Over the course of their 123-year lifespan, bowl games have been everything to college football.
They have determined national championships and been utterly inconsequential to them. They have been sites of bigotry and integration. They have been played in Pasadena, Calif., and New Orleans and Toronto and Dayton, Ohio. Despite their increasing obsolescence to top NFL prospects in recent years, virtually every college football player worth their salt has played in at least one.
In 2024, the nature of bowl games will change again. With the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams, every New Year's Six bowl game will serve as either a quarterfinal or semifinal.
Let's take some time to answer your questions about bowls'—and college football's—brave new world.
When Does Bowl Season Start?
A little earlier than usual: College football's first two bowl games will be played on Dec. 14 this season, just a week after the sport's conference championship games.
How Do You Qualify For a Bowl?
In order to qualify for a bowl game, a team .500 or better must win at least six games in the regular season against Division I teams—no more than one of which can be against scholarship-awarding FCS teams. That's the simplest path, but not the only path.
Should there not be enough teams meeting those criteria to fill every bowl-game slot, teams meeting these criteria (in order) can be selected: teams knocked below .500 by a loss in their conference championship, teams that would have been bowl-eligible if an FCS opponent awarded enough scholarships, 6–7 teams that did not play conference championships, teams moving from FCS to FBS, and 5–7 teams in order of Academic Progress Rate (APR).
Got all that?
How Many Bowls Are There?
If you count unlabeled College Football Playoff games—i.e. first-round games and the national championship—and the FCS's Celebration Bowl as bowl games, there will be 47 bowl games this season.
Full List of Bowl Game Dates and Locations
Set your December and January calendars accordingly.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as 2024-25 College Football Bowl Schedule: Full List of Games and Locations.
