After a tumultuous 2020 college football season, we’ve reached bowl season. The bowl schedule is a bit shorter than normal, but we have some pretty fun games throughout.
The College Football Playoff is obviously the headliner. No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Notre Dame at the “Rose Bowl” (which has been moved to AT&T Stadium this year for… reasons) and No. 2 Clemson vs. No. 3 Ohio State at the Sugar Bowl will determine who will face off in South Beach for the title.
The Crimson Tide and Tigers are pretty big favorites, which is no surprise. Notre Dame didn’t exactly look the part in its ACC Championship debut against Clemson last week, while Alabama has been the most consistent team in the country, even if there are defensive concerns. Clemson is healthy and playing its best football, while Ohio State has struggled to field a full team in recent weeks, and looked shaky against Northwestern on Saturday in the Big Ten Championship.
Despite very legitimate controversy over other bowl games this year, we have some intriguing games. On Tuesday night, BYU gets a date with another Group of Five power, UCF. One-loss Liberty faces undefeated No. 12 Coastal Carolina at the Cure Bowl in Orlando. No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 Florida at the Cotton Bowl may light the scoreboards on fire. No. 8 Cincinnati, another undefeated G5 power, can try and prove that it should have gotten a CFP bid against No. 9 Georgia. There’s some fun to be had here, even if many of us want serious bowl season reform.
Here’s the final #CFBPlayoff Top 25 rankings for the 2020 regular season.
Is your team in? 👀
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) December 20, 2020
Games begin this week, and run through January 11, when the winners of Alabama/Notre Dame and Clemson/Ohio State will face off at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Here’s the full bowl schedule. Note that, with COVID-19 issues and everything else that goes into this season, the schedule is very much in flux. We already saw Army get snubbed and then sub in for Tennessee in the Liberty Bowl in the matter of a day. All times are ET.
Mon., Dec. 21, 2:30 p.m. — Myrtle Beach Bowl: Appalachian State vs. North Texas
Tues., Dec. 22, 3:30 p.m. — Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Tulane vs. Nevada
Tues., Dec. 22, 7:00 p.m. — Boca Raton Bowl: UCF vs. 16 BYU
Wed., Dec. 23, 3:00 p.m. — New Orleans Bowl: Louisiana Tech vs. Georgia Southern
Wed., Dec. 23, 7:00 p.m. — Montgomery Bowl: Memphis vs. FAU
Thurs., Dec. 24, 3:30 p.m. — New Mexico Bowl: Hawaii vs. Houston
Fri., Dec. 25, 2:30 p.m. — Camellia Bowl: Marshall vs. Buffalo
Sat., Dec. 26, 12:00 p.m. — Gasparilla Bowl: South Carolina vs. UAB (UPDATE: South Carolina has pulled out of the game. We’ll revise picks if UAB has a new opponent).
Sat., Dec. 26, 3:30 p.m. — First Responder Bowl: 19 Louisiana vs. UTSA
Sat., Dec. 26, 3:30 p.m. — LendingTree Bowl: Western Kentucky vs. Georgia State
Sat., Dec. 26, 7:30 p.m. — Cure Bowl: Liberty vs. 12 Coastal Carolina
Tues., Dec. 29, 5:30 p.m. — Cheez-It Bowl: 21 Oklahoma State vs. 18 Miami
Tues., Dec. 29, 9:00 p.m. — Alamo Bowl: 20 Texas vs. Colorado
Wed., Dec. 30, 12:00 p.m. — Duke’s Mayo Bowl: Wake Forest vs. Wisconsin
Wed., Dec. 30, 4:00 p.m. — Music City Bowl: 15 Iowa vs. Missouri
Wed., Dec. 30, 8:00 p.m. — Cotton Bowl: 7 Florida vs. 6 Oklahoma
Thurs., Dec. 31, 12:00 p.m. — Armed Forces Bowl: 24 Tulsa vs. Mississippi State
Thurs., Dec. 31, 2:00 p.m. — Arizona Bowl: Ball State vs. 22 San Jose State
Thurs., Dec. 31, 4:00 p.m. — Liberty Bowl: West Virginia vs. Army
Thurs., Dec. 31, 8:00 p.m. — Texas Bowl: Arkansas vs. TCU
Fri., Jan. 1, 12:00 p.m. — Peach Bowl: 9 Georgia vs. 8 Cincinnati
Fri., Jan. 1, 1:00 p.m. — Citrus Bowl: Auburn vs. 14 Northwestern
Fri., Jan. 1, 4:00 p.m. — College Football Playoff Semifinal at theRose Bowl: 4 Notre Dame vs. 1 Alabama
Fri., Jan. 1, 8:00 p.m. — College Football Playoff Semifinal at theSugar Bowl: 3 Ohio State vs. 2 Clemson
Sat., Jan. 2, 12:00 p.m. — Gator Bowl: 23 NC State vs. Kentucky
Sat., Jan. 2, 12:30 p.m. — Outback Bowl: Ole Miss vs. 11 Indiana
Sat., Jan. 2, 4:00 p.m. — Fiesta Bowl: 25 Oregon vs. 10 Iowa State
Sat., Jan. 2, 8:00 p.m. — Orange Bowl: 5 Texas A&M vs. 13 North Carolina
Mon., Jan. 11, 8:00 p.m. — College Football Playoff National Championship Game
After leading for the back half of the regular season, Andrew McCarty took home The Spun crown after the Week 16/conference championship games by an impressive 10 full picks. Here is how the standings shook out:
1. Andrew McCarty: 253-84
2. Matt Hladik: 243-94
T-3. Dan Lyons: 242-95
T-3. Tzvi Machlin: 242-95
T-3. Alek Arend: 242-95
6. Matt Lombardi: 240-97
T-7. Andrew Holleran 239-98
T-7. Chris Rosvoglou: 239-98
9. Steve Driscoll: 223-114
Here are our picks for 2020 college football bowl season and the College Football Playoff:
We’ll see who has the best read on this unpredictable season as we head into the postseason.