Where the bowl outlook, APR situation stand after USC’s loss to Clemson

All that’s left to do is sit and wait.

Following Saturday’s 16-7 loss to No. 24 Clemson, South Carolina (5-7) is in the dreaded five-win waiting game.

Only a handful of games remain for Saturday’s final weekend of college football, and it will be a tall ask for the Gamecocks to reach a bowl game.

Should there be fewer than 82 teams with six wins, the remaining slots will be filled by APR. Also known as Academic Progress Rate, it’s the retention rate a college program has for a team’s academic performance, according to the NCAA. It’s a team-based calculation based on two points.

• “Each student-athlete receiving athletically related financial aid earns one point for staying in school and one point for being academically eligible.

• A team’s total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by 1,000 to equal the team’s Academic Progress Rate.

• In addition to a team’s current-year APR, its rolling four-year APR is also used to determine accountability”

Currently James Madison (11-1) and Jacksonville State (8-4) take priority over any school that finishes with a 5-7 record. Both schools are making the transition from FCS to FBS and going through a probationary period. Following USC’s loss, though, JMU and JSU were both guaranteed a bowl game and lifted the qualifying teams to 80 for the 82 available spots.

Colorado State and California are the two remaining teams with five wins who’ve yet to finish its seasons — they can clinch bowl spots with a win. If both programs win, it will effectively end any opportunity for USC to play in a bowl game. Both games will end at approximately 2 a.m.

For the Gamecocks to be offered a slot because of APR, any program ahead of USC needs to decline their bowl invitation. Minnesota and Mississippi State are both 5-7 and are both ahead of South Carolina in the APR rankings.

So, USC fans who want a postseason game are left waiting on the prayer that just one team says no bowl.