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Cal says it can count Grambling win, assuring bowl eligibility

Steve Berkowitz
USA TODAY Sports
California Golden Bears head coach Sonny Dykes on the sideline during the first quarter against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium.

The University of California football team will be able to count its victory this season against Grambling toward the six it needs to qualify for postseason play and is now officially bowl-eligible, a Cal athletics department spokesman said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

There had been uncertainty about whether Grambling, a Football Championship Subdivsion school, had awarded a sufficient amount of financial aid to football players for Cal to be able to count the game without a waiver from the NCAA Football Oversight Committee. As a result, Cal officials said on Tuesday that, as a precaution, they had asked the committee for waiver.

Cal is 6-5 this season and in fourth place in the Pac-12 North division.

Under NCAA rules, FBS schools generally can count one win against an FCS team per season toward the six needed for bowl eligibility. However, for the game to count without a waiver, the FCS school needs to have awarded — on average — at least 90% of the 63 scholarships allowed under FCS rules during a rolling two-year period.

For games played this season, according to NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn, FCS schools need to have met that benchmark over the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.

Grambling interim assistant athletic director Patricia Simmons told USA TODAY Sports late last week the school's athletics department and financial aid office had determined that the school awarded the equivalent of 56.44 football scholarships in 2014-15, including aid from athletics department sources and other forms of aid that can count toward the scholarship limit. That's fractionally short of meeting the NCAA's 90% requirement.

As of Tuesday night, Simmons said, Grambling was still seeking to compile its figures for 2013-14.

Missed chances doom Cal in 35-22 loss to No. 15 Stanford

However, according to Cal athletics spokesman Wes Mallette, Grambling determined on Wednesday that it had awarded enough football scholarships in 2013-14 to meet the NCAA's 90% requirement based on its two-year average.

"We have conferred with both Grambling and the NCAA," Mallette said in a statement. "As anticipated, Grambling has confirmed their football program has met the 90% financial aid requirement over the rolling two-year average. Therefore, Cal Football's win over Grambling counts toward bowl eligibility. Cal Football is bowl eligible."

Grambling's Simmons could not be reached for comment late Wednesday afternoon. A spokesman for the NCAA also could not be reached for immediate comment.

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