Who Decides Who Goes To Bowl Games?

The most wonderful time of the College Football year is upon us – Bowl Season. From mid-December onward we get exciting College Football matchups nearly every day. But, you may wonder, who decides which teams play and which bowls they go to? The short answer is that the conferences and bowl hosts pick in a priority order amongst the qualifying teams (generally, six wins or more), but the full answer is a bit more complicated.

Which Teams Qualify for a Bowl Game?

Generally, any team with an even or winning record (i.e. six wins in the twelve game regular season) qualified for a bowl game. There are currently 41 bowl games, so this leaves 82 spots for teams. If more teams have six wins than available spots, unfortunately some schools will be left out. It comes down to who the bowl games and conferences select.

What if there aren’t enough teams qualifying for bowls?

If there are less six win teams than the available slots, schools that technically didn’t qualify will be invited. First, schools with six wins that didn’t qualify due to being in the FCS to FBS transition period (like Jacksonville State and James Madison in 2023) will be invited. Then, five win teams will be selected in order of APR, or “Academic Progress Rate”, which you can read more details about here. This is done until all available bowl slots are filled.

Who goes to the College Football Playoff?

The top twenty-five College Football teams are ranked by the College Football Playoff committee. From the committees inception in 2014 through the 2023 season, the top four teams would advance to the College Football Playoff. You can learn more about how the selection committee ranks teams here. In this format, the playoff semifinals were played in New Year’s Six bowl locations. You can also learn more about what constitutes a New Year’s Six bowl game here. Starting in 2024, there will be a twelve team playoff format, with the first round consisting of eight teams playing games at upper-seed teams’ stadiums, and both the quarterfinals and semifinals played at the New Year’s Six bowl sites.

How are Bowl Matchups Selected?

For any bowl game except those in the College Football Playoff, matchups are selected by a combination of the bowl organizations and the conferences. First of all, every bowl has what’s known as a “tie-in”, or the conferences that are contractually designated to play in those bowl games. For example, as of the 2023 College Football season, the Citrus Bowl has tie-ins with the SEC and the Big Ten, meaning one team from each of those conferences would participate.

Bowl Game Committees, which are typically comprised of whichever organization runs the bowl itself, will then select teams (besides College Football Playoff contestants) to participate. This is either in a specific designated order, by “tiers” of quality, or assigned by a combination of the conference and the bowl committees. The Big Ten and the Big 12 have bowls select in a designated order, as outlined below.

The ACC and SEC designate their tie-ins into “tiers”, with better performing teams earning higher tier bowl games. These pairings are made by the committees in conjunction with the conferences, with the SEC typically having more hands on involvement.

The remaining conferences assign their tie-in bowls in conjunction with the selection committees, typically by alumni density in bowl region or placing better performing teams in more highly regarded bowls. There are a few other exceptions, like the Sun Belt typically sends its champion to the New Orleans Bowl.

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