(Image source: Los Angeles Times)

BY SAM KOROTKIN

You're watching multisource sports news analysis from Newsy.

Rewarded for losing? The UCLA Bruin football team has no problem with it.

The NCAA approved a waiver request by UCLA that allows the Bruins to play in a bowl game after the Pac 12 championship. UCLA finished the season six and six, but are big underdogs against Oregon in the Pac 12 championship, meaning they could head to a bowl game with a losing record. UCLA recently fired its head coach Rick Neuheisel and will coach his last game in the Pac 12 championship against Oregon.

Offensive coordinator Mike Johnson will serve as coach for its bowl game. Steve Mason of KSPN radio in LA says the team has met its requirements.

“They’re gonna be 6-7, but this is not the first bowl waiver that has been granted, it gets granted all the time. The Pac 12 conference doesn’t have enough 500 or better teams to fill its commitments. UCLA is number 6 and Pac 12 number 6 goes to the Kraft Stop Hunger game in San Francisco.”

USC actually placed first in the Pac 12 south division, but is ineligible to play in the Pac 12 championship because of NCAA sanctions. Therefore, second place UCLA will take its spot. ESPN’s Peter Yoon says it deserves to play in a bowl game.

“[UCLA] probably does [deserve it] simply because it doesn’t really deserve to be in the Pac-12 title game. UCLA lost conference games by such scores as 45-19, 48-12, 31-6 and 50-0, with three of those losses coming in the last six games.”

But the congratulations aren’t pouring in from everywhere. A writer from Beyond U Sports says it’s a shame that the Bruins will be in a bowl.

“Congratulations to the Bruins, as they’ve essentially been awarded millions of dollars for mediocrity. The sad part is that, as a result of the NCAA’s waiver, a deserving team will most likely be left out this bowl season. NCAA President Mark Emmert better be ready to receive hate mail from the passionate fan base whose team gets left out.”

And a writer from Fox Sports Arizona thinks rewarding the Bruins for their sub-par effort this year is a terrible move for the NCAA.

“A 6-7 season is not a success. It’s a losing season! But there’s a more pathetic scenario looming. If UCLA falls in a bowl game it could become the first team in NCAA history with a 6-8 mark. It’s an embarrassment to the school, the conference and the game of college football that such a potential exists.”

The 2001 North Texas Mean Green is the only team to have played in a bowl game with a losing record, when it played in the New Orleans Bowl and lost to finish 5-7.