The college football bowl schedule for 2017-18 is set to be announced today, including the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six games.
Below we will live blog the games and pairings as they are announced. For the complete list of games, check out our Bowl Schedule.
BOWL SCHEDULE UPDATES
Before we start, here’s what we know:
Celebration Bowl – Grambling State (SWAC) vs. North Carolina A&T (MEAC)
Bahamas Bowl – UAB vs. Ohio
Armed Forces Bowl – Army
12:06PM ET – Good afternoon, everyone! We’re just settling in for this seemingly days-long rehash of everything we’ve already seen this year over on ESPN. Hang with us this afternoon for bowl updates as we receive them!
12:16PM ET – While we wait, I’m reduced to making jokes:
12:24PM ET – ESPN tweeted nearly 15 minutes ago that the rankings are in, but they are still “building the graphics”. They have 83 analysts and one graphics person, apparently.
12:31PM ET – We finally have the rankings!
1. Clemson (12-1)
2. Oklahoma (12-1)
3. Georgia (12-1)
4. Alabama (11-1)
5. Ohio State (11-2)
6. Wisconsin (12-1)
12:39PM ET – We already knew the first two matchups, but Brett McMurphy shares the Orange Bowl pairing:
12:47PM ET – We now know Auburn finished seventh. The info keeps clipping along at a glacial pace.
12:51PM ET – UCF wins the day. Shut it down.
12:58PM ET – Brett McMurphy reports that the New Orleans Bowl will feature Troy and North Texas. Interesting battle of two great young coaches (Neal Brown from Troy, Seth Littrell from North Texas) and two dynamic offenses. Also, the New Orleans Bowl is quite the familiar destination for UNT, having played there each year between 2001 and 2004.
1:18PM ET – McMurphy on the case again, letting us know that FAU and Temple will be in the Boca Raton Bowl. The Lane Train keeps rolling. Temple finished the season 6-6, 4-4 in the AAC, in their first year with coach Geoff Collins. In not-so-important news, this is the first Owls vs. Owls matchup I can recall in a bowl game.
1:22PM ET – Houston and Fresno State will populate the Hawaii Bowl. Another first-year head coach in Houston’s Major Applewhite leads his 7-4 (5-3 AAC) Cougars westward to take on Jeff Tedford’s incredible Fresno reclamation project (9-4, 7-1 MWC).
2:02PM ET – More rankings trickling in…
7. Auburn (10-3)
8. USC (11-2)
9. Penn State (10-2)
10. Miami (FL) (10-2)
11. Washington (10-2)
12. UCF (12-0)
13. Stanford (9-4)
14. Notre Dame (9-3)
15. TCU (10-3)
2:06PM ET – And the remainder:
16. Michigan State (9-3)
17. LSU (9-3)
18. Washington State (9-3)
19. Oklahoma State (9-3)
20. Memphis (10-2)
21. Northwestern (9-3)
22. Virginia Tech (9-3)
23. Mississippi State (8-4)
24. NC State (8-4)
25. Boise State (10-3)
Also, while we again waited for ESPN to slooooowly drip out this information:
2:20PM ET – Instead of waiting 40 more minutes for the four-letter:
2:35PM ET – Stanford and TCU are reportedly headed to the Alamo Bowl. Interesting.
2:46PM ET – The esteemed Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman gives us the Camping World Bowl matchup:
2:52PM ET – Texas will reportedly head to the Texas Bowl. Its last bowl appearance, coincidentally enough, was in the 2014 Texas Bowl, which it lost, 31-7, to Arkansas.
2:56PM ET – Michigan State and Washington State will head to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. Also, New Mexico State and Utah State will play in the Arizona Bowl. This is NMSU’s first bowl appearance in 57 years.
2:57PM ET – Here comes the flood of info. Boise State and Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl.
3:01PM ET – Cotton: USC (11-2) vs. Ohio State (11-2)
Fiesta: Washington (10-2) vs. Penn State (10-2)
Cure: Western Kentucky vs. Georgia State
Orange: Wisconsin (12-1) vs. Miami (FL) (10-2) (we reported that earlier, but confirming)
Peach: UCF (12-0) vs. Auburn (10-3)
3:10PM ET – Thanks to our good friend Ethan Joyce, two additional matchups:
Dollar General: Appalachian State vs. Toledo
Camellia: Arkansas State vs. TBA
3:12PM ET – And more:
TaxSlayer: Louisville vs. Mississippi State
Belk: Wake Forest vs. TBA
3:14PM ET – Sun: Arizona State vs. NC State
Belk: Texas A&M vs. Wake Forest
Pinstripe: Boston College vs. Iowa
Outback: Michigan vs. South Carolina
3:19PM ET – Our friend David Teel reports UVa to the Military Bowl:
3:24PM ET – UVa’s opponent in the Military Bowl will be Navy:
More ACC, as well:
QuickLane: Duke
Independence: Florida State
3:29PM ET – Kentucky is, again, headed to the Music City Bowl. They will take on Northwestern. Also, the Texas Bowl lineup is set, as it will be Texas vs. Missouri.
3:33PM ET – LSU and Notre Dame will play in the Citrus. Purdue and Arizona head to the Foster Farms.
3:49PM ET – SMU will head to the Frisco Bowl to face a to-be-named opponent.
3:54PM ET – Now this:
3:56PM ET – USF will head to the Birmingham Bowl against an unnamed opponent. CMU and Wyoming will face off in the Idaho Potato Bowl.
3:59PM ET – Memphis-Iowa State in the Liberty. Sign. Me. Up.
4:02PM ET – Texas Tech will be USF’s foe in the Birmingham Bowl. Florida State will greet Southern Miss in the Independence Bowl.
4:17PM ET – UCLA and Kansas State will face off in the Cactus Bowl.
4:20PM ET – Temple now moves to the Gasparilla Bowl to play FIU. A lot of last-minute jockeying going on here. Akron will take Temple’s place against FAU in the Boca Raton Bowl.
4:24PM ET – West Virginia will head to the Heart of Dallas Bowl. The Mountaineers will play Utah.
4:27PM ET – The Camellia Bowl is set:
Also, Duke and Northern Illinois will be your 2017 QuickLane Bowl.
4:30PM ET – Louisiana Tech joins SMU in the Frisco Bowl, as our day starts to wind down.
4:47PM ET – Our final note:
And with that, so ends our day. Thanks for following along, everyone, and enjoy bowl season!