The 2025-26 College Football Playoffs will kick off this weekend and will be complemented by fun slate of bowl games that will carry us all throughout the holiday season.
The value of traditional bowl games have been diminished in recent years with the expansion of the playoff in recent years and we just saw Notre Dame outright turn down a bowl bid after being left out of the big dance. Opt outs will deprive us from seeing some of the more well known stars compete in these games while some of these matchups will feature interim staffs due to a coaching change. The sport is having to reckon with what to do with these non-prestige bowls and some like former UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel have even suggested to move these games to very beginning of the following season.
But hold up now, that doesn’t mean that bowl season is a complete wash. In fact, there’s plenty of interesting clashes that should be entertaining over the next few weeks and we’ll give you 10 non-playoff matchups to be on the lookout for throughout the holidays.
Wednesday, December 24, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN
The Hawai’i Bowl has been a fun Christmas Eve bowl throughout the years and we should get another entering matchup with Cal heading to the big island to face host Hawai’i, who is making its first bowl appearance since 2020. Cal is one of several schools going through a coaching transition right now, but quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is worth tuning in for on the holiday. JKS is returning to his native Honolulu after a year where he was one of the more exciting true freshman QB’s in the entire nation. He already announced that he’d be returning to the Golden Bears next season under new head coach Tosh Lupoi, so he could kickstart a Heisman Trophy campaign for next year in this game.
On the other side, it’s always nice to see the Rainbow Warriors have success and they managed to get bowl eligible with an 8-4 record. The guy to watch here is actually their kicker Kansei Matsuzawa, who actually taught himself how to kick through watching YouTube videos as a high-schooler in Japan. He actually tied an FBS record with 25 consecutive made field goals and was one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Award.
Friday, December 26, 4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
If you want to familiarize yourself with a name that could come up a lot in next year’s coaching carousel, then check out Jason Eck leading New Mexico into a bowl matchup against Minnesota. Eck arrived from FCS Idaho this year and proceeded to deliver the Lobos just their fifth nine-win season in program history and had them in contention for the Mountain West Conference title game at the end of the year. His son Jaxton won Co-MWC Defensive Player of the Year honors with 126 solo tackles, becoming the first New Mexico player to achieve that honor since Pro Football Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher did it in 1999.
They’ll have the opportunity to take down a Big Ten foe in Minnesota, who finished the regular season with a decent 7-5 mark. P.J. Fleck is a potential name that has been floated for the Michigan job, so we’ll see if the Golden Gophers will have an interim by the time this bowl rolls around.
Pittsburgh vs. East Carolina
Saturday, December 27, 11 a.m. ET, ESPN
A robust December 27 slate of bowls will kick off with what should be a straight up good matchup on paper with both teams finishing the regular season ranked in the top-40 in SP+. Pitt turned its season around by switching from Eli Holstein to Mason Heintschel in Week 5 and were one of several teams in the mix for the ACC title game at the end of the year. Meanwhile, ECU flew under the radar in a competitive American Conference race this season and ended up winning eight games. The Pirates could be one of the contenders for the Group of Five playoff spots next season, so this will be a chance to get a glimpse of them.
No. 22 Georgia Tech vs. No. 12 BYU
Saturday, December 27, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC
This is one of three ranked vs. ranked matchups in non-playoff bowls and arguably the best one of them all. BYU was the first team left outside of the playoff bracket after being dominated by Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game, their second blowout loss at the hands of the Red Raiders this season. Nevertheless, the Cougars were are still a fun 11-win ballclub led by Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year LJ Martin, who broke off 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground. Kalani Sitake will also be on the sidelines and the BYU fans have to be satisfied after successfully warding off Penn State to keep him in Provo.
Meanwhile, Georgia Tech is heading down to Orlando after a fun 9-3 season where it was also in the ACC title mix at the very end of the season. The guy to watch here is ACC Player of the Year Haynes King, who was a dual-threat battering ram at QB and just needs 78 rushing yards to cross the 1,000-yard threshold for the season. Head coach Brent Key has done an excellent job turning around his alma mater over the past few years and this will be a chance to achieve the program’s first 10-win season since 2014.
On top of what should be a heck of a football game, we will see a giant Pop-Tart mascot get sacrificed for consumption by the winning team…as is sacred tradition.
No. 25 North Texas vs. San Diego State
Saturday, December 27, 5:45 p.m. ET, ESPN
North Texas missed out on the playoff by falling to Tulane in the American Championship Game, so their consolation prize will be a trip to Albuquerque for the New Mexico Bowl. Head coach Eric Morris has already moved on to Oklahoma State, but this game will be a good national showcase for Drew Mestemaker. Starting zero games at QB in high school, Mestemaker took the G5 by storm as a redshirt freshman walk-on this season, throwing for over 4,000 yards to earn American OPOY honors. Chances are he’ll immediately enter the transfer portal after the game and will most likely follow Morris to OSU.
Meanwhile, San Diego State posted a strong 9-3 season where it hung around the edges of the G5 playoff conversation until the end of the year. Head coach Sean Lewis is known for his offensive prowess, but it was the other phases that led the way for the Aztecs as they finished 16th in defensive SP+ and 1st in special teams. Similar to ECU, SDSU is another program to look out for in the G5 playoff mix next year.
Appalachian State vs. Georgia Southern
Monday, December 29, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN
Numerous teams turned down the opportunity to to face 6-6 Georgia Southern in the Birmingham Bowl, so 5-7 Appalachian State stepped to the plate to face their Sun Belt rival in the “Magic City.” For those unfamiliar, Southern and State’s “Deeper Than Hate” rivalry goes all the way back to their time as FCS powerhouses and they’ve carried it into FBS over the last decade. There is no love lost between the two fan bases and it will be interesting to see it play out in a neutral environment. A possible solution to the future of bowl games is pairing historic rivals in these matchups and this will be a good test case for that.
Tuesday, December 30, 5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
There are just three Big Ten vs. SEC matchups this bowl season and the Music City Bowl is one of them. Illinois posted a solid 8-4 campaign with veteran quarter Luke Altmyer leading the way and their signature wins came against eventual ACC Champion Duke and a USC team that was a fringe playoff contender by the end of the year. Tennessee had a similar season at 8-4 as well and were a few one-score losses from possibly being in the postseason field.
Given the seasons that both programs had this year, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see either of them elevate themselves into the next tier of their respective conferences next season.
No. 23 Iowa vs. No. 14 Vanderbilt
Wednesday, December 31, 12 p.m. ET, ESPN
Another Big Ten-SEC showdown will feature Iowa and Vanderbilt heading down to Tampa to meet each other on New Year’s Eve. The Hawkeyes were once again stuck in the “good, but not great” tier of the Big Ten, but they did give other teams hell with losses to Indiana, Oregon, and USC all coming within one score. Their defense finished seventh in SP+ and hey, look at that, their offense actually finished in the top 50.
Vanderbilt, meanwhile, secured its first 10-win season in program history this year and could make more school history by securing back-to-back bowl wins for the very first time. Of course, the team will be led by Heisman Trophy finalist Diego Pavia, who felt some type of way about not winning the award. Barring him somehow finding another year of eligibility, this should be the final time we see him suit up for the Commanders and it’s worth tuning in to watch him battle the Hawkeyes.
Friday, January 2, 8 p.m. ET, FOX
The day after New Year’s will feature a sneaky banger in San Diego with both Arizona and SMU finishing the year ranked in the top 30 in SP+. Arizona was quiet nine-win team in the Big 12 this season and ended the regular season on a nine-game win streak with veteran QB Noah Fifita operating the controls of the offense. On the other side, SMU would’ve made the ACC title game if not for its loss to Cal in the final week of the regular season and that would’ve given it a path to possibly making the playoff for a second year in a row. QB Kevin Jennings was once again the star of the show for the Mustangs, posting over 3,300 passing yards and 26 touchdowns on the year.
Again, the potential Fifita-Jennings duel here makes this a fun matchup you’re going to want to see on the 2nd.
