Nicole Auerbach

USA TODAY Sports

Thirty-six NCAA teams in Division I will be ineligible for 2014-15 postseason competition after falling short of their multi-year Academic Progress Rates (APR) standards. Oklahoma State football, a Bowl Championship Series contender in recent years, almost became the 37th, but avoided the ban by 3.54 points.

Nine football teams are among the 36, most notably UNLV and Idaho. There will also be eight men's basketball teams banned from competing in the NCAA tournament: Alabama State, Appalachian State, Florida A&M, Houston Baptist, Lamar, San Jose State, Central Arkansas and Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The number – up from 13 last season – is a significant increase but it does not come as a surprise, as the NCAA has raised its multi-year benchmark from 900 to 930 (or a 940 average over the past two years). The 930 number equates roughly to a 50% graduation rate.

"We've had a number of situations where, because of weak performance in the classroom, a school is being banned from postseason play," NCAA president Mark Emmert said on a teleconference with reporters Wednesday. "Student-athletes who are struggling in the classroom need to be more attentive to what's going on there instead of worrying about the postseason. Similarly, programs who have not been supporting the academic success of their student-athletes need to be more attentive to that – that was the intention of the membership putting this rule in place. It's having, I think, its intended impact."

APR calculates academic progress of each Division I scholarship athlete and counts eligibility, retention and graduation. The most recent APRs, announced Wednesday afternoon by the NCAA, are multi-year rates based on the rates from the 2009-10, 2010- 11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic years.

Some programs that scored below the 930 benchmark face APR penalties in addition to or in lieu of the postseason ban. Oklahoma State's football program is one of 42 teams facing Level One penalties, which are practice restrictions. An Oklahoma State spokesman said the Cowboys will lose two hours of practice time per week in season. The Cowboys also must limit their practices to a five-day window each week. Oklahoma State football posted a multi-year APR of 929.41.

The Cowboys avoided a postseason ban, however, because its two-year APR average is 943.54.

"We are taking steps to ensure that our APR numbers improve moving forward," Mike Holder, Oklahoma State's athletics director, said in a statement from the school. "We are accountable for what we do and ultimately, we are here to serve our student-athletes and do our best to keep them on track to be lifelong contributors to society."

A person with direct knowledge of Oklahoma State's situation but who was not authorized to speak publicly said the Cowboys probably will cease their customary Sunday evening practice, which was a brief on-field session used to correct mistakes from the previous day's game. They've always had Mondays off.

The person also said Oklahoma State originally was going to get a four-hour per week penalty, but appealed and got it reduced to two hours week penalty.

UNLV (925) and Idaho (901) also face Level One penalties, which typically cause teams to lose four hours of practice time per week in season, to be replaced by academic activities.

Other than Oklahoma State, Texas A&M men's basketball (912) was the only football or men's basketball team from a "Power Five" conference to fall short of the 930 standard. Two other FBS programs, UTEP (928) and New Mexico State (915), also fell short of 930.

According to the NCAA, there are a variety of reasons teams could be below 930 and remain eligible for the postseason, including if they:

Averaged a 940 over the past two years (this is the last year this "escape" will be available). This is how Oklahoma State football and Texas A&M basketball each avoided a postseason ban.

Qualified for the more flexible transition to the 930 benchmark (this is for limited-resource institutions)

Faced their second consecutive year of postseason ineligibility and averaged a 950 over the past two years

Fourteen teams face Level Two penalties, which include a reduction of practice time and the elimination of the non-championship season, spring football or a reduced number of contests. One team – the New Orleans men's basketball team – faces Level Three penalties, which include all of the previous levels and more additional penalties.

One part of the APR data that stands out each year is how great the divide is between limited-resource and high-resource schools. Though there have been some gains -- the 2012-13 APR for teams at limited-resource schools is 962, up 15 points in the past three years; at historically black colleges and universities, the multi-year APR is 953, up 23 in the last three years -- there's still a very noticeable gap.

Nineteen percent of all limited-resource school teams still fell below the 930 threshold in 2012-13, compared to just 5% of teams from other schools and 3% from the five power conferences. Half of the 36 teams banned from the postseason this upcoming school year hail from historically black colleges and universities.

"While numbers continue to improve among low-resource institutions, these institutions, which comprise a diverse group of institutions but certainly do include a great number of historically black colleges and universities, still need financial assistance to improve the academic performance of their student-athletes," said University of Hartford president Walter Harrison, the chairman of the NCAA committee on academic performance. "The NCAA will continue to provide what help we can, both financial help and advice.

"All of us have to work on this continuing problem."

Said Emmert: "While there are significant challenges, we are headed in the right direction. We feel good about it, but you never feel good about having to restrict anyone from postseason play. It is not anyone's choice, but it does have the impact of getting schools focused.''

On a more positive note, the 13 football programs that earned the Public Recognition Award this year for posting APRs in the top 10% of FBS are: Boise State, Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Northwestern, Rutgers, Stanford, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, Wisconsin and Utah State.

Boise State, Clemson, Duke, Northwestern and Rutgers are the only FBS programs to finish in the top 10% each of the past four years.​

Contributing: George Schroeder