Here's a look at those who made it and where they could end up in December:
Purdue (6-6)The Old Oaken Bucket is not only there's to keep, but they sent their rival to a 5-7 finish. The Boilermakers most notably defeated Ohio State, but were stunned at home by Eastern Michigan.
Best Win: Ohio State
Bowl Projection: Pinstripe Bowl
Minnesota (6-6)More rivalry gloating as Minnesota snapped a 14-game skid to Wisconsin to recapture Paul Bunyan's Ax and become bowl eligible. The Gophers have been up and down, beating 10-2 Fresno State and throttling Purdue, but then were beaten down by Nebraska and Illinois.
Best Win: Fresno State
Bowl Projection: Quick Lane Bowl
Tulane (6-6)The Green Wave made sure they could get to six wins by going for two against Navy and converting to win 29-28. Tulane got big conference wins against USF and Memphis to help offset tough a 1-3 non-conference record.
Best Win: Memphis
Bowl Projection: R+L Carriers Bowl
Baylor (6-6)Another rival dispatched as Baylor not only knocked out Texas Tech, but helped get Kliff Kingsbury fired. Matt Rhule re-directed a Bears team that went 1-11 in his first season. They were competitive with Texas and beat Oklahoma State, but are still a ways from keeping up with West Virginia or Oklahoma.
Best Win: Oklahoma State
Bowl Projection: Texas Bowl
Wake Forest (6-6)Ohio State's beatdown of Michigan may have had the nation's attention, but in Winston-Salem, it was all about 59-7. That's how bad Wake Forest beat Duke to become bowl eligible after going through a 1-4 stretch midway in the year.
Best Win: NCST
Bowl Projection: Las Vegas Bowl
Southern Miss (6-5)Hurricane Florence took a game from the Golden Eagles, but they only needed 11 to get to six wins. Southern Miss won three of their last four to become bowl eligible.
Best Win: Marshall
Bowl Projection: Boca Raton Bowl
Miami (6-6)The Redhawks won their last three games including a win in the Battle of the Bricks for the first time since 2012. They also had one of the craziest finishes in their overtime loss to Army. It may have been too little too late as the MAC spots will be filled by the other six bowl bound teams, all with seven wins or more.
Best Win: Ohio
Bowl Projection: Missing Out
The Commodores had to win their final two games and did so in an overtime thriller with Ole Miss and a drubbing of rival Tennessee (5-7). While keeping the Volunteers home was pretty good, their ability to hang in with other bowl teams makes them appealing.
Best Win: Tennessee
Bowl Projection: Independence Bowl
TCU (6-6)A loss to Kansas might ruin any other teams season. Instead, Gary Patterson showed why he's the second longest tenured coach in the FBS. He coached his team to three wins in the final four games to become bowl eligible.
Best Win: Iowa State
Bowl Projection: Cheez It Bowl
Wyoming (6-6)The only FBS school to feature a player from Hicksville, Ohio, the Cowboys dug themselves out of a 2-6 record to become bowl eligible. However, the Cowboys might be victims of a talented Mountain West that will leave them as an at large.
Best Win: Air Force
Bowl Projection: Missing Out
Still In:
Virginia Tech (5-6)The Hokies have to beat Marshall to keep their 25 straight bowl streak alive. Of course not losing to Old Dominion would've helped that too.
Best Win: Virginia
Worst Loss: Old Dominion
Bowl Projection: Thundering Herd trample bowl bid.
See You Next Year:
Clay Helton's job is safe for now, but the Trojans finishing with a losing record for the first time since 2000 does not bode well in L.A.
Worst Loss: UCLA
The worst part about Florida State finishing with a losing record for the first time since 1976 or missing a bowl since 1981, isn't the product, but the racism. Willie Taggart can certainly be questioned about his coaching, but the audacity that the color of his skin is correlated to the Seminoles failure is the most disgusting thing about sports. Maybe there was a reason Jimbo Fisher jumped ship on this team.
Worst Loss: Miami (FL)
A year that started with protests over the hiring of Greg Schiano, who ended up having the offer removed in place of Jeremy Pruitt, the Volunteers are not going to a bowl. To make matters worse for Tennessee, they're not going because they lost to Vanderbilt. Things are going so great for Rocky Top.
Worst Loss: Vanderbilt
Texas Tech (5-7)Kliff Kingsbury was fired after the Red Raiders watched Baylor eliminate them from bowl contention. Texas Tech finished the year with five straight losses.
Worst Loss: Kansas State
A missed field goal gave Herm Edwards' Arizona State team the win over Kevin Sumlin's Wildcats. Arizona lost 41-40 to their in-state rival that forced them to miss out on a bowl to go with anothene-point loss to UCLA.
Worst Loss: UCLA
Colorado was 5-0 to start the year before a loss to USC spiraled their season into seven straight losses. Mike Macintyre was rightfully fired after Colorado found themselves at the bottom of the PAC-12 once again.
Worst Loss: Oregon State
Maryland (5-7)A tumultuous year at Maryland came to a close when they were once again pounded by Penn State. The Terrapins had their season start with the death of player and then the eventual firing of D.J. Durkin, after he was re-instated for one day. They won their opener against Texas and nearly pulled off a major upset of Ohio State, but missed a wide open two-point conversion.
Worst Loss: Temple
A pesky team for any Big Ten foe, including the one above, the Hoosiers were doomed by their in-state rival to miss a bowl game. Their greatest victory was exposing the Michigan defense to crossing routes, something Ohio State exploited. Indiana did get a big non-conference win over Virginia.
Worst Loss: Minnesota
The Wildcats rallied to get David Beatty fired from Kansas, they beat Texas Tech and eventually got Kliff Kingsbury fired, but couldn't upset Iowa State to become bowl eligible. The Wildcats blew a late lead to the Cyclones to keep Bill Snyder's boys out of contention. Much like Indiana, Kansas State wasn't an easy win for most teams.
Worst Loss: Baylor, but almost South Dakota (FCS)
A load a talent by way of transfers or junior college's, Florida Atlantic had great expectations. However, they watched their trip to the Boca Raton bowl go up in smoke when Charlotte hit a game winning 56-yard field goal in Brad Lambert's final game as 49ers head coach.
Worst Loss: Charlotte
SMU (5-7)They only had to beat a two win Tulsa team to become bowl eligible. The Golden Hurricane had other plans and blew away any chance for the Mustangs to go bowling.
Worst Loss: Tulsa
Coastal Carolina (5-7)All the Chanticleers had to do was beat a 2-9 South Alabama team to become bowl eligible. The Jaguars ruined that chance as Coastal Carolina lost their final four games.
Worst Loss: South Alabama
Akron joined Eastern Michigan and Buffalo as the only MAC schools to beat a Big Ten squad. However, the Zips also lost to EMU and Buffalo on their way to seven losses. They still have one last game against South Carolina as part of a make-up for both teams. The Gamecocks lost out on a game because of Hurricane Florence while Akron avoided being Nebraska's first win or maybe loss thanks to a thunderstorm in week one.
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