Oklahoma, Wisconsin Among Teams Seeking To Keep Bowl Streaks Alive

With only three weeks remaining in college football’s regular season, a handful of teams with bowl streaks of at least five years are not yet eligible. Here is a look at those teams, their streak and what is left of their schedule.

23 – Oklahoma (5-4)

The Sooners should keep their impressive bowl streak alive, and perhaps clinch eligibility as soon as Saturday when they travel to Morgantown to take on reeling West Virginia, which has lost four of five. If indeed OU clinches bowl eligibility this week, it will mark the second time during the streak (2009) it took until their 10th game to do so. OU hosts Oklahoma State next week before concluding the regular season at Texas Tech.

The streak began in 1999, Bob Stoops’ first season at the helm in Norman, which followed a four-year bowl drought under John Blake (0-for-3) and Howard Schnellenberger, who went 5-5-1 in his only season at OU. The Sooners’ bowl record during the steak is 11-12.

20 — Wisconsin (5-4)

The Badgers are 3-1 under interim coach Jim Leonhard and are within one win of extending their bowl streak to 21. They close the regular season with a trip to Iowa this week (O/U 35) before traveling to Nebraska and hosting Minnesota.

The streak began with an Alamo Bowl appearance in 2002 under Barry Alvarez. A win over Colorado capped an 8-6 season, which followed a 5-7 showing in 2001 that snapped a five-year bowl streak. Hence, the Badgers have gone to a bowl in 25 of the last 26 seasons.

9 – Auburn (3-6)

Wisconsin is not the only team on this short list with an interim coach. Cadillac Williams, the former All-American running back at Auburn, took over for Bryan Harsin last week and it looked as though the Tigers were going to win at Mississippi State. Instead, a late lead turned into an overtime defeat and leaving Auburn needing to win out in order for the streak to reach double digits. Visits from Texas A&M, against whom Auburn will attempt to snap a five-game losing streak, this week and Western Kentucky next week will be followed by the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa.

Auburn’s streak commenced in Gus Malzahn’s first season on the Plains in 2013, when the Tigers went all the way to what was the last BCS Championship game, a loss to Florida State. The Tigers have lost three straight bowl games and are 2-7 during the streak.

7 – Appalachian State

What is interesting about this streak is that it represents each year the Mountaineers have been postseason eligible as an FBS member. It started in 2015 with a Camellia Bowl win over Ohio to cap an 11-2 season under Scott Satterfield. The bowl wins kept coming as ASU won its first six before losing in last year’s Boca Raton Bowl to Western Kentucky.

Shawn Clark’s Mountaineers need one win to make it eight-for-eight. They are at Marshall this week and host Old Dominion next week before closing the regular season at Georgia Southern.

5 – Iowa State (4-5)

After going 3-9 in his first season, Matt Campbell has taken the Cyclones to five straight bowls. The program made it to as many as three straight bowl games only once before, and that was under Dan McCarney in the early-2000s. The Cyclones need to win two of their final three games on the schedule. First, they travel to Oklahoma State this week. That will be followed by a visit from Texas Tech and a trip to TCU.

5 – Marshall (5-4)

The Thundering Herd have been to bowl games in eight of the last night years with all but last year’s New Orleans Bowl coming under the guidance of Doc Holliday. Charles Huff kept the string going in 2021 and his team needs one more win to make it six straight and nine of 10. Appalachian State comes to Huntington this week. That matchup will be followed by a trip to Georgia Southern and visit from Georgia State.

Streaks of Bowl Eligibility

Several teams have notable active streaks of bowl eligibility, but not bowl games due to virus-related issues resulting in cancellations the past couple of years.

Miami (4-5) would be seeking to extend its bowl streak to 15 if not for having the virus scuttling last year’s Tony the Tiger Bowl with Washington State. The Hurricanes (4-5) need to win two of their final three games to become bowl eligible.

Last season, Texas A&M (3-6) extended its steak of bowl eligibility to 13, but had its Gator Bowl matchup with Wake Forest cancelled due to the virus. In order to extend it streak of eligibility, Jimbo Fisher’s team needs to win out.

San Diego State (5-4) had a 10-game bowl streak that started with Brady Hoke’s final season of his initial tenure at SDSU and ended at the conclusion of the first season of his second go-round at the school. After going 4-4 in abbreviated 2020, the team opted to not to be available for bowl consideration. Otherwise, the Aztecs would be looking to make it 13 straight bowl games.

Iowa would be seeking a 10^th straight bowl game if not for having its 2020 Music City Bowl against Missouri cancelled due to virus issues. At 5-4, another win is needed to keep the streak of bowl eligibility alive.

Of note, is that LSU had a self-imposed bowl ban in 2020 as a result of improper booster payments to players. Otherwise, the Tigers would be bowl eligible for the 23 consecutive year.