The College Football Bowl Schedule for the 2026-27 season has officially been released, which tentatively includes a total of 46 postseason games.
With 46 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) games including the College Football Playoff first-round games, 80 teams will play in a postseason game in 2026-27, which is 58% of the FBS.
The ESPN family of networks will televise 38 of the 46 contests this season, including the FCS Celebration Bowl and College Football Playoff. CBS will televise one contest, while five College Football Playoff games will be broadcast by TNT. Games on The CW (Arizona Bowl) and a network to be determined (Holiday Bowl) will be announced at a later date.
Bowl game action this season will kickoff on Saturday, December 12, 2026 with one game. The Cricket Celebration Bowl is first at 12:00pm ET on ABC.
The annual Army-Navy Game, which is slated for the same day on Saturday, Dec. 12, will not be affected by the early beginning of the bowl schedule. The Army-Navy Game will kickoff at 3:00pm ET on CBS.
Four bowl games are slated for Tuesday, Dec. 15 through Friday, Dec. 18 before the College Football Playoff begins. The IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl and Frisco Football Classic are set for Tuesday, while the Boca Raton Bowl and Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl are slated for Friday.
The third edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff, which has been mostly announced, begins on Friday, Dec. 18 with a First Round game at 8:00pm ET on ESPN. CFP First Round action continues on Saturday, Dec. 19 with three games — Noon on ABC/ESPN, followed by games at 3:30pm and 7:30pm on TNT, truTV, and HBO Max.
All First Round action will be played at the home stadium of the higher seeded team. Those teams and sites will be announced on Selection Day, which is set for Sunday, Dec. 6 this year.
The Sheraton Bowl will be played Christmas Eve again this season (Thursday, Dec. 24) and will be televised by ESPN at 7:00pm ET. Preceding that game will be the Isleta New Mexico Bowl at 2:30pm ET, also on ESPN.
The College Football Playoff quarterfinals begin on Wednesday, Dec. 30 with the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz. The game will be televised by TNT and truTV, with streaming via HBO Max, at 7:30pm ET.
Quarterfinal round action continues on New Year’s Day, Friday, January 1, 2027, with games at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Ga., Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, Calif., and Goodyear Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas. Kickoff times for those games will be announced on Selection Day (Sunday, Dec. 6).
The College Football Playoff Semifinals this season will be played on consecutive weeknights in January. The Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Fla., is up first on Thursday, Jan. 14 (TNT/truTV/HBO Max), followed by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, La., on Friday, Jan. 15 (ABC/ESPN). Both games will kickoff at 7:30pm ET.
The College Football National Championship concludes the college football season on Monday, Jan. 25, 2027. The two playoff semifinal winners will meet at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and the game will be televised by ABC and ESPN at 7:30pm ET.
Check out the complete bowl schedule for the 2026-27 football season at the link below:
View Comments (12)
Poinsettia Bowl is TBA too.
Yesh, but that one hasn't even been officially announced as returning. The other two are always last in setting their dates and times.
Poinsettia Bowl website says that they're coming back. It looks like they plan to pit the Pac-12 champ (if the champ is not in the CFP) against a P4 team that ditched the Pac-12. Good get for what has been a low-tier bowl game. Likely one of the 3 best G6 teams against a (likely 6-6) P4 team from the West.
What website? They seem to have been taken over by UK gaming sites.
My bad. Sorry, Kevin. I had been reading an article from a writer who mostly follows The Mountain West.
No problem, thanks.
Why do the Jan 1 games have TBD times?
Historically and traditionally the Rose Bowl is the middle game, the Cotton Bowl is the first game, and the Peach is the last game.
College football is getting harder and harder to like with all the messing up of traditions and lack of common sense and logic.
You are correct that the Rose Bowl is traditionally the middle game. However, the rest is not true, as the other two games are sometimes played on other dates. That being said, I would expect that the Rose Bowl will likely get the middle slot, but my expectation is that the Cotton will be at night and the Peach during the day, as the Cotton is more prestigious and is also in the central time zone versus the Peach which is in the eastern time zone.
As Lucy Van Pelt once said that Traditions are slowly fading away & you can say it now about New Year's Day games.
As long as the Sun Bowl is on New Year's Eve and the Rose Bowl is on New Year's Day I'm happy
Hello,
Wonderful work! I am wondering about Pop Tarts and Gator Bowls. This indicates they will be on ABC, but ESPN.com indicates they will be on ESPN only. Thanks.
Both will be on ESPN. Not sure if ESPN changed it our it was our mistake.