Here are the conference tie-ins for 2018’s 39 FBS college football bowls before the Playoff national title game. These are according to the Football Bowl Association, an outside advisory group that works with the bowls on game administration.
Conference tie-ins for 39 college football bowl games in 2018, pending things getting messy
These things start with a broad outline, before much of it goes all sideways on Selection Sunday.
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Note: From time to time, mid-major leagues disagree with the FBA on who gets dibs for some of the smaller bowls. Weird clauses in contracts can make bowl ties more confusing than they have to be.
Additionally, if a conference can’t fill a spot, a team from another conference can take it. Oh, and conferences can swap ties on Selection Sunday anyway.
So consider this a loose guide.
- Cotton semifinal (Arlington, Texas): Just make the Playoff
- Orange semifinal (Miami): See above
The rest of the New Year’s Six
- Sugar (New Orleans): Big 12 vs. SEC
- Rose (Pasadena, California): Big Ten vs. Pac-12
- Peach (Atlanta): At-large vs. at-large
- Fiesta (Glendale, Arizona): At-large vs. at-large (Either the Peach or Fiesta will include the top-ranked champ of a mid-major league)
Everything else, with a Notre Dame caveat
The caveat: Notre Dame has ties into the ACC’s bowls. If the Irish go to a non-New Year’s Six bowl, it’s one of those. Onward:
- Citrus (Orlando): SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten
- Outback (Tampa): Big Ten vs. SEC
- Gator (Jacksonville): SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten
- Holiday (San Diego): Big Ten vs. Pac-12
- Liberty (Memphis): Big 12 vs. SEC
- Military (Annapolis): ACC vs. American
- Sun (El Paso): ACC vs. Pac-12
- Belk (Charlotte): SEC vs. ACC
- Alamo (San Antonio): Big 12 vs. Pac-12
- Arizona (Tucson): Mountain West vs. Sun Belt
- Camping World (Orlando): Big 12 vs. ACC
- Music City (Nashville): SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten
- Texas (Houston): Big 12 vs. SEC
- Pinstripe (New York City): Big Ten vs. ACC
- Independence (Shreveport, La.): SEC vs. ACC
- Cactus (Tempe): Big 12 vs. Pac-12
- Quick Lane (Detroit): Big Ten vs. ACC
- Heart of Dallas: Big Ten vs. Conference USA
- San Francisco: Big Ten vs. Pac-12
- Hawaii: Mountain West vs. Conference USA
- Dollar General (Mobile): MAC vs. Sun Belt
- Armed Forces (Fort Worth): Big 12 vs. American
- Birmingham: SEC vs. American
- Potato (Boise): Mountain West vs. MAC
- Bahamas: Conference USA vs. MAC
- Gasparilla (Tampa): American vs. Conference USA
- Frisco (Texas): American vs. at-large
- Boca Raton: American vs. Conference USA
- New Orleans: Sun Belt vs. Conference USA
- Camellia (Montgomery, Ala.): Sun Belt vs. MAC
- Las Vegas: Pac-12 vs. Mountain West
- Cure (Orlando): American vs. Sun Belt
- New Mexico (Albuquerque): Mountain West vs. Conference USA
A lot goes into making bowls the weird spectacles they are.
Conference ties are just the beginning — the guideposts that help determine where teams land when bowls are making their decisions on a Sunday in early December.
Other bowl basics:
- They’re a weird postseason format. No other sport has anything like college football’s bowl season, where 80 teams play in games that mostly don’t count for anything but pride.
- There’s a moratorium on new bowl games for the moment, but if you wanted to start one, it wouldn’t be that hard if you had enough money and connections.
- People always complain about there being too many of these games. They’ve been doing it for almost a century. But, really, they’re all great if you look at them in the right light.
- They often have absurdly, delightfully silly names.
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