The 2007 college football season is held in high esteem as one of the wildest seasons of the past 25 years. Every week it felt like a top-five team was getting upset and the Top 10 was just a revolving door of surprising names like Cal, Boston College, Kansas and West Virginia. 

Maybe, just maybe, we’re getting a dose of that in 2025. That’s partly because there are no dominant teams (Ohio State and Indiana excepted, perhaps). It really feels like anybody can beat anybody on a given Saturday and you’re just a few games from thinking a winless season is on the table to wondering about a bowl game. That’s not good for the long-term outlook for some head coaches given such parity, but it makes sitting in front of your TV for 18 hours well worth the time investment.

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There may not be a better example of the nature of this season than the latest bowl projections. There’s no Penn State or Clemson after both were ranked in the top five during the preseason. Texas appears closer to the Texas Bowl than the College Football Playoff. There’s no Florida in the postseason, fresh off firing its head coach, but Florida International is in. 

As a result of such chaos, we also get some compelling matchups. How fun would the Pop-Tarts Bowl be if Louisville and BYU narrowly missed out on the CFP? Auburn and Florida State meeting in the Mayo Bowl would not only be a reunion of the 2013 BCS title game, but a fitting conclusion to both teams’ downward trending year. The quarterback moxie levels at the ReliaQuest Bowl would be off the charts between Nebraska and Vanderbilt. Michigan and Tennessee can settle that Heisman debate from 1997 in the Citrus Bowl. That’s just a sampling of the fun.

Here is how Sports Illustrated sees all of the 35 bowl games coming together to form the postseason picture and which 70 FBS teams will wind up going bowling in 2025–26 after Week 8.

Bowl

Date

Matchup

L.A. Bowl

Dec. 13

Washington State vs. San Diego State

Salute to Veterans Bowl

Dec. 16

Troy vs. Jacksonville State

Cure Bowl

Dec. 17

North Texas vs. James Madison

68 Ventures Bowl

Dec. 17

Georgia Southern vs. Bowling Green

Myrtle Beach Bowl

Dec. 19

Old Dominion vs. Central Michigan

Gasparilla Bowl

Dec. 19

East Carolina vs. Appalachian State

Potato Bowl

Dec. 22

Ohio vs. Boise State

Boca Raton Bowl

Dec. 23

Buffalo vs. Marshall

New Orleans Bowl

Dec. 23

Louisiana Tech vs. Southern Miss

Frisco Bowl

Dec. 23

Kennesaw State vs. Utah State

Hawai‘i Bowl

Dec. 24

Western Kentucky vs. Hawai‘i

Sports Bowl

Dec. 26

Toledo vs. Temple

Rate Bowl

Dec. 26

TCU vs. Washington

First Responder Bowl

Dec. 26

Cal vs. Kansas

Military Bowl

Dec. 27

Navy vs. San Diego State

Pinstripe Bowl

Dec. 27

Duke vs. Minnesota

Fenway Bowl

Dec. 27

Wake Forest vs. Tulane

Pop-Tarts Bowl

Dec. 27

Louisville vs. BYU

Arizona Bowl

Dec. 27

Western Michigan vs. UNLV

New Mexico Bowl

Dec. 27

Fresno State vs. Texas State

Gator Bowl

Dec. 27

Virginia vs. Oklahoma

Texas Bowl

Dec. 27

Baylor vs. Texas

Birmingham Bowl

Dec. 29

Mississippi State vs. Memphis

Independence Bowl

Dec. 30

Kansas State vs. UConn

Music City Bowl

Dec. 30

Iowa vs. LSU

Alamo Bowl

Dec. 30

Houston vs. USC

ReliaQuest Bowl

Dec. 31

Nebraska vs. Vanderbilt

Sun Bowl

Dec. 31

SMU vs. Arizona

Citrus Bowl

Dec. 31

Michigan vs. Tennessee

Vegas Bowl

Dec. 31

Arizona State vs. Illinois

Armed Forces Bowl

Jan. 2

UTSA vs. Iowa State

Liberty Bowl

Jan. 2

Cincinnati vs. Missouri

Mayo Bowl

Jan. 2

Florida State vs. Auburn

Holiday Bowl

Jan. 2

Pitt vs. Utah

TBD/Bahamas Bowl

TBD

Florida International vs. Miami (Ohio)

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