19. Frisco Bowl (Dec. 23, 9 p.m., ESPN)
The Rebels have back-to-back 10-win seasons and back-to-back seasons that ended with a loss to Boise State in the Mountain West title game. It’s been a fun first season for former Florida head coach Dan Mullen at UNLV. Ohio has an interim coach for the game after Brian Smith was placed on leave at the start of the month. No reason has been given for Smith’s absence and Smith’s attorney said on Dec. 4 that Smith had not been provided a formal reason why he was placed on leave.
18. Cure Bowl (Dec. 17, 5 p.m., ESPN)
This is one of the most fun Group of Five matchups on the bowl calendar. ODU ripped off five straight wins to end the season and blew out Troy 33-0 in that stretch. The Trojans made it to the Sun Belt title game. South Florida beat Florida in Week 2 but lost to Memphis and Navy to miss out on a shot in the College Football Playoff. Head coach Alex Golesh was hired at Auburn and the Bulls have hired Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline as his replacement.
17. Rate Bowl (Dec. 26, 4:30 p.m., ESPN)
It’s been an incredible season for the Lobos under first-year head coach Jason Eck. New Mexico is making its first bowl appearance since 2016 under Bob Davie. It’s also the first bowl game outside the state of New Mexico for the Lobos since an appearance in the 2004 Emerald Bowl. Minnesota is a program that just wins bowl games. Especially under PJ Fleck. The Gophers are 6-0 in bowls during Fleck’s tenure and haven’t lost since a Citrus Bowl defeat to Missouri in 2014.
16. Texas Bowl (Dec. 27, 9:15 p.m., ESPN)
The chances of a senior sendoff for QB Garrett Nussmeier seem slim after Michael Van Buren has taken over as LSU’s quarterback. If you’re going to watch this game, be prepared for a lot of talk about Lane Kiffin and maybe even a Kiffin appearance in the booth. You’ve been warned. The potential Kiffin talk shouldn’t distract from how good of a season Houston had. The Cougars made a five-win improvement and further cemented Willie Fritz’s status as one of the most underrated college football coaches.
15. Liberty Bowl (Jan. 2, 4:30 p.m., ESPN)
The Midshipmen earned a second trip to Memphis in three games. Navy spent Thanksgiving in Memphis with a 28-17 win over the Tigers. Now it’ll spend New Year’s there too. The Bearcats collapsed in November. Cincinnati was 7-1 after beating Baylor but went 0-4 to end the season against Utah, Arizona, BYU and TCU.
14. New Mexico Bowl (Dec. 27, 5:45 p.m., ESPN)
The Aztecs are allowing opponents to average just 4.1 yards a play and 12.6 points per game. SDSU opponents scored seven or fewer points in seven games this season. Both Hawaii and Washington State topped 35, however, and North Texas’ explosive offense will hope to be the third team. The Mean Green average 7.3 yards a play as QB Drew Mestemaker has completed over 70% of his passes.
13. Holiday Bowl (Jan. 2, 8 p.m., Fox)
The Wildcats have won their last five games following back-to-back losses to BYU and Houston. It’s just the second bowl game in eight seasons for Arizona and the Wildcats have the chance to win 10 games in each of those seasons. The Mustangs were in the ACC title game with a win over Cal in Week 14, but went down early and threw away a late comeback as Cal scored with 43 seconds to go in a 38-35 win.
12. LA Bowl (Dec. 13, 8 p.m., ABC)
The Broncos won the Mountain West on Friday night over UNLV after getting into the title game via tiebreakers in a four-way tie. Washington’s losses came to Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan and … Wisconsin. That latter game ruined any chance the Huskies had of sneaking into the Big Ten title game. QB Demond Williams Jr. is a fun watch. He needs just 150 passing yards to get to 3,000.
11. Sun Bowl (Dec. 31, 2 p.m., CBS)
The Blue Devils won the ACC and got a trip to El Paso in one of the best under-the-radar bowls every year. Arizona State seems unlikely to have QB Sam Leavitt as he’s played only seven games this season. But the career resurgence of Jeff Sims has been fun to watch after his struggles at Nebraska. Duke QB Darian Mensah was worth it for the Blue Devils as he immediately was one of the best QBs in the ACC after his transfer from Tulane.
10. Alamo Bowl (Dec. 30, 9 p.m., ESPN)
It’s USC’s first trip to the Alamo Bowl as the Trojans look for just their fourth 10-win season over the past decade. With both teams averaging over 30 points per game and outside the top 40 in scoring defense, this could easily have the highest over/under of any bowl game. The Horned Frogs’ offense sputtered down the stretch, however. Before scoring 45 against Cincinnati in the regular-season finale, TCU hadn’t scored more than 17 points since October.
9. Music City Bowl (Dec. 30, 5:30 p.m., ESPN)
A team coached by Bret Bielema vs. a team coached by Josh Heupel is a contrast that could make for a very intriguing game. The Illini won three of their final four games while Tennessee lost two of its last four games. The Vols gave up more than 30 points in seven games this season. Can Illinois take advantage? QB Luke Altmyer was very efficient and WR Hank Beatty had a big first half of the season before slowing down in conference play.
8. Gator Bowl (Dec. 27, 7:30 p.m., ABC)
The Tigers have another chance for a win over a ranked opponent. Mizzou is 8-0 against unranked teams and 0-4 against ranked teams in 2025. RB Ahmad Hardy has rushed for 1,560 yards and 16 TDs after transferring from Louisiana-Monroe. Virginia missed out on a fourth overtime win in the ACC title game against Duke but still has one more chance to win 11 games for the first time in school history.
7. Pop-Tarts Bowl (Dec. 27, 3:30 p.m., ESPN)
Had Notre Dame not opted out of a bowl game, we would have gotten the Fighting Irish against the Cougars. Georgia Tech is an adequate replacement. This will be a fun game between two offenses committed to running the football with quarterbacks who can run over defenders. Georgia Tech lost three of its last four games while BYU’s only losses came to Texas Tech.
6. ReliaQuest Bowl (Dec. 31, Noon, ESPN)
There’s a small chance Diego Pavia could enter this game as a Heisman winner. He should be a Heisman finalist regardless and he’ll want to cap his Vanderbilt career with a big win. Iowa’s defense will present a tough test and Mark Gronowski needs two passing touchdowns to become the first Iowa QB since Spencer Petras in 2021 to have 10 passing touchdowns. Three TD passes will give Gronowski 11 for the season and make him the most productive Iowa QB since Nathan Stanley threw 16 scores in 2019.
5. Citrus Bowl (Dec. 31, 3 p.m., ABC)
These two teams met a season ago in the regular season with the Longhorns getting a road win. They both look a lot different now and it should be the best non-playoff bowl game of the season. Texas QB Arch Manning has gotten better as the season has progressed and a few weeks of bowl practices for Michigan QB Bryce Underwood should be a real asset for the former five-star recruit's development.
4. CFP first-round game (Dec. 20, 7:30 p.m., TNT)
This game has the biggest spread of any first-round game for a good reason. Oregon can put up points in a hurry and James Madison played just one power conference opponent all season. That was JMU’s only loss as the Dukes fell 28-14 to Louisville in Week 2. Let’s hope that this game is better than the last time Oregon played a non-power conference opponent in a major bowl game. Two seasons ago, the Ducks obliterated Liberty in the Fiesta Bowl to spoil the Flames’ unbeaten season.
3. CFP first-round game (Dec. 20, 3:30 p.m., TNT)
It’s hard to get too excited about a rematch of a game that was 45-10. But there’s the added stakes of the College Football Playoff and the coaching situations surrounding each team. It’s the first game in charge for former Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding after Lane Kiffin left for LSU. And it could be the last game with the Green Wave for Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall as he takes over at Florida in 2026.
2. CFP first-round game (Dec. 19, 8 p.m., ABC)
It was hard to justify putting a rematch at No. 1 even if the first game was exceptionally close. Alabama turned the ball over three times in its home loss to the Sooners in November. Those turnovers gave Oklahoma great field position. The Sooners had just 212 yards of total offense in the upset win. Can they count on forcing turnovers again? Alabama has committed half of its 12 turnovers over the past four games.
1. CFP first-round game (Dec. 20, noon, ABC)
Does the winner of this game get the ultimate bragging rights over Notre Dame? The Fighting Irish’s losses to both the Hurricanes and Aggies in the first two weeks of the season kept them out of the CFP and got Miami in. The Aggies had eyes on a first-round bye before losing to Texas on Black Friday and Miami has won five straight games after losing to Louisville. Carson Beck never faced Texas A&M while at Georgia and a win against the Aggies would give him the chance to start against his former team.
