Four bowl games are played on New Year’s Eve this season, Thursday, December 31, 2026: the ReliaQuest Bowl, the Old El Paso Sun Bowl, the Las Vegas Bowl and Kinder’s Texas Bowl. None of them is a College Football Playoff game. The teams are not set yet, so no game has a line.
New Year’s Eve bowl games schedule
| Kickoff (ET) | Bowl | Stadium | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 PM | ReliaQuest Bowl | Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL | ESPN |
| 2:00 PM | Old El Paso Sun Bowl | Sun Bowl Stadium, El Paso, TX | CBS |
| 3:45 PM | Las Vegas Bowl | Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV | ESPN |
| 7:30 PM | Kinder’s Texas Bowl | NRG Stadium, Houston, TX | ESPN |
The playoff quarterfinals sit either side of the day. The Vrbo Fiesta Bowl quarterfinal is on Wednesday, December 30, at 7:30 PM ET at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and the Rose Bowl quarterfinals are on Friday, January 1, 2027, with kickoff times still to be set. The race for those places is on our college football championship odds page.
Last season’s New Year’s Eve results
On December 31, 2025, the day held five games, one of them a playoff quarterfinal. Miami beat Ohio State 24-14 in the Cotton Bowl to reach the semifinals.
| Bowl | Result |
|---|---|
| ReliaQuest Bowl | Iowa 34, Vanderbilt 27 |
| Sun Bowl | Duke 42, Arizona State 39 |
| Cheez-It Citrus Bowl | Texas 41, Michigan 27 |
| SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl | Utah 44, Nebraska 22 |
| Cotton Bowl (CFP quarterfinal) | Miami 24, Ohio State 14 |
Four of the five were decided by a touchdown or more. The Sun Bowl was the shootout of the day, 81 points between Duke and Arizona State.
How our 2024 New Year’s Eve picks did
This page made 13 bets on the five New Year’s Eve games of December 31, 2024. Four won and nine lost. Both underdogs we took on the spread covered, and the playoff game went our way twice.
| Game and result | Our bets | Won |
|---|---|---|
| ReliaQuest Bowl: Michigan 19, Alabama 13 | Alabama -13.5, Over 43.5 | 0 of 2 |
| Sun Bowl: Louisville 35, Washington 34 | Washington +105, Washington +2.5, Under 49.5 | 1 of 3 |
| Texas Bowl: LSU 44, Baylor 31 | Baylor -152, Baylor -3.5, Under 59.5 | 0 of 3 |
| Citrus Bowl: Illinois 21, South Carolina 17 | South Carolina -360, Illinois +10, Over 49.5 | 1 of 3 |
| Fiesta Bowl (CFP quarterfinal): Penn State 31, Boise State 14 | Penn State -10.5, Under 52.5 | 2 of 2 |
The totals were the weak spot: all four we picked outside the playoff game lost, and the Texas Bowl finished 15.5 points over its 59.5.
Betting New Year’s Eve bowls
Bowl rosters can change after a line opens. Players who opt out to prepare for the NFL Draft, or who enter the transfer portal, can miss the game. Check each team’s availability before you bet, and compare the line with where it opened.
Our college football picks are on the college football predictions page. For the stories behind the names on this list, see our funniest bowl game names. For paid picks, see the top sports betting handicappers.
Sources: Bowl Season’s official 2026-27 schedule (bowlseason.com), read 24 October 2026 at 23:46 UTC; ESPN college football postseason scoreboards for 2024, 2025 and 2026, read 24 October 2026 at 23:45 and 23:46 UTC. 2024 bets and prices: this page as published on December 30, 2024.