Florida State says Delaware State did meet NCAA requirements that allow the Seminoles to count their victory against the FCS team toward bowl eligibility.
Questions about whether the Seminoles had indeed reached six countable wins were raised by fans who analyzed data on athletic scholarships provided by Delaware State and posted the findings on the website Reddit. The analysis found the school had failed use 90 percent of its football scholarship funds, which is required for an FCS team to be countable toward FBS bowl eligibility.
Florida State released a statement Friday night saying the information posted was incomplete and failed to account for “a long-standing NCAA rule interpretation that permits institutions to use academic scholarships and other forms of non-athletic institutional aid received by student-athletes in the computation.”
Florida State plays Southern Mississippi in the Independence Bowl on Wednesday, extending its streak of bowl appearances to a record 36 streak seasons. The Seminoles beat Delaware State 77-6 on Nov. 18. Florida State (6-6) got its sixth victory by rescheduling a game against Louisiana-Monroe that had been originally cancelled in September because of severe weather. The Seminoles took the unusual step of playing the nonconference game against ULM on Dec. 2, the weekend mostly reserved for conference championships.
Despite the confusion, Florida State playing in the Independence Bowl was never in doubt. It was too late to remove the Seminoles from the game, and it has not been uncommon for the NCAA to grant waivers for teams to play in bowl games when standard requirements have not been met in the past.
___
Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP
___
More AP college football: http://collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
