can fcs teams make bowl games?
This is a list of college football bowl games, including those proposed and defunct. Three bowl games are part of the College Football Playoff, a selection system that creates bowl matchups involving four of the top-ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). There are also a number of other college football postseason invitationals, as well as several all-star games.
For nearly a century, bowl games were the purview of only the very best teams, but a steady proliferation of new bowl games required more teams, with 70 participating teams by the 2010–11 bowl season, then 80 participating teams by the 2015–16 bowl season. As a result, the NCAA has steadily relaxed the criteria for bowl eligibility. Teams with a non-winning record (6–6) were allowed starting in 2010. Requirements were further reduced to allow teams with outright losing records (5–7) to be invited since 2012, with the team with the best Academic Progress Rate score (among teams with 5–7 records) to be chosen first.[1] While inviting teams without winning records to bowl games has become more commonplace, there were several losing teams who played in bowl games before the last decade's changes in bowl eligibility: 1946 Gator Bowl, South Carolina (2–3–3); 1963 Sun Bowl, SMU (4–6); 1970 Tangerine Bowl, William & Mary (5–6); and the 2001 New Orleans Bowl, North Texas (5–6).[2] For the 2016–17 bowl season, 25% of the bowl participants (20 teams) did not have a winning record.
The tables (College Football Playoff games, Other current Division I FBS bowl games) reflect changes for the 2022–23 bowl season.
Bowl games are not limited to the Bowl Subdivision; teams in the three lower divisions of the NCAA—the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division II, and Division III—are also allowed to participate in bowl games. The playoff structure in those three divisions discourages most high-caliber teams from participating in bowl games, as teams would rather contest for their division's national championship than play in a bowl game. The same basic guidelines for bowl eligibility apply for those contests. As of 2017, one bowl game (the Celebration Bowl) exists for FCS, four bowls serve Division II, and ten exist for teams in Division III (not including the Stagg Bowl, which is the name for the NCAA Division III Football Championship game).
Community college bowl games, not sanctioned by the NCAA, are also listed.
Six major bowl games, known as the New Year's Six, rotate the hosting of the two semifinal games which determine the teams that play in the final College Football Playoff National Championship game.[3] The New Year's Six includes six of the ten oldest bowl games (missing the Sun, Gator, Citrus and Liberty bowls), continuing their original history of pitting the very best teams in the country against each other. These six games focus on the top 12 teams in the rankings, with only five teams ranked lower than 12th (all five were still ranked in the top 20) having ever played in the New Year's Six since the College Football Playoff system was inaugurated.
^ The Rose Bowl did not add a sponsor to its name until the 1998 season. Unlike other bowls, which give the sponsor's name precedence ahead of the bowl's name (effectively changing the title of the game), the Rose Bowl adds the sponsor as "presented by", after the words Rose Bowl. * Two-time move due to World War II travel restrictions after the attack on Pearl Harbor as well as the COVID-19 pandemic moving the 2021 game to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. † One-time move due to damage to the Superdome from Hurricane Katrina.
Besides the six bowl games that are part of the College Football Playoff, there are a number of other postseason invitationals. Generally, two conferences will agree to send teams of a particular standing to a game beforehand. For instance, the Rose Bowl traditionally features the Big Ten and Pac-12 conference champions. Generally, the payout to the participating teams in a bowl game is closely correlated to its prestige. By comparison, each of the former BCS bowls (including the national championship game) had a payout of $18 million.
NOTE: These games are similar to the National Invitation Tournament in Division I college basketball, for teams in conferences that did not make the NCAA Division II tournament.
Additionally, NCAA Division III is home to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl (1973–2019; was played in Salem, Virginia). NCAA awarded the 2020 & 2021 games to Canton, OH, 2022 game to Navy-Marine Corp Stadium, 2023 to Salem VA, 2024 game to Humble TX and finally the 2025 game back to Canton. In contrast to other bowl games, the Stagg Bowl operates within the NCAA tournament structure rather than as a stand-alone post-season game; it serves as the Division III national championship game to conclude a 32-team post-season playoff.
The NAIA's national championship game (which is the conclusion of a 16 team playoff) is currently not named as a bowl, but has held a bowl name in the past. Additionally, from 1970 to 1996, NAIA football was split into two divisions and held a separate tournaments and championships for both divisions; the Division II championship was never named a bowl and as such the past names listed below do not apply to the Division II championship game.
Football teams that are a part of the NCCAA may also be members of the NCAA, NAIA, or of neither. Bids to the Victory Bowl are given to NCCAA teams that did not make the NCAA or NAIA playoffs and is treated as the NCCAA Championship Game, but follows no playoff itself.
The number of bowl games have risen steadily, reaching 41 (including the national championship game) by the 2015 bowl season. To fill the 80 available bowl slots, a record 15 teams with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games—including three with a record of 5–7. This situation led directly to the NCAA Division I Council imposing a three-year moratorium on new bowl games in April 2016.[10]
Since 2010, organizers and boosters have continued to propose other bowl games—some of these proposals have since been dropped, while others are active proposals that have been placed on hold during the NCAA moratorium.
Two proposed games, the Cure Bowl and Christmas Bowl, were turned down by the NCAA for 2010.[16] The Cure Bowl was eventually added in 2014, for the 2015 bowl season.
In August 2013, the Detroit Lions announced that it would hold a new bowl game at Ford Field beginning in 2014, holding Big Ten and Atlantic Coast Conference tie-ins, despite the existence of the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.[17][18] While Pizza Bowl organizers attempted to move the game to Comerica Park (a baseball stadium across the street from Ford Field), these plans never came to fruition.[19][20] In August 2014, the Lions announced that the new game would be known as the Quick Lane Bowl, and play its inaugural game on December 26, 2014. In a statement to Crain's Detroit Business, Motor City Bowl co-founder Ken Hoffman confirmed that there would be no Little Caesars Pizza Bowl for 2014.[19][21]
In June 2013, ESPN.com reported that the so-called "Group of Five" conferences—the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West Conference, and Sun Belt Conference—were considering adding one or more new bowl games once the NCAA's current moratorium on new bowls expires after the 2013 season. This move was driven by a trend for the "Power Five" conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC) to play one another in bowl games. The 2013 season, the last of the current four-year bowl cycle, will have 16 bowls that involve two teams from "Power Five" leagues. The 2014 season, the first of a new six-year bowl cycle, will have at least 19, and possibly more, matchups of "Power Five" teams. The "Group of Five" was apparently concerned that this trend would mean that its teams might not have available bowl slots.[14]
According to reports, the 2010 Christmas Bowl proposal would have involved a Mountain West team against an opponent from either the Pac-12 or The American. As for The American, it has suggested a new bowl game, most likely at Marlins Park in Miami. Two other venues of "Group of Five" schools in Florida—Spectrum Stadium (UCF, Orlando) and FAU Stadium (Florida Atlantic, Boca Raton)—are being considered for other potential bowls. A possible bowl in Little Rock would pit C-USA and the Sun Belt. Finally, the director of the current Little Caesars Bowl indicated that he had been in contact with officials from all of the "Group of Five" about starting new bowl games in Ireland (most likely Dublin), Dubai, and either Toronto or Nassau.[14] Recently, though, reports have indicated the proposed games in Ireland and Dubai would be unworkable.[22]
The first new bowl to be confirmed for 2014 was the Camellia Bowl, a game created by ESPN and played in Montgomery, Alabama. It secured tie-ins with the MAC and Sun Belt, and an initial contract to run through the 2019 season. ESPN was also reported to be in negotiations to take over ownership of the existing Heart of Dallas Bowl and establish a new bowl game in Boca Raton.[23]
Another ownership group interested in starting a Montgomery-based bowl at New ASU Stadium reportedly switched focus to Charleston, South Carolina. In the face of obstacles related to an NCAA ban on playing postseason games at predetermined locations in South Carolina due to the Confederate battle flag being flown at a civil war monument on the State House grounds, the ownership group instead chose to stage the Medal of Honor Bowl all-star game at Johnson Hagood Stadium beginning in 2014.[24] However, with the Confederate flag's removal from the State House grounds on July 10, 2015, the NCAA lifted its ban that day.[25] As such, on August 27 of that year, the Medal of Honor Bowl announced their plans to become a traditional postseason bowl game beginning on December 18, 2016, pending NCAA approval. The all-star game format was not played that year as a result.[26] However, in April 2016, the NCAA announced a moratorium on new bowl games;[10] organizers had subsequently announced plans to hold the bowl (as an all-star game again) in January 2018;[27] however, no further editions of the Medal of Honor Bowl have been played.
Includes bowls with their 2021 editions cancelled
* Bowl is a College Football Playoff semifinal, once every three seasons, in rotation under current CFP format
All-star games predominantly featuring players from the FBS-level (or historical equivalents, such as Division I-A).[28]
Source: NJCAA[33]
Only FBS teams are allowed to play in the traditional bowl games, but there is one bowl game at the Division I FCS level, and that is the Celebration Bowl.
Bowl eligibility in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games. When a team achieves this state, it is described as "bowl-eligible".
For nearly a century, bowl games were the purview of only the very best teams, but a steady proliferation of new bowl games required 70 participating teams by the 2010–11 bowl season, then 80 participating teams by the 2015–16 bowl season. As a result, the NCAA has steadily watered down the criteria for bowl eligibility in favor of higher profits, allowing teams with a non-winning (6–6) record in 2010, further reducing to allow teams with outright losing records (5–7) to be invited by 2012. For the 2016–17 bowl season, 25% of the bowl participants (20 teams) did not have a winning record.
Current regulations have also adjusted the criteria to allow a team to include one win against teams at the lower FCS level.[1]
Teams that are bowl eligible will usually either play in one of the bowl games that its conference is affiliated with based on conference tie-ins or the team will be chosen from the pool of remaining bowl eligible teams to fill one of the at-large positions. The various reductions in the bowl eligibility criteria are discussed below.
In mid-October 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA waived bowl eligibility requirements for the 2020–21 bowl season, intended "to allow as many student-athletes as possible the opportunity to participate in bowl games this year."[2]
For the 2018–19 bowl season, a team was required to meet the following criteria to participate in a bowl game:
If there are not enough eligible teams to fill all the bowl slots, additional teams may be selected, according to the following priorities, which must be applied in descending order:[3]
On April 26, 2006, the NCAA announced that they were relaxing the rules for eligibility starting with the 2006–07 bowl season, particularly in light of the new twelve-game college football season. Now, teams with a minimum non-losing, or .500, record can qualify for bowl games if their conference has a contract with a bowl game. Also, other teams with a minimum non-losing .500 record (i.e., 6–6) could earn bowl bids if all other FBS teams with winning records have been taken and postseason spots still remain vacant. In thirteen-game seasons (used because of conference championship games, or allowable for Hawaiʻi and any of its home opponents in a given season), a team must win seven games.[5]
Occasionally, there will be more bowl eligible teams than there are spots in the NCAA football bowl games in the season. In these cases, some bowl eligible teams will not be invited to play in any NCAA football bowl game (usually teams from Group of Five conferences). Typically, teams with seven or more wins will not be left out of bowl games, although there are times, most recently the 2012–13 bowl season, that see at least one such team uninvited. Before the 2010–11 bowl season, the Division I rulebook, specifically Bylaw 30.9.2.1, had several provisions that attempted to ensure that teams with seven wins will receive preference for bowl bids:[6]
In the 2008–09 bowl season, these rules affected bowls contracted to the Big 12 and Pac-10, which each had at least one more bowl slot than eligible teams. The same applies to bowls contracted to the SEC. However, in that season, the WAC had a contingency agreement with one of the Pac-10's bowls, specifically the Poinsettia Bowl, providing that the bowl would select a WAC team (ultimately Boise State) if the Pac-10 did not have enough teams to fulfill their bowl contracts. The same contingency agreement applied in that season to the Sun Belt Conference and the PapaJohns.com, Independence, and St. Petersburg bowls. Similarly, these rules affected bowls contracted to the ACC in the 2009–10 bowl season because that conference has nine bowl tie-ins, but only had seven eligible teams that season.
Starting with the 2011–12 bowl season, the rule that required the selection of seven-win teams before any 6–6 teams was eliminated.[7] The first season of the new rule saw Temple go uninvited despite going 8–4, including a win over eventual Big East BCS representative Connecticut. In the 2010–11 bowl season, the UCLA Bruins were invited to a bowl game despite a losing record after playing a conference championship game (6–6 in regular season, played and lost the Pac-12 championship game in extenuating circumstances), while a 7–5 winning team (Western Kentucky) and a 6–6 non-losing team (Ball State) did not receive invites.
Like NCAA sports where a tournament determines an automatic conference bid to the postseason tournament, a team can finish with a losing record (or a winning record but not eligible because of FCS wins) and still appear in a bowl game. In another change to bowl eligibility rules that took effect in 2010–11, a team that wins its conference but has an overall losing record must receive an NCAA waiver to appear in a bowl game.[8] Previously, the waiver required no NCAA action. The new rule is still largely consistent with the NCAA rules in all other team sports, where a team that has a losing record that wins their conference championship through the conference tournament earns the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.[9]
The NCAA typically awarded waivers in extenuating circumstances when a 6–6 team played in a conference championship game as a result of the division winning team being ineligible because of sanctions. This prevents the conference championship game from affecting bowl eligibility of team that advances to the conference championship in case of division-winning teams being sanctioned. The Pac-12 and ACC have both used it for such division champions, UCLA in 2011 and Georgia Tech in 2012, both of which were 6–6 and advanced to the conference championship game as a result of sanctions to the division winning teams (USC in the 2011 Pac-12 South, North Carolina and Miami in the 2012 ACC Coastal). Both lost in their conference championship games, but the NCAA awarded both waivers.[10] Starting with the 2013–14 bowl season, this waiver is established by rule and all 6–6 teams participating in a conference championship game will be bowl eligible.[11]
On August 2, 2012, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors approved a significant change to the process to determine bowl eligible teams, going so far as to potentially allow 5–7 teams to go to a bowl, in case there were not enough regular bowl-eligible teams to fill every game. If a bowl has one or more conferences/teams unable to meet their contractual commitments and there are no available bowl-eligible teams, the open spots can be filled – by the particular bowl's sponsoring agencies – as follows:[12]
The 2015–16 bowl season featured a record 40 bowl games, and three teams with losing records (San Jose State, Minnesota, and Nebraska; each 5–7).[15] Despite this, the Arizona Bowl was unable to fill teams via its Conference USA or alternate Sun Belt Conference tie-ins, leading to both teams being from the Mountain West Conference, marking the first time since the 1979 Orange Bowl that a non-championship bowl game was played between members of the same conference.[16]
The 2016–17 bowl season again featured 40 bowl games, and three teams with losing records (6–7 Hawaii, 5–7 Mississippi State, and 5–7 North Texas).
The 2017–18 bowl season featured 39 bowl games due to the discontinuation of the Poinsettia Bowl, with all bowl slots filled by teams with winning or .500 records; UTSA at 6–5 did not receive a bowl bid, while 15 teams with 6–6 records were selected.
The 2018–19 bowl season again filled all slots for 39 bowl games with teams having winning or .500 records. One team with a winning record, Southern Miss at 6–5, did not receive a bowl invitation, while there were 10 teams with 6–6 records selected.
The 2020–21 bowl season saw a record nine teams with losing records accept bowl bids, after impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.[17]
The 2021–22 bowl season featured 44 bowl games with everything largely back to normal after the turmoil of the previous season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hawaii were the only team with a losing record, 6–7, selected. They were paired against the 6–6 Memphis Tigers in the 2021 Hawaii Bowl, but ultimately withdrew due to COVID-19 concerns. 17 teams with a 6–6 record were invited and accepted into bowl games. In addition, after initial bowl selections had been made, 5–7 Rutgers replaced 8–4 Texas A&M in the December 2021 Gator Bowl after positive COVID-19 tests within the Texas A&M program. Rutgers became the only team with a losing record to play a bowl game that season, losing to Wake Forest.
The following teams entered bowl games with losing records.
^ Hawaii, with a losing record of 2–5, also won the Poi Bowl for the 1936 season. The University of Hawaii website does not count that win as an official bowl victory as their competition consisted of local Honolulu All-Stars.
Denotes a team that had a 6–6 regular season record, then lost their conference's championship game before playing in a bowl game.
In addition to the 2020 teams listed, Tennessee accepted an invitation to the Liberty Bowl with a 3–7 record,[50] South Carolina accepted an invitation to the Gasparilla Bowl with a 2–8 record,[51] and Arkansas accepted a bid to the Texas Bowl with a 3–7 record.[52] Tennessee and South Carolina had to withdraw due to COVID-19 issues,[53][54] and the Texas Bowl was cancelled after Arkansas' opponent withdrew due to COVID-19 issues.[55]
% The 2021 Hawaii Bowl was canceled due to Hawaii's withdrawal, which was due to COVID-19 and other issues.
& In 2021, Rutgers had the highest Academic Progress Rate (APR) of five-win teams. The NCAA announced on December 23 that Rutgers was the first eligible team, under APR regulations, to replace Texas A&M in the Gator Bowl. Rutgers accepted the bid.[48]
The FCS National Bowl is an annual post-season college football all-star game consisting of the top players from college football FCS schools. The inaugural FCS National Bowl was played in December 2014 at FIU Stadium and moved to Daytona Beach Stadium in Daytona Beach, FL in 2016 which is home to FCS Bethune-Cookman Football. The National Bowl and FCS Bowl all star weekend for Non-FBS schools has been the only games of its kind to attract numerous NFL & CFL scouts.
Players travel to the National Bowl weekend from as far as Texas, Arkansas, Oregon, Colorado, Michigan, Utah, South Dakota and more. The FCS National Bowl and National Bowl Game are presented by East Preps LLC and founded by its owner Michael Quartey Esq., also a Professor of Sports Law at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, PA.
The rosters gives NFL/CFL scouts a chance to view and get to know some of the best players from smaller schools over the bowl weekend. The FCS National Bowl is coached by pro coaches and features coaches such as NFL Coach Mike Stock formerly of the Green Bay Packers,who is set to return and coach the FCS Bowl for the 2014 game in Miami, FL. The game has been attended by scouts from the NFL’s St Louis Rams, Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta Falcons, Miami Dolphins, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49er’s, Philadelphia Eagles, Chicago Bears, and has even seen scouting directors fly in. With its location in at FIU in Miami, the bowl weekend continues to gain scouts attention.. All 32 NFL teams receive and review the FCS National Bowl film as the game and practice film are distributed directly to all NFL teams by NFL Films.
We welcome you to come be a part of our double header National Bowl weekend. Come Play, Cheer, or Attend!!!
THE NATIONAL BOWL GAMES ARE THE ONLY ALL STAR GAMES DEDICATED TO FCS, D2,D3 AND THE GAME HAS BEEN ATTENDED BY THE NFL & CFL. ITS SELF SPONSORSHIP MODEL AND CONTINUED GROWTH IS THE REASON WE WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE BEST AND PROVIDE OUR PLAYERS WITH FOOTBALL SCOUTING OPPORTUNITIES. FUTURE AS MANY GAMES HAVE BEEN ONE AND DONE OR POSTPONED YEAR TO YEAR FOR LACK OF SPONSORSHIP. WE ARE PROUD TO REPRESENT SMALLER COLLEGES PLAYING BIG TIME FOOTBALL!!
