Two of the most popular non-College Football Playoff bowls will air on the same night and the Citrus and ReliaQuest bowls will kick off on separate dates for just the third time in nearly four decades, according to dates and kickoff times released by ESPN on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The 32-game bowl lineup on ESPN consists of all of its postseason games outside of the six bowls comprising the CFP.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Dec. 29, ESPN will air the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando at 5:30 p.m. ET and conclude with the Alamo Bowl at 9 p.m. Last year, the Pop-Tarts Bowl featuring BYU and Georgia Tech was the second-highest rated non-CFP bowl with 8.7 million viewers. The Alamo Bowl between USC and TCU boasted 4.9 million viewers to rank sixth. The games feature the top two Big 12 teams outside of the CFP, with the No. 1 ACC squad outside the CFP heading to Orlando. The Alamo has the Big 12\u2019s top non-CFP choice and a team from the Pac-12 legacy alignment, which consists of teams that competed in the Pac-12 through 2023.<\/p>\n
The Citrus (Orlando) and ReliaQuest (Tampa) bowls usually overlap on the same day and regularly feature the Big Ten\u2019s top two teams outside the CFP against two SEC teams. Both conferences\u2019 No. 1 non-CFP team heads to the Citrus. This year, the Citrus will kick off an ABC tripleheader on Jan. 2, while the ReliaQuest leads off a trio of New Year\u2019s Eve games on ESPN that also includes the Las Vegas and Texas bowls. Also on Dec. 31, CBS will broadcast the Sun Bowl, which it has done annually since 1968.<\/p>\n
2026 bowl schedule<\/p>\n
Bowl\/PlayoffDateTime ETLocationNetwork<\/p>\n
Veterans<\/p>\n
Dec. 15<\/p>\n
5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Montgomery, Ala.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Frisco Classic<\/p>\n
Dec. 15<\/p>\n
9 p.m.<\/p>\n
Frisco, Texas<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
CFP first round<\/p>\n
Dec. 18<\/p>\n
7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Campus site<\/p>\n
TNT\/HBO<\/p>\n
Boca Raton<\/p>\n
Dec. 18<\/p>\n
11 a.m.<\/p>\n
Boca Raton, Fla.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Gasparilla<\/p>\n
Dec. 18<\/p>\n
2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Tampa, Fla.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
CFP first round<\/p>\n
Dec. 19<\/p>\n
7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Campus site<\/p>\n
ABC\/ESPN<\/p>\n
CFP first round<\/p>\n
Dec. 19<\/p>\n
4 p.m.<\/p>\n
Campus site<\/p>\n
ABC\/ESPN<\/p>\n
CFP first round<\/p>\n
Dec. 19<\/p>\n
Noon<\/p>\n
Campus site<\/p>\n
TNT\/HBO<\/p>\n
Myrtle Beach<\/p>\n
Dec. 21<\/p>\n
11 a.m.<\/p>\n
Conway, S.C.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Potato<\/p>\n
Dec. 21<\/p>\n
2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Boise, Idaho<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Puerto Rico<\/p>\n
Dec. 22<\/p>\n
1:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Bayamon, PR<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Cure<\/p>\n
Dec. 22<\/p>\n
5 p.m.<\/p>\n
Orlando, Fla.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Independence<\/p>\n
Dec. 22<\/p>\n
8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Shreveport, La.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
New Orleans<\/p>\n
Dec. 23<\/p>\n
2 p.m.<\/p>\n
New Orleans<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Armed Forces<\/p>\n
Dec. 23<\/p>\n
5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Fort Worth, Texas<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Frisco<\/p>\n
Dec. 23<\/p>\n
9 p.m.<\/p>\n
Frisco, Texas<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
New Mexico<\/p>\n
Dec. 24<\/p>\n
2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Albuquerque, N.M.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Hawaii<\/p>\n
Dec. 24<\/p>\n
7 p.m.<\/p>\n
Honolulu, Hawaii<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Pinstripe<\/p>\n
Dec. 26<\/p>\n
Noon<\/p>\n
Bronx, N.Y.<\/p>\n
ABC<\/p>\n
Fenway<\/p>\n
Dec. 26<\/p>\n
2 p.m.<\/p>\n
Boston<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Duke’s Mayo<\/p>\n
Dec. 26<\/p>\n
3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Charlotte, N.C.<\/p>\n
ABC<\/p>\n
68 Ventures<\/p>\n
Dec. 26<\/p>\n
5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Mobile, Ala.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Cactus<\/p>\n
Dec. 26<\/p>\n
7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Tempe, Ariz.<\/p>\n
ABC<\/p>\n
Military<\/p>\n
Dec. 28<\/p>\n
2 p.m.<\/p>\n
Annapolis, Md.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Birmingham<\/p>\n
Dec. 29<\/p>\n
2 p.m.<\/p>\n
Birmingham, Ala.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Pop-Tarts<\/p>\n
Dec. 29<\/p>\n
5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Orlando, Fla.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Alamo<\/p>\n
Dec. 29<\/p>\n
9 p.m.<\/p>\n
San Antonio, Texas<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Gator<\/p>\n
Dec. 30<\/p>\n
11:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville, Fla.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Music City<\/p>\n
Dec. 30<\/p>\n
3 p.m.<\/p>\n
Nashville, Tenn.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Fiesta (CFP quarters)<\/p>\n
Dec. 31<\/p>\n
7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Glendale, Ariz.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
ReliaQuest<\/p>\n
Dec. 31<\/p>\n
Noon<\/p>\n
Tampa, Fla.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Sun<\/p>\n
Dec. 31<\/p>\n
2 p.m.<\/p>\n
El Paso, Texas<\/p>\n
CBS<\/p>\n
Las Vegas<\/p>\n
Dec. 31<\/p>\n
3:45 p.m.<\/p>\n
Las Vegas<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Texas<\/p>\n
Dec. 31<\/p>\n
7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Houston<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Peach (CFP quarters)<\/p>\n
Jan. 1<\/p>\n
8 p.m.<\/p>\n
Atlanta<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Rose (CFP quarters)<\/p>\n
Jan. 1<\/p>\n
4 p.m.<\/p>\n
Pasadena, Calif.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Cotton (CFP quarters)<\/p>\n
Jan. 1<\/p>\n
Noon<\/p>\n
Arlington, Texas<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Citrus<\/p>\n
Jan. 2<\/p>\n
Noon<\/p>\n
Orlando, Fla.<\/p>\n
ABC<\/p>\n
First Responder<\/p>\n
Jan. 2<\/p>\n
3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Dallas<\/p>\n
ABC<\/p>\n
Liberty<\/p>\n
Jan. 2<\/p>\n
7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Memphis, Tenn.<\/p>\n
ABC<\/p>\n
Orange (CFP semis)<\/p>\n
Jan. 8<\/p>\n
7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Miami, Fla.<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Sugar (CFP semis)<\/p>\n
Jan. 9<\/p>\n
7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
New Orleans<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
National championship<\/p>\n
Jan. 19<\/p>\n
7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Las Vegas<\/p>\n
ESPN<\/p>\n
Holiday<\/p>\n
TBD<\/p>\n
TBD<\/p>\n
San Diego, Calif.<\/p>\n
TBD<\/p>\n
Poinsettia<\/p>\n
TBD<\/p>\n
TBD<\/p>\n
San Diego, Calif.<\/p>\n
TBD<\/p>\n
Arizona<\/p>\n
TBD<\/p>\n
TBD<\/p>\n
Tucson, Ariz.<\/p>\n
TBD<\/p>\n
A few other highlights:<\/p>\n
\u2022 On Dec 30, ESPN combined the Gator Bowl (11:30 a.m. ET) and Music City Bowl (3 p.m. ET) to lead into the Fiesta Bowl (7:30 p.m. ET), which airs on TNT. The Fiesta is a CFP quarterfinal this year.<\/p>\n
\u2022 ESPN will air two games on Christmas Eve, starting with the New Mexico Bowl (2:30 p.m. ET) and following with the traditional Hawaii Bowl (7 p.m. ET).
Non-CFP bowl season concludes on Jan. 2 with the First Responder (3:30 p.m. ET) and Liberty (7:30 p.m. ET) bowls following the Citrus.<\/p>\n
\u2022 ESPN\u2019s bowls last year averaged 3.1 million viewers, which was up 13 percent year-over-year. The Citrus Bowl between Michigan and Texas was the highest-rated non-CFP bowl with 9.1 million viewers.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The inaugural Puerto Rico Bowl kicks off at 1:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 22 from Juan Ram\u00f3n Loubriel Stadium in Bayam\u00f3n, Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Rate Bowl has renamed itself the Cactus Bowl, of which it was known from 2015 to 2017. This year, the game has returned to Arizona State\u2019s Mountain America Stadium after a decade at Chase Field, where the Arizona Diamondbacks play.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Three bowls don\u2019t have dates or kickoff times: Arizona (Tucson), Holiday (San Diego, Calif.) and Poinsettia (San Diego, Calif.). The CW will televise the Arizona Bowl while the San Diego-based games have not announced a network affiliation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two of the most popular non-College Football Playoff bowls will air on the same night and the Citrus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,594,596,85],"class_list":["post-713435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}