NCAA denies ASU’s petition for a bowl game
Dec 3, 2010, 4:52 PM | Updated: Jan 5, 2011, 4:52 pm
TEMPE- The NCAA has denied ASU’s bowl waiver request late Friday afternoon.
ASU Vice President for Athletics Lisa Love was disappointed by the news but optimistic about the programs future.
“It was a powerful way to end the season last night in Tucson,” Love said. “We are disappointed in the outcome that we are not going to a bowl game, but everyone involved worked very hard to make that happen. We are excited by the fact that we ended the year by winning three of our last five games and it is a tremendous springboard into the very promising 2011 campaign.”
Despite earning their sixth victory Thursday night against the University of Arizona, the Sun Devils were not bowl eligible due to the fact that two of their wins came against Football Championship Subdivision opponents.
ASU felt they should be bowl eligible because they were scheduled to play San Jose State University this season but the Spartans opted to play Wisconsin. The decision netted SJSU up to twice the pay out they would have received from the Sun Devils.
The decision also left the Sun Devils with limited options forcing them to schedule FCS opponent Portland State.
Head coach Dennis Erickson realized the waiver was a long shot but still was proud of the way his team ended the season.
“It is a pretty steadfast rule, but I thought we had a chance in our discussions with the NCAA because of our situation,” Erickson said. “They didn’t OK it and I understand that. We end up going 6-6 and beating the University of Arizona. We would have liked to have played another game, but we didn’t win seven games, that’s the bottom line. We did finish the season like we wanted. I’ll take that game last night over any bowl game.”
With the NCAA’s ruling, ASU will miss a bowl game for their third straight season. The Sun Devils finished the year 6-6 (4-5 in the Pac-10) after winning their final two games against UCLA and Arizona.
