The recent confirmation of the college bowl season for 2023-24 lets us look forward to some of the biggest games of the season. These games bring together the best teams from different conferences and lead us to the moment when we find out the best college football team in the nation this season.
With these games starting on December 16 and running until the College Football Playoff National Championship on January 8, there’s a lot to look forward to. So, what are some of the top bowl games you might want to watch in the 2023-23 season?
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Now officially known as the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl thanks to Kellogg’s sponsorship deal, this is the joint second-oldest of all the bowl games, with a history stretching back to 1935. This season it will be played on December 29 at the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso.
This game typically involves teams from the ACC and the Pac-12 Conference, with the Pittsburgh Panthers winning in 2022 when they beat the UCLA Bruins 37-35,and Central Michigan winning in 2021. Texas Tech has the most appearances here but has only managed to win once out of those nine games, while the UTEP Miners team’s five wins is a record.
December 29 is also the day for the following bowl games: the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. After that, December 30 is the day for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the TransPerfect Music City Bowl, the Capital One Orange Bowl, and the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl.
We need to head to the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona for the next bowl, which is the VRBO Fiesta Bowl. Also scheduled to be played on January 1 next year, it was played for the first time in 1971. The playoff semifinals are played here once every three years, but the 2024 Fiesta Bowl won’t be a semifinal and the next time stage of the playoffs happens here will be in early 2026.
The last Fiesta Bowl was played between TCU and Michigan, with the former winning 51-45. Before that, Oklahoma State had beaten Notre Dame at the start of 2022. Ohio State has the best record in this bowl game, with a 5-4 record from the nine games that they’ve taken part in so far.
As we get closer to the date, we’ll know who will take part and can check the NCAA football odds to see who the favorites and underdogs are. Until then, betting odds on the college football regular season games give us a chance to try and work out who might win each week based on factors like form and fitness issues.
The Cheez-It Citrus Bowl is one of the games to be played on the first day of 2024. This is one of the oldest bowl games and tends to host games between the teams that finish top of the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences but don’t go to one of the College Football Playoff bowl games. It was first played in 1947 under the name of the Tangerine Bowl.
The LSU Tigers had a comfortable 63-7 win against the Purdue Boilermakers in the 2023 Citrus Bowl at the start of this year, with Kentucky winning it the year before that. Several teams have a record six appearances, with Georgia and Michigan both sitting on a total of four wins.
Played as one of the College Football Playoff Semifinals this year, the Rose Bowl first took place in 1902 and has been an annual contest since 1916. The first one was an East-West game while it’s now usually contested between the Big Ten and Pac-12 conference winners, although that can vary some years.
The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California is the setting and the date for it is January 1. The start of 2023 saw a clash between Utah and Penn State, with the Nittany Lions winning 35-21. The year before that, Utah was also on the losing side, this time falling to Ohio State. USA has a record 34 appearances in the Rose Bowl and also has the most wins, currently standing at 25.
The other College Football Playoff Semifinal also takes place on January 1, as the Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Superdome in New Orleans. This bowl has a history going back to 1935, so it’s another one on the list of the joint second-oldest bowl games.
The most recent Sugar Bowl was played on December 31, 2022, and it was won by Alabama, who beat Kansas State 45-20 to maintain their record as the team with the most appearances and most wins in this game. Prior to that, Baylor won in 2022 and Ohio State in 2021. The other game to look out for on January 1 is the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Florida.
After these games have been played, the College Football Playoff National Championship Game will be played in Houston on January 8. While that final game of the season will determine who wins the championship title, all these different bowls are regarded by football fans as some of the most exciting and memorable events of the year. The players who excel in them could be in the running to be name Rookie of the Year in the next NFL season too.
