While one win doesn’t make a season, the Rutgers upset over Michigan State to open the B1G football season on Saturday has given Scarlet Knights fans reason to think of a potential bowl bid.

The Scarlet Knights snapped a 21-game Big Ten losing streak with their 38-27 win over Michigan State, and entering the contest they were a longshot, at best, to come away from East Lansing with a win.

So what that means is, the win, coupled with the NCAA Division I Council’s announcement that it was lifting the restriction on playing a mandatory amount of games when considering bowl eligibility requirements, greatly improved the chances that Rutgers can earn its first bowl bid since 2014

In the past, the standard for consideration of an opportunity to play in bowl games was at least a .500 record and six wins. But in this unique, shortened schedule season, there may not be enough teams to meet that criteria – causing schools to be selected based on their Academic Progress Rate score.

“There’s no bowl-eligibility requirements this year,” Nick Carparelli, the executive director at Bowl Season, a coalition of the 44 postseason games that was formerly called the Football Bowl Association. “So what that means is the contracts that each conference has in place with their bowl partners will be honored by whatever requirements the conference and bowls agree to.”

With the new rule, the Scarlet Knights could conceivably finish with a 3-6 record and still have a realistic shot at earning a bowl bid when the season comes to a close in December.

“I think there are a number of ways that Rutgers can get to a bowl game this year that they may not have been able to in the past,” Carparelli told NJ Advance Media.

While some fans will harp on the idea of so many teams active in bowl season, that extra game could prove especially beneficial to a team like Rutgers. The extra practices leading up to a bowl game and meaningful snaps in the postseason can provide much needed experience for a team in transition.