Must-win Tuskegee seeks waiver, additional game for NCAA D-II playoffs

TUSKEGEE, Alabama -- Tuskegee needs to handle its business on the field to make the NCAA Division II playoffs and its athletic director must do the same on his end to ensure the Golden Tigers meet the criteria to do so.

After last week’s 10-9 upset loss to Kentucky State on homecoming, Curtis Campbell requested a waiver Monday morning to qualify for the playoffs with having just nine games on the schedule. Teams must play 10 games to automatically qualify for the playoffs.

In the 2016-17 NCAA Division II football pre-championship manual, it reads teams must “play at least 10 opponents during the regular season. An institution may submit a waiver request to the football committee for its consideration if a given institution is not able to satisfy this requirement” under qualifying standards for playoffs.

“You can play nine games and get a waiver from the NCAA,” Campbell said Friday afternoon. “We have requested a waiver and we can also play an additional game on Nov. 12. If we could find a D-II opponent to play, that would help our bid for the playoffs and help our seeding as long as we win the two games we’ve got remaining, and if we add an additional game – and if we win that.”

CONTINUE READING