Finally, with all of the college football games (aside from Army-Navy) complete, we can look ahead to the bowl season. Teams will find out where they’re going bowling at some point on Sunday, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t try to tell you where every team will be going. We’ve been patiently tracking rumors and conversations about who will be going where. After patiently dealing with all of the rules and regulations for each conference, here are my best guesses as to every bowl matchup.
Remember: Nowadays, bowl projections are more of an art than a science. Most conferences no longer allow the bowls to select teams in order, but instead provide “pools” of teams for certain tiers of bowls. The Group of 5 conferences essentially have no selection order preference. The conferences then work with the bowls to determine which team goes where. Anything can be the cause for this–geography, fan interests, matchup quality, whether the conference thinks its team is more likely to win, or any other reason. Therefore, at the end of this article, I will provide a list of which conference pools would be tied to which bowl. That way, you have as much information as possible when figuring out where each team could be headed.
79 teams are bowl-eligible this year, and there are 78 slots available in bowl games. Right now, I have Eastern Michigan being the unlucky team that will stay home, though it could definitely be Toledo or Kent State.
I will also update these for the next few hours Saturday night if any credible rumors come in.
College Football Playoff
| Peach Bowl | Sat, Dec 28, 4:00 PM | LSU | vs | Oklahoma |
| Fiesta Bowl | Sat, Dec 28, 8:00 PM | Ohio State | vs | Clemson |
This is simple enough. No. 1 plays No. 4, and No. 2 plays No. 3. The committee will ensure that the No. 1 team is not given a geographic disadvantage, so LSU will get the Peach Bowl against Oklahoma.
The times for these matchups are flexible and not yet set, but given that Ohio State vs Clemson will by far be the bigger draw, I expect that to be the game given prime time billing.
Next… NY6 and other Big Ten bowls
New Years’ Six Bowl Games
| Cotton Bowl Classic | Sat, Dec 28, Noon | Penn State | vs | Memphis |
| Orange Bowl | Mon, Dec 30, 8:00 PM | Virginia | vs | Florida |
| Rose Bowl Game | Wed, Jan 1, 5:00 PM | Wisconsin | vs | Oregon |
| Sugar Bowl | Wed, Jan 1, 8:45 PM | Georgia | vs | Baylor |
The NY6 bowls are straightforward enough. The Rose Bowl gets the top teams from the Big Ten and Pac 12, while the Sugar Bowl gets the same from the SEC and Big 12. In the Pac 12’s case, the champion goes because it isn’t in the Playoff.
The ACC finally has a second ranked team, so we’ll put Virginia into the Orange Bowl. The other Orange Bowl slot goes to the highest-ranked remaining Big Ten or SEC team, which will be Florida.
The highest remaining at-large is Penn State, and the Bears face the highest-ranked Group of 5 champion, which will be Memphis.
There could be a slight chance that Utah stays ahead of Penn State and gets into the Cotton Bowl, which will trickle on through the rest of the bowls.
Other Big Ten Bowl Games
| Pinstripe Bowl | Fri, Dec 27, 3:20 PM | Michigan State | vs | Pitt |
| Holiday Bowl | Fri, Dec 27, 8:00 PM | Iowa | vs | USC |
| Redbox Bowl | Mon, Dec 30, 12:30 PM | Illinois | vs | California |
| Citrus Bowl | Wed, Jan 1, 1:00 PM | Michigan | vs | Alabama |
| Outback Bowl | Wed, Jan 1, 1:00 PM | Minnesota | vs | Auburn |
| Gator Bowl | Thu, Jan 2, 7:00 PM | Indiana | vs | Kentucky |
That Michigan vs Alabama game will be too tempting for the Citrus Bowl to pass up. After that, things are somewhat simple. The Outback Bowl can only really take Minnesota, which leaves Iowa for the Holiday and Indiana in the Gator Bowl. Michigan State was in the Redbox Bowl last year, so the Spartans go to the Pinstripe and Illinois gets the Redbox.
Next… All other bowl games
2019-2020 Bowl Games
| Bahamas Bowl | Fri, Dec 20, 2:00 PM | Charlotte | vs | Buffalo |
| Frisco Bowl | Fri, Dec 20, 7:30 PM | Tulane | vs | UAB |
| New Mexico Bowl | Sat, Dec 21, 2:00 PM | Western Kentucky | vs | Wyoming |
| Cure Bowl | Sat, Dec 21, 2:30 PM | Nevada | vs | Georgia Southern |
| Boca Raton Bowl | Sat, Dec 21, 3:30 PM | FIU | vs | Western Michigan |
| Camellia Bowl | Sat, Dec 21, 5:30 PM | Central Michigan | vs | Georgia State |
| Las Vegas Bowl | Sat, Dec 21, 7:30 PM | Washington | vs | Boise State |
| New Orleans Bowl | Sat, Dec 21, 9:00 PM | Louisiana Tech | vs | Appalachian State |
| Gasparilla Bowl | Mon, Dec 23, 2:30 PM | Marshall | vs | UCF |
| Hawai’i Bowl | Tue, Dec 24, 8:00 PM | BYU | vs | Hawaii |
| Independence Bowl | Thu, Dec 26, 4:00 PM | Miami (FL) | vs | Southern Miss |
| Military Bowl | Fri, Dec 27, Noon | Temple | vs | North Carolina |
| Quick Lane Bowl | Thu, Dec 26, 8:00 PM | Toledo | vs | Florida State |
| Texas Bowl | Fri, Dec 27, 6:45 PM | Iowa State | vs | Tennessee |
| Cheez-It Bowl | Fri, Dec 27, 10:15 PM | Texas A&M | vs | Kansas State |
| Camping World Bowl | Sat, Dec 28, Noon | Oklahoma State | vs | Notre Dame |
| First Responder Bowl | Mon, Dec 30, 12:30 PM | SMU | vs | FAU |
| Music City Bowl | Mon, Dec 30, 12:30 PM | Tennessee | vs | Louisville |
| Belk Bowl | Tue, Dec 31, Noon | Mississippi State | vs | Virginia Tech |
| Sun Bowl | Tue, Dec 31, 2:00 PM | Arizona State | vs | Wake Forest |
| Liberty Bowl | Tue, Dec 31, 3:45 PM | Iowa State | vs | Navy |
| Arizona Bowl | Tue, Dec 31, 4:30 PM | Arkansas State | vs | Utah State |
| Alamo Bowl | Tue, Dec 31, 7:30 PM | Utah | vs | Texas |
| Birmingham Bowl | Thu, Jan 2, 3:00 PM | Cincinnati | vs | Boston College |
| Idaho Potato Bowl | Fri, Jan 3, 3:30 PM | Ohio | vs | Liberty |
| Armed Forces Bowl | Sat, Jan 4, 11;30 AM | Air Force | vs | Kent State |
| LendingTree Bowl | Mon, Jan 6, 7:30 PM | Miami (OH) | vs | Louisiana |
One of the toughest things with this bowl lineup is that BYU took over the Mountain West’s Hawaii Bowl slot. That means that Hawaii will have to travel to the mainland to compete in its bowl game. For that to happen, Hawaii will need a decently high-profile game. Because there aren’t any great options for that, I’m leaving Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl, and the AAC gets a team in the Liberty Bowl to compensate for that. There are a dozen ways that the Hawaii mess can be resolved, but this is the best one for now.
I do have to point out another important item. ESPN has the right to shuffle around bowl teams between games that ESPN owns. The network has done this before, though it is relatively rare. It might make sense to do so in order to facilitate a better game for Hawaii, or maybe keep Hawaii on the Islands.
A great example where this might occur is with Boise State. The Mountain West and ESPN would love to see a 12-1 Boise State team get a better matchup than a middle-of-the-pack Pac 12 team. I have a feeling that an Armed Forces Bowl matchup with Appalachian State might be a good option there, as it would also allow the New Orleans Bowl to get a coveted Louisiana vs Louisiana Tech matchup. Still, I think that a Boise State vs Washington matchup for Chris Petersen’s (potentially) final game would be an equally acceptable matchup, and it’s much simpler to set up.
Next… What are the bowl pools?
ACC
The ACC has a “Tier I” bowl pool consisting of the Sun, Belk, Music City, and Pinstripe Bowls. After Notre Dame is selected for the Camping World Bowl, the next group of four teams, as of now, will be Virginia Tech, Pitt, Wake Forest, and Louisville. Pitt played in the Sun Bowl last year, so don’t expect a repeat of that.
Big Ten
The Big Ten bowl situation is complicated. In essence, the league works with all of its bowls to secure the best possible destination. However, the contracts stipulate that, for the main Big Ten bowls, that each bowl needs at least five different teams in six years. This is the sixth and final year of these contracts. The Outback Bowl is the only bowl to not meet that stipulation yet. Therefore, the Outback Bowl cannot host Iowa, Wisconsin, or Michigan this year. I explain, in detail, all of the issues for the selections for every Big Ten bowl in another post.
SEC
The SEC has a pool of six bowls. Those will be Texas A&M, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi State for the Outback, Gator, Music City, Texas, Belk, and Liberty Bowls. Because of Missouri’s pending bowl ban, the weakness of the SEC’s bottom teams this year (and with four SEC teams currently in NY6 slots), there will only be four teams for this pool of six bowls. Therefore, the Liberty and Texas Bowls will not get an SEC team.
