In its fifth season in the FBS, Charlotte is bowl eligible for the first time.
The 49ers secured that prize with a 24-13 win over Marshall on Saturday. They were one of two Conference USA teams that earned their sixth victories of the season in noteworthy fashion this weekend. Florida International did so as well with a 30-24 win over Miami.
Arizona State became bowl eligible with a 31-28 win over Oregon, and California did so as well by beating Stanford 24-20 in the Big Game, snapping a nine-game losing streak in that series.
There are 72 teams that are bowl eligible so far, and a handful of others are still on the bubble. There are 78 bowl slots to fill. Here are the games this coming week with bowl eligibility implications:
Tuesday
Ohio (5-6) at Akron
Thursday
Mississippi State (5-6) vs. Mississippi
Friday
Kent State (5-6) at Eastern Michigan
Missouri (5-6) at Arkansas – Missouri received an NCAA postseason ban for academic violations but is appealing
Nebraska (5-6) vs. Iowa
TCU (5-6) vs. West Virginia
Troy (5-6) vs. Appalachian State
Saturday
Army (5-6) at Hawaii – Army has two games remaining and needs seven wins to become bowl eligible because it beat two FCS teams
Boston College (5-6) at Pittsburgh
Colorado (5-6) at Utah
Liberty (6-5) vs. New Mexico State – Liberty needs seven wins to become bowl eligible because it beat two FCS teams
Louisiana-Monroe (5-6) at Louisiana-Lafayette
Michigan State (5-6) vs. Maryland
North Carolina (5-6) at North Carolina State
Oregon State (5-6) at Oregon
These are the 72 teams that are bowl eligible so far:
Air Force
Alabama
Appalachian State
Arkansas State
Arizona State
Auburn
Baylor
Boise State
Buffalo
BYU
California
Central Florida
Central Michigan
Charlotte
Cincinnati
Clemson
Eastern Michigan
Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Florida State
Georgia
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Iowa State
Kansas State
Kentucky
Louisiana-Lafayette
Louisiana Tech
Louisville
LSU
Marshall
Memphis
Miami
Miami (Ohio)
Michigan
Minnesota
Navy
Nevada
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Oregon
Penn State
Pittsburgh
San Diego State
SMU
Southern California
Southern Mississippi
Temple
Tennessee
Texas
Texas A&M
Toledo
Tulane
UAB
Utah
Utah State
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
Washington
Washington State
Western Kentucky
Western Michigan
Wisconsin
Wyoming
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Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister
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More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25
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