College Football - Bowl Games

[Andy]

R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl in New Orleans, LA – 12/20, 11 am (ESPN)

UL Lafayette vs Nevada

 

Gildan New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, NM – 12/20, 2:20 pm (ESPN)

Utah State vs UTEP

 

Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl in Las Vegas, NV – 12/20, 3:30 pm (ABC)

(22) Utah vs Colorado State

 

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, ID – 12/20, 5:45 pm (ESPN)

Air Force vs Western Michigan

 

Raycom Media Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, AL – 12/20, 9:15 pm (ESPN)

South Alabama vs Bowling Green

 

Miami Beach Bowl in Miami, FL – 12/22, 2 pm (ESPN)

Memphis vs BYU

 

Boca Raton Bowl in Boca Raton, FL – 12/23, 6 pm (ESPN)

Northern Illinois vs Marshall

 

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, CA – 12/23, 9:30 pm (ESPN)

Navy vs San Diego State

 

Popeye’s Bahamas Bowl in Nassau, BS – 12/24, 12 pm (ESPN)

Western Kentucky vs Central Michigan

 

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu, HI – 12/24, 8 pm (ESPN)

Fresno State vs Rice

 

Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl in Dallas, TX – 12/26, 1 pm (ESPN)

Louisiana Tech vs Illinois

 

Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit, MI – 12/26, 4:30 pm (ESPN)

Rutgers vs North Carolina

 

Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl in St. Petersburg, FL – 12/26, 8 pm (ESPN)

NC State vs UCF

 

Military Bowl in Annapolis, MD – 12/27, 1 pm (ESPN)

Cincinnati vs Virginia Tech

 

Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX – 12/27, 2 pm (CBS)

(15) Arizona State vs Duke

 

Duck Commander Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA – 12/27, 3:30 pm (ABC)

Miami vs South Carolina

 

New Era Pinstripe Bowl in New York, NY – 12/27, 4:30 pm (ESPN)

Boston College vs Penn State

 

National University Holiday Bowl in San Diego, CA – 12/27, 8 pm (ESPN)

Nebraska vs USC

 

AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN – 12/29, 2 pm (ESPN)

Texas A&M vs West Virginia

 

Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando, FL – 12/29, 5:30 pm (ESPN)

(17) Clemson vs Oklahoma

 

AdvoCare Texas Bowl in Houston, TX – 12/29, 9 pm (ESPN)

Texas vs Arkansas

 

Franklin American Mortgage Company Music City Bowl in Nashville, TN – 12/30, 3 pm (ESPN)

(23) LSU vs Notre Dame

 

Belk Bowl in Charlotte, NC – 12/30, 6:45 pm (ESPN)

(13) Georgia vs (21) Louisville

 

Foster Farms Bowl in Santa Clara, CA – 12/30, 10 pm (ESPN)

Stanford vs Maryland

 

Outback Bowl in Tampa, FL – 1/1, 12 pm (ESPN2)

(19) Auburn vs (18) Wisconsin

 

Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL – 1/1, 1 pm (ABC)

(16) Missouri vs (25) Minnesota

 

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, TX – 1/2, 12 pm (ESPN)

Houston vs Pittsburgh

 

TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville, FL – 1/2, 3:20 pm (ESPN)

Iowa vs Tennessee

 

Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, TX – 1/2, 6:45 pm (ESPN)

(14) UCLA vs (11) Kansas State

 

TicketCity Cactus Bowl in Tempe, AZ – 1/2, 10:15 pm (ESPN)

Washington vs Oklahoma State

 

Birmingham Bowl in Birmingham, AL – 1/3, 12 pm (ESPN)

Florida vs East Carolina

 

GoDaddy Bowl in Mobile, AL – 1/4, 9 pm (ESPN)

Toledo vs Arkansas State

 

“New Year’s 6” Games:

 

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta, GA – 12/31, 12:30 pm (ESPN)

(9) Ole Miss vs (6) TCU

 

Vizio Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, AZ – 12/31, 4 pm (ESPN)

(20) Boise State vs (10) Arizona

 

Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami, FL – 12/31, 8 pm (ESPN)

(7) Mississippi State vs (12) Georgia Tech

 

Goodyear Cotton Bowl in Arlington, TX – 1/1, 12:30 pm (ESPN)

(8) Michigan State vs (5) Baylor

 

Playoff Games:

 

Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA – 1/1, 5 pm (ESPN)

(3) Florida State vs (2) Oregon

 

Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, LA – 1/1, 8:30 pm (ESPN)

(4) Ohio State vs (1) Alabama

 

College Football Championship Game in Arlington, TX – 1/12, 8:30 pm (ESPN)

Semifinal Winners

Edited December 8, 2014 by Andy

[Derwood]

A lot of really excellent games this year

[Andy]

A lot of really excellent games this year

Between the tie-in situations improving across most of the leagues and the committee setting New Year's 6 matchups rather than the ridiculous selection order/conference tie-in situation of the BCS, I think I like the improved bowl situation even more than the 4-team playoff.

[OleMissCub]

Though it was disappointing in many regards, it was still a really great season for Ole Miss. The Rebels had wins over teams that ended up in the Sugar, Orange, and Fiesta Bowls.

 

The bowl game against TCU will be interesting. Nation's No.2 Offense against the No.1 Defense.

[Derwood]

Jesus, ESPN/ABC is airing every bowl game except ONE

[Guest]

[expletive] yes illinois in a bowl

[SouthSideRyan]

Derwood at college sports = Mojo at baseball

[Andy]

Jesus, ESPN/ABC is airing every bowl game except ONE

The only new one they picked up was the Cotton. They've owned the bowls for a while.

[Derwood]

Jesus, ESPN/ABC is airing every bowl game except ONE

The only new one they picked up was the Cotton. They've owned the bowls for a while.

 

Guess it doesn't feel that long ago that FOX had the BCS games

[Guest]

Alabama/Oregon final game

 

Oregon Champs.

[TruffleShuffle]

companies i don't know if i've heard of before: r&l carriers, gildan, royal purple, raycom media, san diego county credit union (how does a local credit union sponsor a bowl game?), zaxby's, quick lane, duck commander, national university, advocare, belk, franklin american mortgage company, foster farms.

 

and how is there a boca raton bowl, and a bowl sponsored by bitcoin

[OleMissCub]

zaxby's

 

interesting

[George Hayduke]

companies i don't know if i've heard of before: r&l carriers, gildan, royal purple, raycom media, san diego county credit union (how does a local credit union sponsor a bowl game?), zaxby's, quick lane, duck commander, national university, advocare, belk, franklin american mortgage company, foster farms.

 

and how is there a boca raton bowl, and a bowl sponsored by bitcoin

Maybe Belk is more of a regional/southern department store than I thought, but I didn't think it was obscure at all.

[TruffleShuffle]

i think all of the belks and zaxbys are in the southeast, which is a place i've never lived. i also haven't lived in the u.s. for almost 5 years, so if they do any sort of national advertising, i would've missed out on that.

[CubInOK]

There's a Duck Commander bowl? Will both teams wear hunting camo unis?

[SouthSideRyan]

SD Credit Union has sponsored that bowl for awhile now. I believe Raycom is a southern media company, used to broadcast shitty SEC games locally.

 

Oh, and we used to order t-shirts for the pool I managed through Gildan.

[snoodmonger]

companies i don't know if i've heard of before: r&l carriers, gildan, royal purple, raycom media, san diego county credit union (how does a local credit union sponsor a bowl game?), zaxby's, quick lane, duck commander, national university, advocare, belk, franklin american mortgage company, foster farms.

 

and how is there a boca raton bowl, and a bowl sponsored by bitcoin

Maybe Belk is more of a regional/southern department store than I thought, but I didn't think it was obscure at all.

 

A lot of these seem not that obscure to me, too. Raycom, Gildan (who doesn't have a couple of beefy-ass Gildan t-shirts?), National University, Foster Farms.

[Vanilla Ice]

SD Credit Union has sponsored that bowl for awhile now. I believe Raycom is a southern media company, used to broadcast [expletive] SEC games locally.

 

Oh, and we used to order t-shirts for the pool I managed through Gildan.

 

Raycom does a lot of ACC football and basketball, too.

[UMFan83]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/bowls14/story/_/id/12003942/picturing-year-college-football-playoff-eight-teams

 

Man an 8 teamer would have been awesome this year. If we moved to 8 teams there is actually a legit chance for an underdog to play a favorite instead of 4 juggernauts playing each other. MSU would be a clear underdog against Alabama, but I don't think anyone would be shocked if MSU pulled off the upset in that one.

 

I still say go to 8 teams and do: 5 power conference champs, the top ranked "Group of 5" champion, and 2 wild cards.

 

This season's matchups you'd get this:

 

1 Alabama (SEC) vs. 8 Boise State (G5)

2 Oregon (P12) vs. 7 Mississippi State (WC2)

3 Florida State (ACC) vs. 6 TCU (WC1)

4 Ohio State (B1G) vs. 5 Baylor (B12)

 

Would Boise State get killed by Alabama? Probably, but at least it gives every team in CFB a shot to win a title, as well as an advantage for the team that finishes #1, making the regular season more important. And if there was ever an upset, it would be awesome. If you are worried about a significantly worse G5 team making it one year, you can stipulate that the G5 team has to be in the Top 25 of the ranking, otherwise you add a 3rd WC. As for Notre Dame? They can join a conference if they want to have a better shot of making the playoff.

[apete6]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/bowls14/story/_/id/12003942/picturing-year-college-football-playoff-eight-teams

 

Man an 8 teamer would have been awesome this year. If we moved to 8 teams there is actually a legit chance for an underdog to play a favorite instead of 4 juggernauts playing each other. MSU would be a clear underdog against Alabama, but I don't think anyone would be shocked if MSU pulled off the upset in that one.

 

I still say go to 8 teams and do: 5 power conference champs, the top ranked "Group of 5" champion, and 2 wild cards.

 

This season's matchups you'd get this:

 

1 Alabama (SEC) vs. 8 Boise State (G5)

2 Oregon (P12) vs. 7 Mississippi State (WC2)

3 Florida State (ACC) vs. 6 TCU (WC1)

4 Ohio State (B1G) vs. 5 Baylor (B12)

 

Would Boise State get killed by Alabama? Probably, but at least it gives every team in CFB a shot to win a title, as well as an advantage for the team that finishes #1, making the regular season more important. And if there was ever an upset, it would be awesome. If you are worried about a significantly worse G5 team making it one year, you can stipulate that the G5 team has to be in the Top 25 of the ranking, otherwise you add a 3rd WC. As for Notre Dame? They can join a conference if they want to have a better shot of making the playoff.

 

Agree with everything you posted. Not 100% sure on the Group of 5 thing, but I like it better than rewarding a 2-3 loss major conference team (hey Michigan State, beat OSU at home). If you are a Big 5 team with 1 loss or less, you deserve to go. There are very few years where there will be more than 7 of those teams.

[Andy]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/bowls14/story/_/id/12003942/picturing-year-college-football-playoff-eight-teams

 

Man an 8 teamer would have been awesome this year. If we moved to 8 teams there is actually a legit chance for an underdog to play a favorite instead of 4 juggernauts playing each other. MSU would be a clear underdog against Alabama, but I don't think anyone would be shocked if MSU pulled off the upset in that one.

 

I still say go to 8 teams and do: 5 power conference champs, the top ranked "Group of 5" champion, and 2 wild cards.

 

This season's matchups you'd get this:

 

1 Alabama (SEC) vs. 8 Boise State (G5)

2 Oregon (P12) vs. 7 Mississippi State (WC2)

3 Florida State (ACC) vs. 6 TCU (WC1)

4 Ohio State (B1G) vs. 5 Baylor (B12)

 

Would Boise State get killed by Alabama? Probably, but at least it gives every team in CFB a shot to win a title, as well as an advantage for the team that finishes #1, making the regular season more important. And if there was ever an upset, it would be awesome. If you are worried about a significantly worse G5 team making it one year, you can stipulate that the G5 team has to be in the Top 25 of the ranking, otherwise you add a 3rd WC. As for Notre Dame? They can join a conference if they want to have a better shot of making the playoff.

You just put a team that played one Power 5 school (and got bludgeoned by them) into a playoff, then called the regular season 'more important' under such a scenario.

 

Auto-bids for conferences is a fantastic way to remove any real incentive to schedule up during the regular season you just claimed would be more important. Why risk removing yourself from wild-card contention with a loss when the only games that really matter are in conference?

[WrigleyField 22]

Seems like 6 at large bids with the top two getting byes would have been the sweet spot this year. Only negative is diluting the Jan 1 games a little. I wonder if they did expand to 6 or 8, they do Rd1 early enough to put the losers in the other Bowls.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[UMFan83]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/bowls14/story/_/id/12003942/picturing-year-college-football-playoff-eight-teams

 

Man an 8 teamer would have been awesome this year. If we moved to 8 teams there is actually a legit chance for an underdog to play a favorite instead of 4 juggernauts playing each other. MSU would be a clear underdog against Alabama, but I don't think anyone would be shocked if MSU pulled off the upset in that one.

 

I still say go to 8 teams and do: 5 power conference champs, the top ranked "Group of 5" champion, and 2 wild cards.

 

This season's matchups you'd get this:

 

1 Alabama (SEC) vs. 8 Boise State (G5)

2 Oregon (P12) vs. 7 Mississippi State (WC2)

3 Florida State (ACC) vs. 6 TCU (WC1)

4 Ohio State (B1G) vs. 5 Baylor (B12)

 

Would Boise State get killed by Alabama? Probably, but at least it gives every team in CFB a shot to win a title, as well as an advantage for the team that finishes #1, making the regular season more important. And if there was ever an upset, it would be awesome. If you are worried about a significantly worse G5 team making it one year, you can stipulate that the G5 team has to be in the Top 25 of the ranking, otherwise you add a 3rd WC. As for Notre Dame? They can join a conference if they want to have a better shot of making the playoff.

You just put a team that played one Power 5 school (and got bludgeoned by them) into a playoff, then called the regular season 'more important' under such a scenario.

 

Auto-bids for conferences is a fantastic way to remove any real incentive to schedule up during the regular season you just claimed would be more important. Why risk removing yourself from wild-card contention with a loss when the only games that really matter are in conference?

 

It's about balancing 3 things, rewarding conference champions, making sure everyone has a legitimate chance at a winning the title, and keeping the importance of the regular season, which makes college football great.

 

I think making sure everyone has a legit shot at winning is most important. I know not everyone will agree, but what is the point of having 128 teams in your league when only half of them (64 Power 5 teams + ND) have a chance at being a champion. Isn't that the main point, to win the championship? I don't mind an alternative scenario where The Power 5 form their own league, and the rest create a new subdivision, but if there are going to be 128 teams, I want every one of them to have a shot. You can argue that the little schools should beef up their schedule, but as we've seen with Boise State and other schools, teams don't want to play you when you start consistently winning. Bottom line is that its impossible for a Sun Belt school to win a championship, so they should either be given a (small) chance to win one or form their own subdivision with other teams.

 

1 school out of 63 (1.5%) gets a bid from the smaller conferences while 7 out of 65 (10.8%) Power 5 schools get bids. And I think there should be importance to winning your conference, but I would argue that by giving 5 of the 7 bids to conference champions, it makes the regular season more important. It's not like there is no importance to scheduling tough games, as the competition for the 2 Wild Cards will depend on you having a strong OOC schedule. Furthermore, the way the playoff selection committee sets things up now, you pretty much have to win your conference to get a shot at the playoffs (hence why the Big 12 hastily declared Baylor and TCU co-champions), so this doesn't change it...if anything it ensures all Power 5 conferences are represented and it gives 2 additional teams a chance to enter the playoff. If you want to increase your chances of making it, win your conference. If not, prove your worthy by losing 2 or less games with a difficult schedule.

[bukie]

Brian Kelly is willing to sacrifice conference championships to facilitate an eight team playoff. He's a giver, that one.

[Andy]

It's not like anyone forced the MAC/Sun Belt teams to play FBS football (and I'm an alum of one of them). They do it for whatever other reasons they have. Why is the onus on the rest of CFB to make it easier for them to win a championship?

 

4 is better than 2. Thought that before they went to 4, and it's exceeded my expectations. But beyond 4, the chance you've missed the best team is essentially zero (TCU this year is probably as close as you can get to a team with a claim to it). I love the fact that winning the conference doesn't guarantee anything. Why should it? I love the fact that fans of TCU/Baylor/Ohio St were watching and rooting hard for upsets last week to boost their chances. There's essentially 0 reason for any of them to care about other games last week if we're at 8, because they're all win-and-in games. The one thing the BCS did right (uninentionally I imagine, but still) was it made CFB a national sport because fans of the top teams in one league now had a real reason to care about games in the other leagues. I don't want to toss that out so we can get Boise State into the playoff.