After discussing NCAA rules about bowl eligibility with Brian and Marc at Brixx last night, I decided I should do some investigation into how many games UNC would need to win to become bowl-eligible. I clipped this blurb from the NCAA handbook on postseason football, and it looks like JMU will indeed count toward our total of 6 required wins. However, since we will play at least 12 games this year, we would only qualify with six wins if we were going to a bowl that has a contract with the ACC (no at-large invitations). In past seasons when we earned at-large invitations with 6 wins, it was allowable because we only played 11 games and had a +.500 record. The rules go on to state that the contracted bowls would have to invite every other eligible ACC team with a +.500 record before they could invite us if we finish 6-6. So, with one BCS birth, the Gator Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Carquest Bowl (?) contracted with the ACC, we would only qualify at 6-6 if there are no more than 3 ACC teams with winning seasons (not counting the unlikely possibility of a second ACC BCS invitation). Am I forgetting a bowl with an ACC contract? I'm sure there's some kind of loophole Baddour will try to exploit, but it looks to me like we will need at least 7 wins to go bowling this season.