The college football bowl games for 2025-26 will be announced on Sunday, including the College Football Playoff 12-team bracket and schedule.
Below we will live blog the bowl games and pairings as they are announced on Selection Day. The College Football Playoff 12-team field will be announced first beginning at 12:00pm ET on ESPN.
The 2025–26 college football bowl season kicks off on Saturday, Dec. 13, with the Cricket Celebration Bowl and the Bucked Up LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk.
The second edition of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff will feature four first-round games played at the campus sites of the higher-seeded teams. One matchup is set for Friday, Dec. 19, followed by three more on Saturday, Dec. 20.
Quarterfinal action begins on New Year’s Eve with the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Wednesday, Dec. 31. The remaining three quarterfinals will be held on New Year’s Day, Thursday, Jan. 1, at the Capital One Orange Bowl, the Rose Bowl Game, and the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
This season’s College Football Playoff Semifinals will be hosted by the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.
The road to the title concludes with the College Football Playoff National Championship, set for Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
For the complete list of games with date, time, and TV, check out our College Football Bowl Schedule and our College Football Playoff Schedule. Below we will live blog the playoff and bowl announcements and selections as they are announced.
FOOTBALL SCHEDULES
BOWL SCHEDULE UPDATES
9:10pm: Brett McMurphy has confirmed that Appalachian State has accepted the bid the JLab Birmingham Bowl and will face conference-mate Georgia Southern. And with that, the bowl schedule is complete.
6:00pm: “Multiple” 5-7 teams have reportedly turned down the Birmingham Bowl bid, including Rutgers. With that, I’m tapping out. Thanks for following along and supporting the site. I’m now going to where I needed to be 45 minutes ago.
5:03pm: Under no circumstance should there ever be an entry here that starts with a “5”. Sorry.
Georgia Southern will be one of the teams in the Birmingham Bowl. Now we just need to wait for them to scavenge up an opponent.
4:55pm: Just waiting on the Birmingham Bowl, from what I can tell. After that, our long national nightmare will finally end.
4:47pm: Our friend Cory Smith reports over at Pack Pride that it will be NC State and Memphis in the Gasparilla Bowl.
4:36pm: So it seems New York has won Clemson’s heart, as the Tigers will play Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl. Duke and Arizona State will play in the Sun, while Wake Forest ventures an hour and a half south to Charlotte to face Mississippi State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Louisville and Toledo will be the Boca Raton Bowl matchup, with Pitt and East Carolina in the Military Bowl.
4:19pm: FIU and UTSA will compose the First Responder Bowl. Kennesaw State and Western Michigan will venture to not-Myrtle Beach to play in the Myrtle Beach Bowl.
4:09pm: Now that Notre Dame has acted like a four-year-old, the ACC bids are coming in.
Pop Tarts: Georgia Tech vs. BYU
Holiday: SMU vs. Arizona
Gator: Virginia vs. Missouri
3:49pm: On3 reports that Notre Dame will not play in a bowl after being left out of the CFP. Sure, throw a temper tantrum. That’s completely becoming of an “elite” program.
3:47pm: I think the ACC will announce their bowl selections at ACC Media Days in August. This is ridiculous.
3:34pm: Another 5-7 team finds a postseason home, as Rice and Texas State will play in the Armed Forces Bowl. Western Kentucky and Southern Miss will square off in the New Orleans Bowl.
3:12pm: The GameAbove Sports Bowl (huh?) will be Northwestern and Central Michigan. Army and UConn will play in the Fenway Bowl.
3:01pm: Our first 5-7 team is set, as Mississippi State will play in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
2:47pm: More games:
New Mexico: San Diego State vs. North Texas
Independence: Louisiana Tech vs. Coastal Carolina
2:37pm: The Rate Bowl (that still feels weird to type) will feature Minnesota and New Mexico. UNLV and Ohio will play in the Frisco Bowl.
2:31pm: Jacksonville State and Troy will play in the Salute to Veterans Bowl, as reported by the Gamecocks in their ticket sales tweet. Additionally, Cincinnati will welcome Navy as the other half of their Liberty Bowl appearance.
2:18pm: Fresno State and Miami (OH) will play in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl, which, criminally, does not kick off at 4:20.
2:03pm: Some more announcements dribbling in:
ReliaQuest: Vanderbilt vs. Iowa
Music City: Illinois vs. Tennessee
Texas: LSU vs. Houston
Potato: Utah State vs. Washington State
1:50pm: The Alamo Bowl half-pairing we reported last night from Brett is now done. TCU will be USC’s opponent in San Antonio.
1:27pm: The first game to trickle in after the soap opera TV debacle comes courtesy of friend of the outlet Brett McMurphy. Most of these will come from Brett — please support his work.
Texas and Michigan will play in the Citrus Bowl.
12:57pm: While we’re waiting, let’s break down this comment from Nicole Auerbach. I’m not embedding the tweet.
“This is the worst selection committee we’ve ever had. Cannot believe Alabama didn’t even drop one spot after the SEC title game blowout. Cannot believe they waited until the final reveal to flip Miami-ND. Could have done it at ANY point.”
No, this is exactly what they were tasked to do. The committee isn’t bad. The premise is bad. If they flip the rankings before today, they lose the engagement. You stop watching. It’s the whole “will they or won’t they?” concept from sitcoms. Once the two leads get together, people stop watching.
The committee aren’t interested in the most logical conclusions. They’re interested in keeping you watching and arguing.
12:42pm: And here come the arguments about how “inclusivity” is bad, because how dare the garbage, undeserving G5 teams get a seat at the table. Let’s hang out and watch the rest of the matchups get revealed, instead of…this.
12:23pm: Here we go.
#1: Indiana (will play winner of Oklahoma-Alabama in Rose Bowl)
#2: Ohio State (will play winner of Texas A&M-Miami in Cotton Bowl)
#3: Georgia (will play winner of Ole Miss-Tulane in Sugar Bowl)
#4: Texas Tech (will play winner of Oregon-JMU in Orange Bowl)
#5: Oregon (will host)
#6: Ole Miss (will host)
#7: Texas A&M (will host)
#8: Oklahoma (will host)
#9: Alabama
#10: Miami
#11: Tulane
#12: JMU
12:13pm: Are people still enthralled by all this manufactured drama?
A quick note while we wait for such gems like, “We played, they didn’t” to make compelling arguments: It has been announced that Iowa State will opt out of a bowl. We are waiting to see who will replace them in whatever spot they had earned.
Playoff pairings coming in ~10 minutes.
1:01am: Brett McMurphy reports several things, which we’ll use to start off season number whatever this is of our annual time together!
- Indiana will get the 1 seed and head to the Rose Bowl, where it will play the winner of the 8-9 game.
- Louisiana and Delaware will play in the 68 Ventures Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.
- Boise State and Washington will play in the LA Bowl.
- USF and Old Dominion will participate in the Cure Bowl.
- Arkansas State and Missouri State will square off in the Xbox Bowl.
- The Hawai’i Bowl will feature Hawaii and Cal.
- Penn State will make up one half of the Pinstripe Bowl.
- Additional Big Ten/12 updates:
- Music City: Illinois (vs. SEC)
- Alamo: USC (vs. Big 12)
- ReliaQuest: Iowa (vs. SEC)
- Sun: Arizona State (vs. ACC)
- Citrus: Michigan (vs. SEC)
- Las Vegas: Nebraska vs. Utah
- Holiday: Arizona (vs. ACC)
Go back to the first 4 team playoff all those years ago. TCU is sitting at 3 in the ranking after Thanksgiving. Their season is done, no championship game. Fast forward to selection Sunday. TCU is now OUT of the playoff and Ohio St is in as they play the day before. The committee chair is asked “how did you drop TCU from 3 to out?” His answer? We don’t give any credence to the prior weeks ranking. They have no influence on the new rankings as we start from scratch. At that point I stopped watch the rankings shows as they are about as meaningful as an NFL preseason game. No one should be shocked at what has happened today. That said, everyone should realize that it is time to stop watching on a Tuesday night in November.
Looking forward to you guys posting all the bowl announcements. Always a great thing to follow during the NFL games today.
exactly
Bracket with a Mason-Dixon format:
Bowden:
1. Georgia (Sugar)
2. Texas Tech (Cotton)
6 Tulane at 3 Ole Miss (winner to Cotton)
5 Oklahoma at 4 Texas A&M (winner to Sugar)
Osborne:
1. Indiana (Rose)
2. Ohio State (Orange)
6 Utah at 3 Oregon (winner to Orange)
5 BYU at 4 Notre Dame (winner to Rose)
See this is why it’s important to do a Mason-Dixon format. To limit the amount of Southern teams in the playoff. ND would have gotten in this way.
CFP Mason-Dixon format is extremely unfair.
Z-Man you are showing so much hate towards the south & 99.9% of CFB fans want an equal & fair format & you do not give a crap about it & this is very sad.
Santa Claus is definitely no fan of CFP Mason-Dixon format
Pardon me for coming down very hard on you & Z-man you are making life more miserable on you this is Christmas Time buddy.
Can I mute the term “Mason-Dixon” on my own website? :)
It actually is more fair since it would give each side of the line an equal shot at the title.
Z-Man Nobody wants to watch a North-South CFB National Championship game there will be zero ratings.
If you want to continue live in Cleveland Northeastern Ohio Area, You will have to expect competition from other Sports. Real true CFB fans are in the south & you have to deal with it favor or opposed.
Most national titles since the dawn of the two-poll era in 1950 have been won by teams from the South. It needs to be harder for the South to continue its dominance of top-level college football now that we have a 12-team playoff, not easier. On top of this, there needs to be more CFP title games in cold-weather stadiums, where Southern teams are likely to struggle not accustomed to January weather in cities like East Rutherford, New Jersey (a suburb of NYC) and Green Bay, Wisconsin (home of the NFL team with the most titles, the Packers). It is now too late for Cleveland to host an outdoor CFP title game, as all title games through 2029 have been awarded, and the current Browns stadium is set to be replaced with a dome in suburban Brook Park.
And pro football, namely the NFL, is just as rife with unfairness as the college game. Here’s how:
1. The NFL has resisted more or less rotating the teams that play on Thanksgiving outside Detroit and Dallas. The Packers have been on Thanksgiving three years in a row now. Yeah, I get it, they’re a national draw, but even as I am a fan of them I find this ridiculous. There are still three NFL teams that have not played on Thanksgiving in my lifetime – the Browns, Jaguars, and Rams; the former team last appeared shortly before I was born.
2. The NFL no longer guarantees every team at least one primetime game. Back when Thursday Night Football was split between OTA and NFL Network, teams appearing in TNF games exclusively on the latter network were often those that did not make the playoffs the previous season, which I saw as punishing those teams for poor performance. The Browns were victims of this often. I had saw the move of TNF to Amazon as a win, since it would mean a level playing field like I desired. But that was revoked after just one year in favor of instituting flexible scheduling for TNF, which the Browns were victimized again last year as their TNF game against the Bengals was flexed out.
3. The NFL doesn’t rotate hosting rights to the Super Bowl among all 30 markets. Since coming back, the Browns have not played a home playoff game in their current venue, and it is now in danger of closing without ever hosting an NFL playoff game, The current stadium should get Super Bowl 62 as a means of sending the venue out in style.
Z-Man TV camera trucks can go out easily & so can generators & fans will leave stadium by Ambulance with frostbite injuries.
There is NO WAY that a cold weather city will host a CFP title game or Super Bowl that is totally impossible.
Unfortunately, Browns, Rams & Jaguars will continue its Thanksgiving play drought into next year wish I had better news for you buddy.
Z-Man Mason-Dixon CFP format is rated PG Political Garbage Suggested & most defiantly be muted.
You do realize it is an opinion and I am allowed to express my opinion right?
Z-Man I do not want to burst your bubble.
You are the only person that wants a north-south divide CFP format, more rivalry games than conference games & Michigan-Ohio State play at different time slot like 3:30PM & 7:30PM.
Your big problem you lack total respect of College Football & everything you post that nobody gives a crap about it excuse me for what I said & it’s all about politics instead of game itself.
CBS Sports would NOT want to hire an CFB analyst that would have proposals that are way out of line like CFP north-south divide, more rivalry games & Michigan-Ohio State playing at 3:30PM & 7:30PM.
Another issue you want everything to come at a heartbeat & I do not want to do this to you
your very impatience & you really need to settle down.
If want to continue be part of fbs schedules you need to be more focus on current happenings of College Football & it’s okay to suggest some proposals as long you respect sport & that something you need to work on buddy.
I am doing this because I really care about you & nobody in this world is perfect & we do are very best everyday & please enjoy Christmas time season.
It has nothing to do with politics. Not once have I brought up politics. You’re the one bringing it up Dan.
I do have respect for CFB. I have a lot of good ideas. You’re allowed to disagree with them but at least don’t attack me over them. I don’t criticize any of your ideas like that.
I was not sure about your personality & I am pleased that you got to share with & as always, I will do my very best.
All power conference teams should drop Notre Dame after being childish like this. What a way to show men growing into adults that if you don’t get what you want just quit.
It’s actually much better to decline the invitation than to have half your roster opt-out before losing a NY6 game by something like 63-3 and, even then, only because Kirby Smart is too gracious to win by 80.
Sound familiar?
LOL, those schools will do no such thing because they like money.
But it seems that a bunch of you folks on the Interwebs are relative teeny-boppers: Back in the day, it just wasn’t uncommon for college football teams to turn down exhibition, er, bowl game invites. The Domers went decades without deigning to attend any bowl.
Yes, Richard, here’s the thing about bowl games these days:
If ND goes to a bowl and wins, the efforts are dismissed as meaningless, as bowl games are now no more than glorified spring scrimmages at a different time of year.
But if they decide to politely side-step the whole charade, people are falling out of the sky screaming “bloody murder.”
ND lives rent-free in far too many heads.
Will you call all the other teams opting out of bowls children too? Your opinion will never change the fact that Notre Dame is ALWAYS in the national spotlight. Since the players voted not to play, you have to respect their decision. 18-22 year olds are kids still. But they are not throwing a temper tantrum, they are making decisions based on what is best for them. Respect their decision. Respect the kids that play for the love of the game. Don’t think for one second this was an easy decision for any of them.
I am sure that anyone tuning in to watch Tulane and James Madison get their butts kicked will wonder when the committee and BCS rules will make the playoffs actually interesting to watch.
I rather see Notre Dame Football on national television every week during regular season rather than playing College Football playoff bracket fair enough.
We finally have a second team for the Birmingham Bowl. It is Appalachian State, which means Deeper Than Hate will be renewed a second time this year. It will be the first postseason game in the rivalry since a 2001 FCS playoff game.
CFB have no place for the word hate Z-Man.
Deeper Than Hate is the actual name of the rivalry. Look it up.
Sorry Z-Man as a Christian & Lutheran I really do not believe in word hate.
It’s okay to say dislike
It’s not okay to say hate.
Kevin Fully agree with you Mason-Dixon have nothing to do with College Football & that is a bunch of garbage.
Will you call all the other teams opting out of bowls children too? Your opinion will never change the fact that Notre Dame is ALWAYS in the national spotlight. Since the players voted not to play, you have to respect their decision. 18-22 year olds are kids still. But they are not throwing a temper tantrum, they are making decisions based on what is best for them. Respect their decision. Respect the kids that play for the love of the game. Don’t think for one second this was an easy decision for any of them.
I am sure that anyone tuning in to watch Tulane and James Madison get their butts kicked will wonder when the committee and BCS rules will make the playoffs actually interesting to watch.