RIP Bahamas Bowl. Welcome to the show, Xbox Bowl.
On Thursday, ESPN Events announced its long-awaited replacement for the always-interesting-but-never-full Bahamas Bowl. The Xbox Bowl debuts Dec. 18 at The Star in Frisco, Texas. In addition, ESPN Events announced the participants will be Arkansas State (6-6) and Missouri State (7-5). The Bears are in their first season transitioning from the Football Championship Subdivision and would be ineligible for the postseason if there were enough six-win teams to fill the schedule. Delaware (6-6) is in the same position.
ESPN also announced the Hawaii Bowl will pit the hometown Rainbow Warriors (8-4) against California (7-5). The Hawaii Bowl was scheduled to match a Mountain West Conference team (Hawaii when eligible) against an American Athletic Conference squad. But ESPN has flexibility to shift matchups, and geography led to Cal taking the American’s spot.
On the projections side, the College Football Playoff’s final Tuesday rankings of the season provided two key takeaways. One, after Alabama moved up from No. 10 to No. 9, it would take a significant loss in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game to boot the Crimson Tide out of the field. Otherwise, conference championship games would be doomed after this year. Two, it moves No. 12 Miami within striking distance of a head-to-head discussion with No. 10 Notre Dame. The committee ranked BYU between them on Tuesday, but if the Cougars lose to Texas Tech on Saturday in the Big 12 championship, then the Hurricanes’ season-opening win over the Irish could flip the order. That’s why Miami now is projected for the CFP and Notre Dame is not.
The ACC’s title game quandary has created some challenges for bowl organizers. Several of the bowls have two sets of lineups: one for a win by No. 17 Virginia and another in case unranked Duke pulls out the upset. If Duke wins, then No. 25 James Madison could wind up as the CFP’s fifth conference champion and leave the ACC out of the 12-team field — unless Miami qualifies as an at-large squad.
A few items to watch:
If Notre Dame falls out of the CFP, then it lands in the ACC’s bowl lineup, which consists of three tiers. The first comprises the Pop-Tarts, the Gator and the Holiday bowl. The Pop-Tarts Bowl is considered first among equals and can pull rank. If Notre Dame is the prize, I expect it will. If Miami ends up in this spot, however, the Pop-Tarts Bowl cannot select the Hurricanes two years in a row.
The SEC won’t fill out its bowl allotment, with the Liberty and Duke’s Mayo bowls possibly looking for replacements. The Liberty picks up the first American Conference selection if it has an SEC team in its game. Look for Navy to earn that spot.
If BYU does not qualify for the CFP, it likely will return to the Alamo Bowl. The Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando then will select between TCU and Houston. The Cougars have a better record (9-3 to 8-4) but TCU won the head-to-head matchup. The Liberty picks next and usually would grab Iowa State without thinking, but the Cyclones are lukewarm about returning to Memphis and would prefer the Rate Bowl in Phoenix, where they could play Minnesota.
The Big Ten’s bowl lineup appears fairly solid, with Michigan heading to the Citrus for the first time since 2019 and Iowa going back to Tampa for the first time since 2018. Nebraska’s fan base will help the Huskers head to Las Vegas to face Utah. Illinois appears the likely choice in Nashville.
A few evergreen notes:
The highest-ranked five conference champions plus the top seven at-large teams qualify for the 12-team College Football Playoff. The four highest-ranked teams earn first-round byes. Those teams will play in the Cotton (Dec. 31), Orange (Jan. 1), Rose (Jan. 1) and Sugar (Dec. 31) bowls. Teams seeded 5-8 host seeds 9-12 on Dec. 19-20. Should the Big Ten and SEC champions earn byes, they will play in the Rose and Sugar bowls, respectively. The next-highest ranked squad heads to the closest remaining bowl site to its campus.
The former Pac-12 schools still fall under the conference’s old agreements. It’s possible to see current in-conference matchups in the Alamo, Vegas, Holiday or Sun bowls.
Note: Football Scoop reported Thursday that Kansas State intends not to accept a bowl invitation. The projections will be updated when the school makes an official decision.
BowlMatchup
LA
Dec. 13, 2025
Pac-12 6 Arizona State
MWC 1 Boise State
Salute to Veterans
Dec. 16, 2025
Sun Belt Louisiana
MAC Central Michigan
Cure
Dec. 17, 2025
Sun Belt Old Dominion
G5/Open Kennesaw State
68 Ventures
Dec. 17, 2025
Sun Belt Southern Miss
Open Miami (OH)
XBox
Dec. 18, 2025
G5 Missouri State
G5 Arkansas State
Myrtle Beach
Dec. 19, 2025
Sun Belt Georgia Southern
Open Delaware
Gasparilla
Dec. 19, 2025
SEC/ACC/AAC USF
Open UConn
Famous Idaho Potato
Dec. 22, 2025
MWC Utah State
MAC Toledo
Boca Raton
Dec. 23, 2025
Open Coastal Carolina
Open Florida International
New Orleans
Dec. 23, 2025
Sun Belt Troy
CUSA Jacksonville State
Frisco
Dec. 23, 2025
G5 Texas State
G5 Fresno State
Hawai’i
Dec. 24, 2025
MWC Hawaii
American/Other California
GameAbove Sports
Dec. 26, 2025
Big Ten 8 Northwestern
MAC Ohio
Rate
Dec. 26, 2025
Big Ten 7 Minnesota
Big 12 6 Iowa State
First Responder
Dec. 26, 2025
Open Western Kentucky
Open UTSA
Military
Dec. 27, 2025
American Memphis
ACC 8 Louisville
Pinstripe
Dec. 27, 2025
Big Ten 6 Penn State
ACC 5-7 Pittsburgh
Fenway
Dec. 27, 2025
ACC 9 NC State
American Army
Arizona
Dec. 27, 2025
MWC San Diego State
MAC 2 Western Michigan
Pop-Tarts
Dec. 27, 2025
Big 12 3 TCU
ACC 2-4 Notre Dame
New Mexico
Dec. 27, 2025
MWC New Mexico
Open Washington State
Gator
Dec. 27, 2025
ACC 2-4 Georgia Tech
SEC 3-8 Missouri
Texas
Dec. 27, 2025
Big 12 4 Houston
SEC 3-8 LSU
Birmingham
Dec. 29, 2025
ACC/SEC/Open East Carolina
SEC/ACC/Open Duke
Independence
Dec. 30, 2025
Big 12 7 Kansas State
CUSA/Sun Belt Louisiana Tech
Music City
Dec. 30, 2025
Big Ten 5 Illinois
SEC 3-8 Tennessee
Alamo
Dec. 30, 2025
Big 12 2 BYU
Pac-12 2 USC
ReliaQuest
Dec. 31, 2025
Big Ten 3 Iowa
SEC 3-8 Vanderbilt
Sun
Dec. 31, 2025
ACC 5-7 Clemson
Pac-12 5 Arizona
Citrus
Dec. 31, 2025
Big Ten 2 Michigan
SEC 2 Texas
Las Vegas
Dec. 31, 2025
Pac-12 3 Utah
Big Ten 4 Nebraska
Armed Forces
Jan. 2, 2026
Open UNLV
American North Texas
Liberty
Jan. 2, 2026
Big 12 5 Cincinnati
SEC 3-8 Navy
Duke’s Mayo
Jan. 2, 2026
SEC 3-8 James Madison
ACC 5-7 Wake Forest
Holiday
Jan. 3, 2026
ACC 2-4 SMU
Pac-12 4 Washington
BowlMatchup
Playoff
Dec. 19, 2025
7 Texas A&M
10 Miami (FL)
Playoff
Dec. 20, 2025
6 Ole Miss
11 Virginia
Playoff
Dec. 20, 2025
5 Oregon
12 Tulane
Playoff
Dec. 20, 2025
8 Oklahoma
9 Alabama
Cotton
Dec. 31, 2025
3 Indiana
Ole Miss/UVA winner
Orange
Jan. 1, 2026
4 Texas Tech
ORE/Tulane winner
Rose
Jan. 1, 2026
1 Ohio State
OU/Bama winner
Sugar
Jan. 1, 2026
2 Georgia
A&M/Miami winner
Fiesta
Jan. 8, 2026
QF winner
QF winner
Peach
Jan. 9, 2026
QF winner
QF winner
Championship
Jan. 19, 2026
SF winner
SF winner