2024-2025 College Football Bowl Games- Part 2

The first round of the CFB playoffs are over. Pretty much, all four road teams got destroyed on the campus of their opponent. These teams can be pleased perhaps that they were good enough to make it into the first ever 12 Team Playoff, but basically, they also missed out on a Bowl game experience for their players and their fanbase. Perhaps they are ok with that. In a way though, it seems kind of unfair that these teams, which if nothing else were at least easily part of the best 25 in the country, had to go play, in three cases where it was very cold, on the home campus of an opponent. So, while it was a big deal in the moment, it was not actually a Bowl game. The players and fans did not get to go to tourist destinations and experience special events and big dinners in their honor and all of that ahead of a Bowl game against a lesser opponent they probably could have won.

 

I would hope that eventually they move to a system where there are 16 playoff teams, with no byes, and all the games incorporated into an actual neutral site Bowl game. Perhaps, you can give geographic preference to the top seeds like they do in the NCAA Basketball tournaments.  There would still be a lot of non-playoff teams available to play in other less prominent Bowl games, but it would be a bigger deal to win enough games to actually qualify for a Bowl, instead of seeing all sorts of 6-6 teams make it.

From here on out though, there are "official" Bowl games that double as playoff contests. Here is the next group of games.

33. ReliaQuest Bowl

Tampa, FL

Michigan Wolverines vs. #11 Alabama Crimson Tide

34. Sun Bowl

El Paso, TX

Washington Huskies vs. Louisville Cardinals

35. Citrus Bowl

Orlando, FL

# 15 South Carolina Gamecocks vs. #20 Illinois Urbana-Champaign Fighting Illini

36. Texas Bowl

Houston, TX

Baylor Bears vs. Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Tigers

37. Fiesta Bowl

Glendale, AZ

# 4 Pennsylvania State Nittany Lions vs. # 9 Boise State Broncos

38. Peach Bowl

Atlanta, GA

# 3 Texas at Austin Longhorns vs. # 12 Arizona State Sun Devils

39. Rose Bowl
Pasadena, CA

# 1 Oregon Ducks vs. # 6 Ohio State Buckeyes

 

40. Sugar Bowl

New Orleans, LA

# 5 Notre Dame du Lac Fighting Irish vs. # 2 Georgia Bulldogs

41. Gator Bowl
Jacksonville, FL

Duke Blue Devils vs. # 14 Mississippi Rebels

42. First Responder Bowl

Dallas, TX

North Texas Mean Green vs. Texas State Bobcats

43. Mayo Bowl

Charlotte, NC

Minnesota Twin Cities Golden Gophers vs. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Hokies

 

44. Bahamas Bowl

Nassau, The Bahamas

 

State University of New York at Buffalo Bulls vs. Liberty Flames