TALLAHASSEE, FLA. ? An academic cheating scandal could leave Florida State without as many as 25 players for its Music City Bowl game against Kentucky on New Year’s Eve, coach Bobby Bowden said Tuesday.

It was the latest off-field blow to a once-proud program trying to regain its footing as a national power.

“We have some players not traveling for one reason and some for another, including those who are ineligible for the bowl because of academic issues,” Bowden said in a statement released by the university.

Federal privacy laws prohibit the school from releasing names.

“We don’t know what that number is going to end up being exactly, but we know that’s a rough figure,” assistant athletic director Rob Wilson said Tuesday. “It’s an issue where we’re being extra cautious.”