I kept wondering how UT, with their hundreds of infractions and numerous Level 1s, could avoid a bowl ban. So apparently the state of Tennessee had decided the best route to protect UT and it's players was to pass a law that was a FU to the NCAA. It does not permit the NCAA from banning the school from bowls. The law got tailored specifically to protect UT. Then shortly before the hearing on the their infractions the AG sent the NCAA a letter threatening to take them to court and that Tennessee law overrode what the NCAA could do.

According to the the Knoxville paper it worked.

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/sports/college/university-of-tennessee/fo...

At this point it appears that if a given state wants to protect a school within it's jurisdiction from the NCAA it can, or at least create enough of a threat that the toothless NCAA will back down.