UPDATED 11:30 p.m. ET

Auburn’s excruciating loss to Alabama cost the Tigers a bowl berth, but sent FBS newbies Missouri State and Delaware to a bowl.

Both Missouri State (7-5) and Delaware (6-6) are in their first year transitioning from FCS. The availability of the two Conference USA members in their first year in FBS would not require any 5-7 teams to fill the 82 bowl spots.

It was a wild Saturday. Kansas State, Louisiana, Texas State, Army and Washington State all won to get bowl eligible. Also, Georgia Southern, Arkansas State and Penn State won matchups of 5-6 teams to qualify for the postseason.

The bowl pairings for 41 bowls – yes, there will be 41 bowls as I’ve been reporting since June – will be announced Sunday, Dec. 7.

Teams that needed a win to get bowl eligible today:

Kansas State (6-6) defeated Colorado

Kentucky (5-7) lost to Louisville

Baylor (5-7) lost to Houston 

UCF (5-7) lost to BYU 

Louisiana (6-6) defeated ULM

Texas State (6-6) defeated South Alabama

Army (6-5) defeated UTSA

Florida State (5-7) lost to Florida

Washington State (6-6) defeated Oregon State

Rice (5-7) lost to USF

Auburn (5-7) lost to Alabama

With only 80 bowl eligible teams, the NCAA will fill the remaining openings with any FBS teams making the transition from FCS with six wins and then fill any other openings based on the 2023-24 APR (Academic Progress Rate) rankings of the five-win teams.

That means Missouri State (7-5) and Delaware (6-6) would fill the openings. The Conference USA members are in their first year transitioning from FCS. They could only earn a bowl bid if there weren’t enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all the spots.

This will eliminate the numerous 5-7 teams that could have got a bid based on highest APR rankings.

Following Missouri State and Delaware will be the highest-ranked five-win teams based on APRs. Those teams that already have five wins or can get to five wins with a victory Saturday, based on APR rankings, would have been chosen in this order until all bowl spots are filled.

This was the order of the five-win schools based on APR rankings.

School (Record) APR score

Auburn (5-7) 990

Florida State (5-7) 990

Rice (5-7) 988

Check back Saturday for updates as the games go final.