This article is from the College Bowl FAQ, by George Atendido aten0001@tc.umn.edu with numerous contributions by others.
For CB, it's simple. The 15 region winners go. In addition, one randomly
selected second place team goes as the wild card, making a 16-team field.
In the event that a region winner cannot attend, the region's #2 team goes
in its place, and so on.
For ACF it's slightly more complicated. ACF has a few regional tournaments,
at which the top few finishers at each qualify for nationals. In addition,
the hosts of each regional tournament and some ACF-registered
invitationals receive automatic bids. Also, teams can receive automatic
bids for good performances at invitationals. Finally, if there are any
slots available, the ACF committee will accept appeals for consideration.
For HCASC, see the description in question 2a.
 
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