Texas Longhorns will not accept bowl bid if eligible
According to multiple bowl sources, the Texas Longhorns have told officials they will not accept a bowl bid if they become eligible.
The Texas Longhorns have informed NCAA officials that they will not accept a bowl bid if they become eligible.
The bowl invitee list could get very interesting over the next couple of weeks. Numerous reports around social media are saying that the Texas Longhorns will not accept a bid for a 2016 bowl game, should they become eligible to play. Kevin Lyttle first broke the news on Twitter.
multiple #Bowls officials told me they have it on good authority that #Longhorns will not accept a bid, even if things break their way sat.
— Kevin Lyttle (@klyttlesports) December 2, 2016
The Longhorns (5-7) fired head coach Charlie Strong last week, after a third season of not meeting expectations in Austin. Soon after his departure, they hired now-former University of Houston coach Tom Herman. Bowl sources have also mentioned this possibility, but have requested to remain nameless, because they said the decision should be announced by the school. As of Friday night, the school has not officially declared whether they would accept a bid or not. Lyttle has more on this at Hookem.com.
Bowl bids that are awarded to teams with losing records are based on their recent Academic Progress Rate scores. Texas is fourth among teams without the required six bowl-eligible victories. If they indeed decide to decline, Northern Illinois (5-7) and UL-Monroe (4-7) would be next in line.
If South Alabama loses to New Mexico State and Louisiana Lafayette were to lose to UL-Monroe, then both Northern Illinois and UL-Monroe would receive bowl bids. If South Alabama and Lafayette split their games, meaning only one of the two could lose, then Northern Illinois would take the bid and UL-Monroe would be eliminated from contention.
Related Story: Longhorns name Tom Herman as head coach
The Longhorns right now only have four assistant coaches on staff, and they are currently on the road recruiting until mid-December. With that being said, it would seem almost impossible to have Texas ready for a bowl game that would likely happen before Christmas. It looks like the first chance we will get to see Herman in control on the sidelines will be in 2017.