News & Observer | newsobserver.com | 2008 NCAA Men's Bracket

• NCAA monkey wrench in Pack's bowl plans
• Bowl math

To clarify what I wrote Sunday, N.C. State is the ACC's only 6-6 team.

Many of you have e-mailed and asked about Clemson, and actually, Lee Fowler asked the same question about the Tigers who finished 7-5 but have two wins over Division I-AA teams. For bowl eligibility purposes, Clemson is 6-5. The Tigers can only count one of the I-AA wins towards the bowl total.

The text of the NCAA Postseason Handbook — NCAA Bylaw 30.9.2.1 — explicitly states the conference must fill its contracted bowls with 7-5 teams over 6-6 teams. There's no mention of 6-5 teams. However, the header of the entry (on page 9) is "Deserving Winning Team."

The text of the handbook:

"A deserving winning team is defined as one that wins a minimum of six games against Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) competition and has a record that includes more wins than losses [Exception: Each year, a FBS institution may count a victory against a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponent that has averaged 90 percent of the permissible maximum number of grants-in-aid per year in FCS over a rolling two-year period.]"

The key phrasing is "more wins than losses" which would push Clemson in front of State.

What I wrote Sunday, still holds: Unless the ACC can work around this rule with the NCAA, N.C. State will be left out of the ACC bowl mix and subjected to the rules and whims of the at-large process.

And really, that's what's wrong here because the NCAA has washed its hands of the I-A postseason, giving the bowls sovereignty over the entire process, except apparently when it comes to 6-6 teams.

Look, bowl eligibility is like being pregnant. You either are or you aren't. The conferences make the contracts and have their own provisos for the order of selection. N.C. State meets those requirements and should be free to play in Washington or Charlotte.