There is more to college football than just the playoff. I’m plenty guilty of focusing on games with big brands and teams with numbers 1-25 ahead of their names. Those heavyweights draw plenty of eyeballs
for a reason as they can provide some of the best football in the business. But bowl season is more than just the Georgia’s and Ohio State’s of the world as these games mean plenty to the teams playing in them. It’s an extra game for your players and an opportunity to get in a few extra practices which can be crucial to a team’s development for the following year. For outgoing seniors it’s one final chance to put on the school colors, the final time for those without a future in the NFL. Most teams still make the trip, even if the stakes are lower than a national championship.
Unless you’re a certain team from South Bend, Indiana, that is. Rant incoming.
The CFP committee faced a catch-22 with their last two spots. There were three deserving teams so someone was going to be left out. Alabama and Miami got the nods, the former on the backs of their ranked wins and the latter thanks to their head to head win over Notre Dame. Rather than play the hand they were dealt, the Irish, behaving like a spoiled three year old, decided they’d rather throw a hissy fit and quit after not getting their way.
Facing a wave of criticism, derision, and mockery after making this decision, Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua went on The Dan Patrick Show to vent his disappointment that the ACC fought more for Miami to get into the playoff than the Irish.
Bevacqua let slip a very important qualifier in his answer (emphasis mine): “We were mystified by the actions of the conference to attack their biggest business partner in football and a member of their conference in 24 other sports.” That’s the key point there, Pete. For all your special arrangements with them, you’re not a full member of the ACC in football. I’m not shocked a conference lobbied for a full fledged member over their “business partner”. If Jim Phillips pushed for Notre Dame over Miami you bet your golden dome there’d be a tremendous backlash from every member school’s AD that would very likely lead to his ouster. A commissioner’s job is to fight for his conference’s member schools, not its business partners*. You want to get equal treatment, join the conference.
*Unless that business partner is Fox or Disney.
Ah, but there’s the rub, you see. Notre Dame wants the best of both worlds. They want their treasured independence while also reaping the benefits of conference membership without having to do the latter. Because they’re NOTRE DAME after all, the college football world should be honored that they even deign to let us play at the same level as them. They want special rules just for them based on nothing more than their name brand and unfortunately, more often than not, they get them. There’s already a provision set to begin with next year’s playoff where the Irish are guaranteed a spot in the playoff if they’re ranked no lower than #12 in the final rankings. Does anyone else get that treatment? Nope, just the team that hasn’t won a national championship since the 80’s and has fallen flat on their face each time they’ve had the opportunity since.
When my grandpa was alive he used to loathe Notre Dame. They were always the team on TV and getting the attention. When I was younger I never understood but as I’ve gotten older I’m seeing it more an more. Notre Dame wants to have its cake and eat it too. But it’s not the 70’s anymore. College football doesn’t work the same way and its mechanics are in another galaxy than it was back then. Instead of adapt to the changing reality, Notre Dame wants to stubbornly force everyone else to put up with its temper tantrums when things don’t go its way.
If you want to sit at the big kids table, Notre Dame, try growing up first.
Rant over, it’s bowl season. I won’t be going into a breakdown of each game but consider this a handy guide to see where and when each game is going to be played from the LA Bowl on December 13 through the Irish-less national championship on January 19, 2026.
Saturday, December 13
Bucked Up LA Bowl – Boise State @ Washington
7:00 PM | ABC
IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl – Troy @ Jacksonville State
8:00 PM | ESPN
Wednesday, December 17
Staff DNA Cure Bowl – Old Dominion @ South Florida
4:00 PM | ESPN
68 Ventures Bowl – Louisiana @ Delaware
7:30 PM | ESPN
Thursday, December 18
Xbox Bowl – Missouri State @ Arkansas State
8:00 PM | ESPN2
Myrtle Beach Bowl – Kennesaw State @ Western Michigan
10:00 AM | ESPN
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl – Memphis @ NC State
1:30 PM | ESPN
CFP First Round – #9 Alabama @ #8 Oklahoma
7:00 PM | ABC/ESPN
Saturday, December 20
CFP First Round – #10 Miami @ #7 Texas A&M
11:00 AM | ABC/ESPN
CFP First Round – #11 Tulane @ #6 Ole Miss
2:30 PM | TNT/HBO Max/truTV
CFP First Round – #12 James Madison @ #5 Oregon
6:30 PM | TNT/HBO Max/truTV
Monday, December 22
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl – Washington State @ Utah State
1:00 PM | ESPN
Tuesday, December 23
Bush’s Boca Raton Bowl – Toledo @ Louisville
1:00 PM | ESPN
New Orleans Bowl – Western Kentucky @ Southern Miss
4:30 PM | ESPN
Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl – UNLV @ Ohio
8:00 PM | ESPN
Wednesday, December 24
Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl – Cal @ Hawai’i
7:00 PM | ESPN
Friday, December 26
GameAbove Sports Bowl – Central Michigan @ Northwestern
12:00 PM | ESPN
Rate Bowl – New Mexico @ Minnesota
3:30 PM | ESPN
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl – Florida International @ UTSA
7:00 PM | ESPN
Saturday, December 27
Go Bowling Military Bowl – Pittsburgh @ East Carolina
10:00 AM | ESPN
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl – Penn State @ Clemson
11:00 AM | ABC
Wasabi Fenway Bowl – UConn @ Army
1:15 PM | ESPN
Pop-Tarts Bowl – #22 Georgia Tech @ #12 BYU
2:30 PM | ABC
Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl – Miami (OH) @ Fresno State
3:30 PM | The CW
Isleta New Mexico Bowl – #25 North Texas @ San Diego State
4:45 PM | ESPN
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl – #19 Virginia @ Missouri
6:30 PM | ABC
Kinder’s Texas Bowl – LSU @ #21 Houston
8:15 PM | ESPN
Monday, December 29
JLab Birmingham Bowl – Georgia Southern @ App State
1:00 PM | ESPN
Tuesday, December 30
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl – Coastal Carolina @ Louisiana Tech
1:00 PM | ESPN
Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl – Tennessee @ Illinois
4:30 PM | ESPN
Valero Alamo Bowl – #16 USC @ TCU
8:00 PM | ESPN
Wednesday, December 31
ReliaQuest Bowl – #23 Iowa @ #14 Vanderbilt
11:00 AM | ESPN
Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl – Arizona State @ Duke
1:00 PM | CBS
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl – #18 Michigan @ #13 Texas
2:00 PM | ABC
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl – Nebraska @ #15 Utah
2:30 PM | ESPN
CFP Quarterfinal/Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic – TBD @ #2 Ohio State
6:30 PM | ESPN
Thursday, January 1
CFP Quarterfinal/Capital One Orange Bowl
11:00 AM | ESPN
CFP Quarterfinal/Rose Bowl Presented by Prudential – TBD @ #1 Indiana
3:00 PM | ESPN
CFP Quarterfinal/Allstate Sugar Bowl – TBD @ #3 Georgia
7:00 PM | ESPN
Friday, January 2
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl – Rice @ Texas State
12:00 PM | ESPN
AutoZone Liberty Bowl – Navy @ Cincinnati
3:30 PM | ESPN
Trust & Will Holiday Bowl – #17 Arizona @ SMU
7:00 PM | FOX
Duke’s Mayo Bowl – Wake Forest @ Mississippi State
7:00 PM | ESPN
Thursday, January 8
CFP Semifinal/Vrbo Fiesta Bowl – TBD @ TBD
6:30 PM | ESPN
Friday, January 9
CFP Semifinal/Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl – TBD @ TBD
6:30 PM | ESPN
Monday, January 19
CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T – TBD @ TBD
6:30 PM | ESPN
