Entering a Week 12 that kicked off Tuesday, 58 teams had already met the six-win threshold and are bowl-eligible. With wins Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan pushed that number to an even 60. As there are 40 bowl games this season, that means 20 of those slots are still left to be filled.
Once Week 12 is put to bed, well over half of those available openings could be closed heading into the final full weekend of the regular season.
Leading the charge toward the postseason are a trio of teams from three Power Five conferences: the Big 12 (Kansas State, TCU, Texas), Big Ten (Indiana, Maryland, Northwestern) and SEC (Kentucky, Ole Miss, South Carolina). UK and USC are nearly mortal locks to reach six wins as they both play FCS teams at home, while K-State and TCU have the added advantage of two more games apiece should they lose to Baylor or Oklahoma State, respectively, this weekend.
The B1G schools have by far the toughest row to hoe, with two of the teams facing ranked opponents on the road (Indiana, at No. 3 Michigan; Maryland, at No. 18 Nebraska) while Northwestern plays at a 7-3 Minnesota squad still alive in the race for a West division title.
A football program that played its first season in 2012, UT-San Antonio, will be looking to wrap up its first-ever bowl bid, although that may have to wait until the regular season finale against Charlotte as UTSA will have to travel to Texas A&M this weekend. Army (home against Morgan State) and UK, meanwhile, will be looking to end the longest bowl-less streaks amongst the group of 16 schools that could reach six wins Saturday, with each team last playing in the postseason following the 2010 season.
Below is that complete group of 16 schools that can become bowl-eligible in Week 12, along with their opponent and last year of playing in the postseason:
Arizona State (at Washington), 2015
Army (Morgan State), 2010
Colorado State (New Mexico), 2015
Indiana (at Michigan), 2015
Kansas State (at Baylor), 2015
Kentucky (Austin Peay), 2010
Maryland (at Nebraska), 2014
North Carolina State (Miami), 2015
Northwestern (at Minnesota), 2015
Ole Miss (at Vanderbilt), 2015
SMU (USF), 2012
Southern Miss (at North Texas), 2015
South Carolina (Western Carolina), 2014
TCU (Oklahoma State), TCU
Texas (at Kansas), 2014
UT-San Antonio (at Texas A&M), never
(Note: There are currently 35 teams, out of 128 FBS teams, that have at least seven losses, meaning they can’t reach bowl eligibility. If there not enough six-win teams to fill all 80 bowl slots, five-win teams with the best APR scores will be selected.)