Full College Football Bowl Schedule for 2025 Season

College football bowl season returns this December.

The Rose Bowl will take place on Jan. 1 this season. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

With the 2025 college football regular season and conference championships wrapping up over the last two weeks, it’s time for bowl season.

To qualify for a bowl game and the opportunity to compete in the postseason, teams generally must hold at least a .500 record and six wins against Division I opponents. No more than one of those wins can take place against a scholarship-awarding FCS team.

If there aren't enough teams to fill all the bowl-game spots, then teams can be chosen to play in a bowl game if they (in order) were knocked below .500 after losing in the conference championship game, would have been bowl eligible had an FCS opponent given out enough scholarships, were a 6–7 team that did not play in a conference championship game, moving from the FCS to FBS, or went 5–7, selected in order of their Academic Progress Rate.

Notably, Notre Dame, Kansas State and Iowa State have elected not to participate in bowl games this year. The Big 12 fined Kansas State and Iowa State $500,000 for that decision.

Here's a look at the college football bowl game schedule this year.

When does bowl season start?

This year's slate of bowl games will once again begin in December, with the first couple games taking place on Dec. 13, a week after the conference championship games. Bowl games will take place from Dec. 13 to Jan. 2, except for the bowl games which are part of the College Football Playoff tournament, which will run from Dec. 31 to Jan. 9.

Full list of bowl game dates and locations

Here are the reported matchups for this year’s bowl game slate.

Bowl Game	Date	Matchup	Time/TV (ET)	Location	Result
Cricket Celebration Bowl	Dec. 13	Prairie View A&M vs. South Carolina State	Noon, ABC	Atlanta, GA	40-38, South Carolina State
LA Bowl	Dec. 13	Boise State vs. Washington	9 p.m., ESPN	Inglewood, CA	38-10, Washington
IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl	Dec. 16	Troy vs. Jacksonville State	9 p.m., ESPN	Montgomery, AL	17-13, Jacksonville State
StaffDNA Cure Bowl	Dec. 17	USF vs. Old Dominion	5 p.m., ESPN	Orlando, FL	24-10, Old Dominion
68 Ventures Bowl	Dec. 17	Louisiana vs. Delaware	8:30 p.m., ESPN	Mobile, AL	20-13, Delaware
Myrtle Beach Bowl	Dec. 19	Kennesaw State vs. Western Michigan	Noon, ESPN	Conway, SC	41-6, Western Michigan
Gasparilla Bowl	Dec. 19	N.C. State vs. Memphis	3:30 p.m., ESPN	Tampa, FL	31-7, N.C. State
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl	Dec. 22	Washington State vs. Utah State	2 p.m., ESPN	Boise, ID	34-21, Washington State
Boca Raton Bowl	Dec. 23	Louisville vs. Toledo	2 p.m., ESPN	Boca Raton, FL	27-22, Louisville
New Orleans Bowl	Dec. 23	Western Kentucky vs. Southern Miss	5:30 p.m., ESPN	New Orleans, LA	27-16, Western Kentucky
Frisco Bowl	Dec. 23	UNLV vs. Ohio	9 p.m., ESPN	Frisco, TX	17-10, Ohio
Hawai'i Bowl	Dec. 24	Cal vs. Hawaii	8 p.m., ESPN	Honolulu, HI	35-31, Hawaii
Sports Bowl	Dec. 26	Northwestern vs. Central Michigan	1 p.m., ESPN	Detroit MI	34-7, Northwestern
Rate Bowl	Dec. 26	Minnesota vs. New Mexico	4:30 p.m., ESPN	Phoenix, AZ	20-17, Minnesota
First Responder Bowl	Dec. 26	UTSA vs. Florida International	8 p.m., ESPN	Dallas, TX	57-20, UTSA
Military Bowl	Dec. 27	Pitt vs. East Carolina	11 a.m., ESPN	Annapolis, MD	23-17, East Carolina
Pinstripe Bowl	Dec. 27	Clemson vs. Penn State	12 p.m., ABC	Bronx, NY	22-10, Penn State
Fenway Bowl	Dec. 27	Army vs. UConn	2:15 p.m., ESPN	Boston, MA	41-16, Army
Pop-Tarts Bowl	Dec. 27	Georgia Tech vs. BYU	3:30 p.m., ABC	Orlando, FL	25-21, BYU
Arizona Bowl	Dec. 27	Fresno State vs. Miami (Ohio)	4:30 p.m., CW Network	Tuscon, AZ	18-3, Fresno State
New Mexico Bowl	Dec. 27	San Diego State vs. North Texas	5:45 p.m., ESPN	Albuquerque, NM	49-47, North Texas
Gator Bowl	Dec. 27	Virginia vvs. Missouri	7:30 p.m., ABC	Jacksonville, FL	13-7, Virginia
Texas Bowl	Dec. 27	Houston vs. LSU	9:15 p.m., ESPN	Houston, TX	38-35, Houston
Birmingham Bowl	Dec. 29	Georgia Southern vs. Appalachian State	2 p.m., ESPN	Birmingham, AL	29-10, Georgia Southern
Independence Bowl	Dec. 30	Louisiana Tech vs. Coastal Carolina	2 p.m., ESPN	Shrevport, LA	23-14, Louisiana Tech
Music City Bowl	Dec. 30	Illinois vs. Tennessee	5:30 p.m., ESPN	Nashville, TN	30-28, Illinois
Alamo Bowl	Dec. 30	TCU vs. USC	9 p.m., ESPN	San Antonio, TX	30-27, TCU
ReliaQuest Bowl	Dec. 31	Vanderbilt vs. Iowa	12 p.m., ESPN	Tampa, FL	34-27, Iowa
Sun Bowl	Dec. 31	Duke vs. Arizona State	2 p.m., CBS	El Paso, TX	42-39, Duke
Citrus Bowl	Dec. 31	Texas vs. Michigan	3 p.m., ABC	Orlando, FL	41-27, Texas
Las Vegas Bowl	Dec. 31	Nebraska vs. Utah	3:30 p.m., ESPN	Las Vegas, NV	44-22, Utah
Armed Forces Bowl	Jan. 2	Rice vs. Texas State	1 p.m., ESPN	Forth Worth, TX	41-10, Texas State
Liberty Bowl	Jan. 2	Navy vs. Cincinnati	4:30 p.m., ESPN	Memphis, TN	35-13, Navy
Mayo Bowl	Jan. 2	Wake Forest vs. Mississippi State	8 p.m., ESPN	Charlotte, NC	43-29, Wake Forest
Holiday Bowl	Jan. 2	SMU vs. Arizona	8 p.m., Fox	San Diego, CA	24-19, SMU

Bowl game season got off to a thrilling note as South Carolina State overcame a 21-0 deficit and outlasted Prairie View A&M in a 40-38 four-overtime thriller in the Celebration Bowl.

Ten days later, Louisville earned a contentious 27-22 win over Toldeo in the Boca Raton Bowl. A brawl between the two teams broke out in the final minutes but Louisville walked away with the win and the prize of a giant bowl of baked beans.

As much of the United States saw rain and snow come down on Christmas Eve, Hawaii enjoyed the holiday season by taking down Cal 35-31 under the sunshine at the Hawai’i Bowl on Wednesday. Hawaii came back from down 21-0 to defeat Cal in the largest comeback in Hawai’i Bowl history. Even when starting quarterback Micah Alejado had to come out of the game, backup Luke Weaver led the Rainbow Warriors to a game-winning touchdown with just 10 seconds remaining.

The weekend after Christmas, Houston outlasted LSU 38-35 in the Texas Bowl as quarterback Conner Weigman threw four touchdown passes. In another high-scoring contest, North Texas beat San Diego State 49-47 in the New Mexico Bowl as Mean Green running back Caleb Hawkins rushed for 198 yards and two touchdowns.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Penn State interim coach Terry Smith got emotional after leading the Nittany Lions to a 22-10 win over Clemson. In the highly-anticipated Pop Tarts Bowl, BYU closed out the season with a narrow 25-21 win over Georgia Tech after intercepting Yellow Jackets quarterback Haynes King on their final drive.

CFP bowl game schedule

Both the quarterfinals and semifinals of the CFP will be bowl games, including three of the iconic New Year's Day bowl games. The first round of the CFP will take place on Dec. 19 and Dec. 20 at the host team's stadium, and the national championship game will be held at Hard Rock Stadium on Jan. 19.

The first round matchups are No. 9 Alabama at No. 8 Oklahoma on Dec. 19, No. 10 Miami at No. 7 Texas A&M on Dec. 20, No. 11 Tulane at No. 6 Ole Miss on Dec. 20 and No. 12 James Madison at No. 5 Oregon on Dec. 20.

Here is a look at the rest of the CFP schedule.

Bowl Game	Date	Round	Teams	Time/TV (ET)	Location	Result
Cotton Bowl	Dec. 31	Quarterfinals	Ohio State vs. Miami	7:30 p.m., ESPN	Arlington, TX	24-14, Miami
Orange Bowl	Jan. 1	Quarterfinals	Texas Tech vs. Oregon	12 p.m., ESPN	Miami Gardens, FL	23-0, Oregon
Rose Bowl	Jan. 1	Quarterfinals	Indiana vs. Alabama	4 p.m., ESPN	Pasadena, CA	38-3, Indiana
Sugar Bowl	Jan. 1	Quarterfinals	Georgia vs. Ole Miss	8 p.m., ESPN	New Orleans, LA	39-34, Ole Miss
Fiesta Bowl	Jan. 8	Semifinals	Ole Miss vs. Miami	7:30 p.m., ESPN	Glendale, AZ	31-27, Miami
Peach Bowl	Jan. 9	Semifinals	Oregon vs. Indiana	7:30 p.m., ESPN	Atlanta, GA	TBD
CFP Championship	Jan. 19	Championship	Fiesta Bowl winner vs. Peach Bowl winner	7:30 p.m., ESPN	Miami Gardens, FL	TBD

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