2023 Bowl Games: Schedule, College Football Playoff teams, dates, kickoff times, NCAA top 25 rankings
1 Michigan2 Washington3 Texas
4 Alabama
Rose Bowl will be Michigan vs. Alabama
Sugar Bowl will be Washington vs. Texas
Florida State left out
Florida State is left out despite, being a 13-0 ACC Champion. Alabama dwarfed Florida State in strength of schedule. The final year of the four-team era will go down in lore as the one which left an unbeaten Power Five champion out. Alabama entered Championship Week at No. 8 but gave the Selection Committee something to ponder as it defeated two-time reigning national champion Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.
The unprecedented move by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee to leave undefeated Florida State, 2023 ACC champion, from its four-team field was met with immediate, and justified, blowback. A 13-0 run that began with a three-touchdown win over LSU and ran through the ACC's regular season unblemished, only to be tested by the devastating injury to quarterback Jordan Travis, positioned the Seminoles as a team of true resolve able to win at the thinnest of margins.
But at No. 5, Florida State is left out of the 2023 College Football Playoff.
Other unbeaten power-conference champions include No. 1 Michigan and No. 2 Washington, who are very much in the field. No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama are one-loss conference champs who happen to settle the head-to-head debate ... for them.
By the final voting, the Crimson Tide's win over previously No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game was enough to jump the undefeated Seminoles, but not the one-loss team that's owned their head to head all season.
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee had been consistent over the first nine years of the event's existence: Undefeated Power Five conference teams make the playoff; one-loss teams that played each other are ranked winner ahead of loser.
However, 2023 was an unprecedented college football season. We entered Championship Week with four undefeated teams and four others with one loss -- all making up the top eight of the CFP Rankings. That is the most ever. Also, three of the four teams with one loss had fallen to one of the other teams in that group.
There was little separation among the top eight teams, five of which won conference championships over the weekend.
No. 16 Notre Dame and No. 18 Oregon State are set to face off in the Sun Bowl on CBS. This will be the third meeting all-time between the Beavers and the Fighting Irish. Each of their two previous matchups happened in the postseason, including a 41-9 Oregon State win in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl. Oregon State will enter this game without coach Jonathan Smith -- who was named MVP of that Fiesta Bowl clash as the Beavers' quarterback -- after he left for Michigan State and starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, who announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal in November. Notre Dame is seeking its second straight bowl win under coach Marcus Freeman.
With it established that Notre Dame will play Oregon State in the Sun Bowl, the destinations for ACC teams began falling into place. According to multiple reports, Miami and Rutgers will play in the Pinstripe Bowl while North Carolina and West Virginia will play in the Duke's Mayo Bowl. Virginia Tech will take on Tulane in the Military Bowl. The Fenway Bowl will be Boston College vs. SMU.
No. 18 NC State and No. 25 Kansas State will duke it out in the for the greatest honor in college football: a chance to take a bite out of the first edible mascot in sports history. Yes, the winning team in the Pop-Tarts Bowl gets to feast on a (presumably) gigantic Pop-Tart. This also happens to be one of just a handful of ranked matchups outside of the New Year's Six too, so that's cool. NC State has a chance to win double-digit games for just the second time in program history while the Wildcats are going for their second bowl win in three years under coach Chris Klieman.
The Holiday Bowl is set to host two of the most exciting offenses in the nation, as USC will take on No. 15 Louisville. The two teams average a combined 74.1 points per game, and USC's defensive issues have been covered ad nauseum this year. The Cardinals, in their first year under coach Jeff Brohm, are also led by quarterback Jack Plummer, who threw for 406 yards and three touchdowns against the Trojans as Cal's starter last season. Speaking of quarterbacks, all eyes will be on the status of USC quarterback Caleb Williams. He's in contention for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and may opt out as a result.
AAC commissioner Mike Aresco released a scathing statement Sunday bemoaning the College Football Playoff selection committee's decision to award Liberty a New Year's Six bowl spot over SMU. The Flames are set to play Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl and placed 23rd in the committee's final rankings, one spot ahead of the Mustangs, who beat Tulane Saturday in the AAC Championship Game to win their first conference championship since 1984 and finish the year 11-2.
"As proud as we were to celebrate SMU's first conference championship in nearly 40 years last night, we are stunned and disappointed in the College Football Playoff committee's egregious decision to exclude SMU from a New Year's Six bowl," Aresco said.
His full statement can be read below:
The 2024 College Football Playoff field is set after a wild finish to the season that left several teams staking a claim for inclusion in the final year before the four-team field expands to 12. Alabama beat out No. 5 Florida State for the final spot, despite the fact that the Seminoles are 13-0 and won the ACC championship.
The betting windows are open. Here are the early odds for the national semifinals.
