Utah and Penn State will square off in the Rose Bowl and Alabama will face Big 12 champion Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl as part of this season’s slate of 41 bowl games, which were finalized Sunday.
Teams were invited to their respective bowls after the College Football Playoff selection committee named Georgia, Michigan, TCU and Ohio State to the four-team playoff. No. 1 Georgia and No. 4 Ohio State will play in the Peach Bowl in one semifinal and No. 2 Michigan will meet No. 3 TCU in the Fiesta Bowl for the other.
As for the other New Year’s Six bowls, ACC champion Clemson drew SEC at-large Tennessee in the Orange Bowl, and No. 16 Tulane, the highest-ranked team from the Group of Five conferences, will go to the Cotton Bowl and play Southern California.
No. 8 Utah won the Pac-12 title game in a 47-24 rout of USC, allowing the Utes to punch their ticket to the Rose Bowl for the second straight season. Last week, the Rose Bowl had floated the idea of taking the Nittany Lions over Ohio State to avoid the same matchup in consecutive years, but that was rendered moot when the Buckeyes made the playoff field.
Alabama was ranked No. 5 in Sunday’s final CFP rankings, the first team out of the playoff. Kansas State moved up a spot to No. 9 after edging TCU 31-28 in overtime Saturday to win the Big 12 title.
Eighty-two of the 131 FBS teams will play in a bowl game, starting Dec. 16 when Miami (Ohio) and UAB kick off the Bahamas Bowl, and Troy and UTSA — which snuck into the final CFP rankings at Nos. 24 and 25, respectively — play in the Cure Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
The full bowl schedule is below:
Friday, Dec. 16
Bahamas Bowl: Miami (Ohio) vs. UAB
Cure Bowl: No. 24 Troy vs. No. 25 UTSA
Saturday, Dec. 17
Fenway Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Louisville
New Mexico Bowl: SMU vs. BYU
LA Bowl: Washington State vs. Fresno State
LendingTree Bowl: Rice vs. Southern Miss
Las Vegas Bowl: Florida vs. No. 14 Oregon State
Frisco Bowl: North Texas vs. Boise State
Monday, Dec. 19
Myrtle Beach Bowl: Marshall vs. UConn
Tuesday, Dec. 20
Idaho Potato Bowl: Eastern Michigan vs. San Jose State
Boca Raton Bowl: Liberty vs. Toledo
Wednesday, Dec. 21
New Orleans Bowl: Western Kentucky vs. South Alabama
Thursday, Dec. 22
Armed Forces Bowl: Baylor vs. Air Force
Friday, Dec. 23
Independence Bowl: Louisiana vs. Houston
Gasparilla Bowl: Wake Forest vs. Missouri
Saturday, Dec. 24
Hawaii Bowl: Middle Tennessee vs. San Diego State
Monday, Dec. 26
Quick Lane Bowl: New Mexico State vs. Bowling Green
Tuesday, Dec. 27
Camellia Bowl: Georgia Southern vs. Buffalo
First Responder Bowl: Memphis vs. Utah State
Birmingham Bowl: Coastal Carolina vs. East Carolina
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Oklahoma State
Wednesday, Dec. 28
Military Bowl: UCF vs. Duke
Liberty Bowl: Kansas vs. Arkansas
Holiday Bowl: North Carolina vs. Oregon
Texas Bowl: Texas Tech vs. Ole Miss
Thursday, Dec. 29
Pinstripe Bowl: Syracuse vs. Minnesota
Cheez-It Bowl: Oklahoma vs. No. 13 Florida State
Alamo Bowl: No. 20 Texas vs. No. 12 Washington
Friday, Dec. 30
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: Maryland vs. No. 23 NC State
Sun Bowl: Pitt vs. No. 18 UCLA
Gator Bowl: No. 21 Notre Dame vs. No. 19 South Carolina
Arizona Bowl: Ohio vs. Wyoming
Orange Bowl: No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 7 Clemson
Saturday, Dec. 31
Sugar Bowl: No. 5 Alabama vs. No. 9 Kansas State
Music City Bowl: Iowa vs. Kentucky
Fiesta Bowl: No. 3 TCU vs. No. 2 Michigan (CFP semifinal)
Peach Bowl: No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 1 Georgia (CFP semifinal)
Monday, Jan. 2
ReliaQuest Bowl: Mississippi State vs. Illinois
Cotton Bowl: No. 16 Tulane vs. No. 10 USC
Citrus Bowl: No. 17 LSU vs. Purdue
Rose Bowl: No. 11 Penn State vs. No. 8 Utah
Monday, Jan. 9
College Football Playoff national championship game: TCU-Michigan winner vs. Ohio State-Georgia winner
–Field Level Media