying to become the 78th team with at least six wins and a .500 record.

The NCAA approved a plan earlier in the week to fill bowls in need with 5-7 teams based on their Academic Progress Ratings for 2013-14 school year, the most recent scores available. Nebraska (985) was tops among those teams and has said it will accept a bid.

Next up was Missouri (976), but it announced earlier in the week it would not accept a bid at 5-7 as it worked to replace retiring coach Gary Pinkel.

Kansas State was in a strange spot with a 976 APR and a 5-6 record entering Saturday. No matter what happened against West Virginia, the Wildcats were going to be in line for a bowl bid. Kansas State coach Bill Snyder had said he would let the team decide if it wanted to play a postseason game with a 5-7 record. Now, there will be no question.

Minnesota is next in line at 975, tied with San Jose State. Gophers coach Tracy Claeys has said his team wants to play and because the Big Ten won't be able to fill all its bowl contracts with eligible teams, Minnesota's season will continue.

San Jose State officials said the Spartans would accept a bid at 5-7, but they had to wait for the South Alabama result. At halftime, the Jaguars were down 24-7 to Appalachian State.

Georgia State's victory was bad news for Illinois (973) and Rice (973), which were next in line among the 5-7s.

The Panthers victory means the season is over for the Illini and Owls.