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College football bowl games: 2020-21 selections, schedule

By Brian Wilmer - December 20, 2020
College football bowl games

Photo: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The college football bowl games for 2020-21 will be announced throughout the week, with the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six selections and schedule appearing on Sunday.

Due to the regular-season being pushed back to conclude on Saturday, Dec. 19, several bowl game matchups and invitations have already been announced.

Below we will live blog the bowl games and pairings as they are announced on Sunday. The College Football Playoff Semifinals are expected to be announced first at 12:15pm ET on ESPN.

Bowl games hosting the College Football Playoff Semifinals this season are the Rose Bowl Game at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif., and the Allstate Sugar Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, La.

At 3:00pm ET, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee will announce the New Year’s Six bowl game pairings. Those four games this season include the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Atlanta, Ga.), Goodyear Cotton Bowl (Arlington, Texas), PlayStation Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, Ariz.), and Capital One Orange Bowl (Miami, Fla.).

This season’s College Football Playoff National Championship will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Monday, Jan. 11, 2021.

For the complete list of games with date, time, and TV, check out our College Football Bowl Schedule and our College Football Playoff Schedule.

FOOTBALL SCHEDULES

BOWL SCHEDULE UPDATES

Sunday, 5:18pm:  We seem to have hit a holding pattern while they decide who can fill out the remaining games. I’ll return a bit later with any updates. Thanks for hanging out today – see you soon!

Sunday, 5:05pm:  The Independence Bowl has now been canceled.

Sunday, 4:44pm:  Tennessee stays in-state, trekking to Memphis for a Liberty Bowl date with West Virginia.

Sunday, 4:40pm:  Interesting Texas Bowl matchup — Arkansas vs. TCU.

Sunday, 4:37pm (!):  No Guaranteed Rate Bowl this year. The bowl is a casualty of COVID-related opt-outs.

Also, Indiana vs. Ole Miss in the Outback Bowl.

Sunday, 4:07pm:  As the SEC schedules its final few games, it announces Kentucky vs. NC State in the Gator Bowl.

Sunday, 3:45pm:  Missouri vs. Iowa in the Music City Bowl.

Sunday, 3:44pm: Drip, drip, drip…

UAB will play in the Gasparilla Bowl.

Sunday, 3:19pm:  Louisiana vs. UTSA in the First Responders Bowl.

Sunday, 3:18pm:

Sunday, 3:16pm:  West Virginia heads to the Liberty Bowl.

Sunday, 3:14pm:

Sunday, 3:11pm:  It’ll be Northwestern vs. Auburn in the Citrus Bowl.

Sunday, 3:07pm:  TCU heads to the Texas Bowl.

Also, Alamo:  Texas vs. Colorado

Sunday, 3:04pm:  Oklahoma State joins an ACC club.

Cheez-It:  Oklahoma State vs. Miami

Sunday, 2:33pm:  The first domino to fall in over two hours, as Oklahoma-Florida will be the Cotton Bowl matchup.

Also:

Peach:  Cincinnati vs. Georgia
Fiesta:  Oregon vs. Iowa State
Orange:  Texas A&M vs. North Carolina (we knew this already, but)

Sunday, 2:00pm:  I’ll just go ahead and let our good friend Jon sum up this day:

Sunday, 12:30pm:  Some more announcements:

Texas A&M #5, Oklahoma #6.

Orange:  North Carolina vs. Texas A&M
Cheez-It:  Miami
Gator:  NC State
Duke’s Mayo:  Wake Forest

Sunday, 12:29pm:  Notre Dame’s #4. Notre Dame vs. Alabama in New Orleans.

Anyone surprised? Legitimately?

Sunday, 12:25pm:  The playoff standings, finally!

  1. Alabama
  2. Clemson
  3. Ohio State

And now ESPN’s going to delay the rest, because of course they are.

Ohio State-Clemson on New Year’s Day in Arlington. We know that, at least.

Sunday, 12:19pm:  Another Big Ten team falls, ensuring some upcoming chaos:

Sunday, Noon:  Good day, friends! I’ll again be your tour guide through the bowl announcements, playoff teams, and other various announcements. The interesting questions will be whether the Big Ten will relax its COVID protocols, and whether we even have enough teams to play a full bowl schedule. Ride along and leave your thoughts in the comments section!

Some more of the bowl matchups we know thus far:

Camellia:  Marshall vs. Buffalo
Arizona:  Ball State vs. San Jose State

Friday PM (again):  Add Washington to this increasingly crazy list of opt-outs.

Friday PM:  Utah is now out of a bowl game. Here’s the latest list of opt-outs:

Thursday PM:  Another team has bailed on the postseason:

 

Wednesday PM:  More teams have bowed out of bowl games. Virginia Tech and Kansas State declined bids Wednesday — which didn’t seem to move the needle much, aside from Tech’s 27-season bowl streak coming to an end.

Then came the big one.

It was (somewhere) spoiled early Wednesday afternoon via this tweet:

The Aztecs apparently didn’t get the answer for which they hoped, so they’ll also be out.

Current opt-out tracker:
ACC (6):  Pitt, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Louisville
Big 12 (1):  Kansas State
Mountain West (1):  San Diego State
Pac-12 (1):  Stanford

Tuesday PM:  Another bowl game bites the dust. The Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl has been canceled, due to COVID cases within the SMU program. UTSA will now participate in the SERVPRO First Responders Bowl — ironically, enough, to be played at SMU’s Gerald J. Ford Stadium.

Monday PM:  Some more significant items were unveiled over the last few hours, including:

  • No worry about the Coogs: The concern over BYU being denied a bowl bid was short-lived, as the Cougars announced Monday that they’ll head to the Boca Raton Bowl to face UCF. This will be just the third battle between the two combatants, with the most recent a 31-24 Knights victory in Orlando on October 9, 2014.
  • Another ACC opt-out:  Georgia Tech announced Monday afternoon it, too, would eschew a bowl appearance. This makes the fifth club — and fourth from the ACC — to make such an announcement.
  • Nawlins gets its pair:  Georgia Southern and Louisiana Tech will square off in the R + L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. The Bulldogs confirmed that announcement earlier in the day:

  • Frisco fiasco: Frisco Bowl, we hardly knew ye. Says McMurphy:

  • By the time I get to Tucson: We know that the reward for the Mountain West champion will be a trip to the desert, as well.

What a crazy day. Let’s do it again soon, shall we?

Monday AM:  Hi again, friends! Brian here, and we’ll go through year number nine of revealing bowl selections as we’re made aware of them. The process won’t be as chaotic this year as it usually is — well, okay, maybe it will be, but in a different sense — especially considering how many teams have opted out.

Opt-outs as of this writing:  Pittsburgh (ACC), Boston College (ACC), Virginia (ACC), Stanford (Pac-12).

It’s been suggested that BYU and Liberty may be left out of bowls altogether, which seems unconscionable with the Cougars and Flames at 10-1 and 9-1, respectively. Both teams spent significant time in the top 25 this season, further bolstering their cases. However, with just north of 30 bowl games — for now — scheduled to be played, the proverbial music may stop with the two schools too far away to grab a chair.

Here’s the list of commitments thus far, per Stadium’s Brett McMurphy:

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