At 2-5 and with only four games left on the schedule — including contests against a tricky Syracuse team, at No. 4 Clemson and against in-state rival Florida — the Florida State Seminoles are seriously in jeopardy of not being bowl eligible this season.
The Seminoles have to be perfect this season to get six wins as the schedule is currently constructed, and if they don't get to six they'll end up losing a bowl streak that goes all the way back to 1981. FSU has made it to a bowl game for an impressive 36-straight years, but this season has been terrible — starting with a 24-7 loss to No. 1 Alabama that saw the 'Noles lose quarterback Deondre Francois for the season — and it very well could lead to the end of the streak.
Two losses in the last four games would seal it, but there is a scenario where FSU can lose one game, likely at Clemson, and still preserve bowl eligibility via a makeup game on the 2017 schedule.
Florida State's week two matchup with Louisiana Monroe (currently 3-5) was canceled due to a hurricane, but Safid Deen of the Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the Seminoles are considering taking on the game to the end of the season.
Whether to play or not to play the game, canceled from its original Sept. 9 date because of Hurricane Irma, remains the question.
"We're working on a release that will come out next week," Wilcox said after an athletics board meeting Wednesday afternoon.
"[Coach] Jimbo [Fisher] and I have talked about it. And we've talked to a lot of other people. We want to wait until after this week, and then put something out next week."
FSU would host Louisiana-Monroe in Doak Campbell Stadium on Dec. 2, a day reserved for college football conference championship games.
This is a game that FSU obviously doesn't have to play and a good case can be made that ULM shouldn't put its players in the cross hairs of the ACC power either. If the game was in Monroe it may make sense for the Warhawks to host it due to the payday sure to come from playing Florida State, but at this point, it looks like ULM may be used to simply get Florida State to six wins — assuming the 'Noles go 3-1 to end the season — thus preserving their bowl eligibility run.
Of course, this is a rather pessimistic way to view this potentially rescheduled game, but at this point, why else would FSU want to play this game?
