I’ll update this post as selections are announced. If I miss anything, feel free to comment!
All times Eastern.
Saturday, December 16th
| Bowl | Team | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myrtle Beach Bowl | Georgia Southern | Ohio | 11:00 AM, ESPN, Brooks Stadium, Conway, SC |
| Cricket Celebration Bowl | Howard | Florida A&M | 12:00 PM, ABC, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA |
| R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl | Louisiana | Jacksonville State | 2:15 PM, ESPN, Ceasars Superdome, New Orleans, LA |
| Avocados from Mexico Cure Bowl | Appalachian State | Miami (OH) | 3:30 PM, ABC, FBC Mortgage Stadium, Orlando, FL |
| Isleta New Mexico Bowl | New Mexico State | Fresno State | 5:45 PM, ESPN, University Stadium, Albuquerque, NM |
| LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk | Boise State | UCLA | 7:30 PM, ABC, SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CA |
| Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl | Texas Tech | Cal | 9:15 PM, ESPN, Independence Stadium, Shreveport, LA |
Monday, December 18th
| Bowl | Team | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Famous Toastery Bowl | Western Kentucky | Old Dominion | 2:30 PM, ESPN, Jerry Richardson Stadium, Charlotte, NC |
Tuesday, December 19th
| Bowl | Team | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl | Marshall | UTSA | 9:00 PM, ESPN, Toyota Stadium, Frisco, TX |
Thursday, December 21st
| Bowl | Team | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roofclaim(dot)com Boca Raton Bowl | South Florida | Syracuse | 8:00 PM, ESPN, FAU Stadium, Boca Raton, FL |
Friday, December 22nd
| Bowl | Team | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl | UCF | Duke | 6:30 PM, ESPN, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL |
Saturday, December 23rd
| Bowl | Team | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camellia Bowl | Arkansas State | Northern Illinois | 12:00 PM, ESPN, Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, AL |
| Birmingham Bowl | Georgia Tech | Troy | 12:00 PM, ABC, Protective Stadium, Birmingham, AL |
| Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl | James Madison | Air Force | 3:30 PM, ABC, Amon G. Carter Stadium, Fort Worth, TX |
| Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | Utah State | Georgia State | 3:30 PM, ESPN, Albertsons Stadium, Boise, ID |
| 68 Ventures Bowl | South Alabama | Eastern Michigan | 7:00 PM, ESPN, Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile, AL |
| SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl | Northwestern | Utah | 7:30 PM, ABC, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV |
| Easypost Hawai’i Bowl | San José State | Coastal Carolina | 10:30 PM, ESPN, Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex, Honolulu, HI |
Tuesday, December 26th
| Bowl | Team | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Lane Bowl | Bowling Green | Minnesota | 2:00 PM, ESPN, Ford Field, Detroit, MI |
| SERVPRO First Responder Bowl | Texas State | Rice | 5:30 PM, ESPN, Gerald J. Ford Stadium, Dallas, TX |
| Guaranteed Rate Bowl | Kansas | UNLV | 9:00 PM, ESPN, Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ |
Wednesday, December 27th
| Bowl | Team | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Military Bowl Presented by GoBowling(dot)com | Tulane | Virginia Tech | 2:00 PM, ESPN, Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis, MD |
| Duke’s Mayo Bowl | North Carolina | West Virginia | 5:30 PM, ESPN, Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC |
| DIRECTV Holiday Bowl | Louisville | USC | 8:00 PM, FOX, Petco Park, San Diego, CA |
| TaxAct Texas Bowl | Oklahoma State | Texas A&M | 9:00 PM, ESPN, NRG Stadium, Houston, TX |
Thursday, December 28th
| Bowl | Team | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wasabi Fenway Bowl | SMU | Boston College | 11:00 AM, ESPN, Fenway Park, Boston, MA |
| Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl | Miami (FL) | Rutgers | 2:15 PM, ESPN, Yankee Stadium, New York, NY |
| Pop-Tarts Bowl | NC State | Kansas State | 5:45 PM, ESPN, Camping World Stadium, Orlando, FL |
| Valero Alamo Bowl | Oklahoma | Arizona | 9:15 PM, ESPN, Alamodome, San Antonio, TX |
Friday, December 29th
| Bowl | Team | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| TaxSlayer Gator Bowl | Clemson | Kentucky | 12:00 PM, ESPN, EverBank Field, Jacksonville, FL |
| Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl | Oregon State | Notre Dame | 2:00 PM, CBS, Sun Bowl Stadium, El Paso, TX |
| Autozone Liberty Bowl | Iowa State | Memphis | 3:30 PM, ESPN, Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, Memphis, TN |
| Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic | Ohio State | Missouri | 8:00 PM, ESPN, AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX |
Saturday, December 30th
| Bowl | Team | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl | Penn State | Ole Miss | 12:00 PM, ESPN, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA |
| Transperfect Music City Bowl | Auburn | Maryland | 2:00 PM, ABC, Nissan Stadium, Nashville, TN |
| Capital One Orange Bowl | Florida State | Georgia | 4:00 PM, ESPN, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, FL |
| Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl | Toledo | Wyoming | 4:30 PM, The CW, Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ |
Monday, January 1st
| Bowl | Team | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReliaQuest Bowl | LSU | Wisconsin | 12:00 PM, ESPN2, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL |
| Cheez-It Citrus Bowl | Iowa | Tennessee | 1:00 PM, ABC, Camping World Stadium, Orlando, FL |
| VRBO Fiesta Bowl | Oregon | Liberty | 1:00 PM, ESPN, State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ |
| Rose Bowl Presented by Prudential | Michigan | Alabama | 5:00 PM, ESPN, Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA, CFP Semifinal |
| Allstate Sugar Bowl | Washington | Texas | 8:45 PM, ESPN, Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, LA, CFP Semifinal |
Michigan, Washington, Florida State, Texas
I think this has to be it. There’s no way to justify putting an SEC team in over any of these teams this year. Undefeated conference champs are all locks, regardless of how you feel about strength of conferences, you just can’t leave out a P5 team that literally hasn’t lost unless there’s 5 of them. So, last spot is between Texas, Bama, Georgia, Ohio State.
All have fairly similar resumes, except one of them is a conference champion, and beat another one head to head. That puts them over the top.
You could argue (correctly) they also have the worst loss of the 4, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives, and that was in a rivalry game where things are always a little weird. And it’s not like Oklahoma is outright bad. Plus it took some last second heroics. While it’s the worst loss of those 4, it’s not a bad loss. So I think you have to put in the conference champion.
So, sorry SEC fans, it’s your turn to learn how it feels to have a team that’s probably good enough to win left out of the playoffs. That’s how it goes.
Edit: welp, I was wrong. FSU got screwed. That’s disappointing. Can’t wait for a real playoff.
There’s just no way an sec team isn’t in I think
They are certainly campaigning for us to all believe that. Maybe NOT this time.
THEY CAN’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT
Michigan, Washington, Alabama, FSU, Texas.
Top 5, in that order.
Texas beat Alabama in head to head.
Yes they did. And that’s one criterion they can use amongst many. It’s generally used for tiebreakers.
I also think they’ll consider Alabama the better team right now, without the need for a tiebreaker. I also think they’ll use FSU on purpose to create separation so they can avoid the tie-breaker discussion.
Edit: Can we leave downvoting for disagreeing on the other site? If you don’t like conversation, what are you even doing here?
I’m with you there. Disappointing to see them being used by some folks for disagreement. (FWIW, I do think you have a bad take in this argument, but it doesn’t merit downvotes)
And it looks like I was wrong. But I was definitely not expecting Texas to jump FSU. That actually shocks me a bit.
Just for the record, I did think they were going to find some way to put Alabama in and justify it. But I was not expecting it like this.
Strength of schedule is real though. Who cares if FSU is undefeated they’ve only played two ranked teams this season.
3, LSU, Clemson, and Louisville
But yeah, the criteria changes constantly. Who would win, who has the best win, head to head, worst loss, conference championship, undefeated, SOS, SOV. It’s whatever they feel like.
Until this year, fairly sensible hierarchy had emerged.
Notre Dame would slot in as 1.a or 2.a whenever they had 0 or 1 losses. This is the first time that the unstated guidance wasn’t followed. While the Florida fan part of me finds that hilarious, it is also concerning. The dreaded “eye test,” which seemed mostly to be eyeing TV ratings, was only used to break ties. The 12-team will have controversies of its own, but at a minimum, almost everyone’s argument for who they would have voted number 1 in a poll should be able to get in.