| Season: | 2023 |
| All Star Games: | 5 |
| Championship Bowl: | 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship |
| Championship Location: | NRG Stadium Houston, Texas |
| Champions: | Michigan Wolverines |
| Bowl Challenge Cup: | Big Ten |
| Conference1: | ACC |
| Conference1 Teams: | 11 |
| Conference1 Wins: | 5 |
| Conference1 Losses: | 6 |
| Conference1 Ap Poll: | 4 |
| Conference2: | American |
| Conference2 Teams: | 6 |
| Conference2 Wins: | 3 |
| Conference2 Losses: | 3 |
| Conference2 Ap Poll: | 1 |
| Conference3: | Big 12 |
| Conference3 Teams: | 9 |
| Conference3 Wins: | 5 |
| Conference3 Losses: | 4 |
| Conference3 Ap Poll: | 5 |
| Conference4: | Big Ten |
| Conference4 Teams: | 10 |
| Conference4 Wins: | 6 |
| Conference4 Losses: | 4 |
| Conference4 Ap Poll: | 4 |
| Conference5: | C–USA |
| Conference5 Teams: | 4 |
| Conference5 Wins: | 2 |
| Conference5 Losses: | 2 |
| Conference5 Ap Poll: | 1 |
| Conference6: | MAC |
| Conference6 Teams: | 6 |
| Conference6 Wins: | 2 |
| Conference6 Losses: | 4 |
| Conference6 Ap Poll: | 0 |
| Conference7: | Mountain West |
| Conference7 Teams: | 7 |
| Conference7 Wins: | 3 |
| Conference7 Losses: | 4 |
| Conference7 Ap Poll: | 0 |
| Conference8: | Pac-12 |
| Conference8 Teams: | 9 |
| Conference8 Wins: | 5 |
| Conference8 Losses: | 4 |
| Conference8 Ap Poll: | 3 |
| Conference9: | SEC |
| Conference9 Teams: | 9 |
| Conference9 Wins: | 5 |
| Conference9 Losses: | 4 |
| Conference9 Ap Poll: | 6 |
| Conference10: | Sun Belt |
| Conference10 Teams: | 12 |
| Conference10 Wins: | 5 |
| Conference10 Losses: | 7 |
| Conference10 Ap Poll: | 0 |
| Conference11: | Independent |
| Conference11 Teams: | 1 |
| Conference11 Wins: | 1 |
| Conference11 Losses: | 0 |
| Conference11 Ap Poll: | 1 |
The 2023–24 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football bowl games in the United States, primarily played to complete the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Team-competitive bowl games in FBS began on December 16 and concluded with the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship on January 8, 2024, which was won by the Michigan Wolverines. The all-star portion began on January 13 and concluded on February 24.
The schedule for the 2023–24 bowl games, announced in May 2023, is below. All times listed using EST (UTC−5).
See main article: 2023–24 College Football Playoff.
The College Football Playoff system is used to determine a national championship of Division I FBS college football. A committee of experts ranked the top 25 teams in the nation after each of the last seven weeks of the regular season. The top four teams in the final ranking are then seeded in a single-elimination semifinal round, with the winners advanced to the National Championship game. This playoff was the last to use a four-team bracket, with the College Football Playoff set to expand to 12 teams in 2024.[1]
The semifinal games for the 2023 season were the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. Both were played on January 1, 2024, as part of a yearly rotation of three pairs of two bowls, commonly referred to as the New Year's Six bowl games. The winners advanced to the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship that was contested on January 8, 2024, at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
On December 3, 2023, the College Football Playoff committee announced that it had selected Michigan, Washington, Texas, and Alabama to participate in the 2023–24 College Football Playoff. The committee's decision to select the Southeastern Conference's (SEC) Alabama (12–1) instead of the Atlantic Coast Conference's (ACC) Florida State (13–0), who became the first undefeated Power Five conference team to not qualify for the playoff, received intense criticism from fans, writers, and commentators. Specifically, several of these viewers accused the committee of corruption, bias, and favoritism towards the SEC.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] The CFP committee chair and others defended the selection of Alabama, which defeated five ranked teams (compared to Florida State's three) during the season, including No. 1 ranked Georgia in the last game of the SEC season, saying that Alabama was currently the better team overall.[9] [10] [11] [12]
Semifinal teams were chosen by the selection committee.
Semifinal winners advanced to the championship game.
Viewership figures for simulcast
Several bowl name changes were made, as compared to the prior season's bowl games:
Rankings are per the final CFP rankings that were released on December 3.
The Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) has one bowl game, played between HBCUs, which acts as a de facto Black college football national championship. The FCS also has a postseason bracket tournament that culminates in the 2024 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game.
See also: 2023 NCAA Division II football season.
See also: 2023 NCAA Division III football season.
Each of these games featured college seniors, or players whose college football eligibility was ending, who were individually invited by game organizers. These games were scheduled to follow the team-competitive bowls, to allow players selected from bowl teams to participate. Such all-star games may include some players from non-FBS programs.
The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, which debuted in 2012 and was played 12 times through January 2023, was discontinued. The East–West Shrine Bowl relocated from Nevada (where its prior two editions had been played) to Texas.
| Date | Time (EST) | Game | Site | Television | Participants | Results | Ref. | U.SViewers (Millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 13 | 12:00 p.m. | Hula Bowl | FBC Mortgage Stadium Orlando, Florida | CBS Sports Network | Team Kai Team Aina | Kai 24 Aina 17 | [18] | TBA |
| Jan. 20 | 12:00 p.m. | Tropical Bowl | Municipal Stadium Daytona Beach, Florida | Varsity Sports Network | American Team National Team | American 17 National 17 | [19] | TBA |
| Feb. 1 | 8:00 p.m. | Ford Center at The Star Frisco, Texas | NFL Network | West Team East Team | West 26 East 11 | [20] | 0.22 | |
| Feb. 3 | 1:00 p.m. | Senior Bowl | Hancock Whitney Stadium Mobile, Alabama | National Team American Team | National 16 American 7 | [21] | 0.55 | |
| Feb. 24 | 4:00 p.m. | Yulman Stadium New Orleans, Louisiana | Team Gaither Team Robinson | Gaither 10 Robinson 6 | [22] | 0.07 |
See main article: Bowl eligibility and Bids to college bowl games.
See main article: 2023–24 College Football Playoff.
See also: 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings.
The College Football Playoff (CFP) selection committee announced its final team rankings for the season on December 3, 2023. It was the 10th season of the CFP era, and the last one with a four-team playoff. This was the first time that an undefeated Power Five conference champion (Florida State) was left out of the semifinals.[23]
| Rank | Team | W–L | Conference and standing | Bowl game | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan Wolverines | Big Ten champions | Rose Bowl (CFB playoff semifinal) | ||
| 2 | Washington Huskies | Pac-12 champions | Sugar Bowl (CFB playoff semifinal) | ||
| 3 | Texas Longhorns | Big 12 champions | Sugar Bowl (CFB playoff semifinal) | ||
| 4 | Alabama Crimson Tide | SEC champions | Rose Bowl (CFB playoff semifinal) | ||
| 5 | Florida State Seminoles | ACC champions | Orange Bowl (NY6) | ||
| 6 | Georgia Bulldogs | SEC East Division champions | Orange Bowl (NY6) | ||
| 7 | Ohio State Buckeyes | Big Ten East Division second place | Cotton Bowl (NY6) | ||
| 8 | Oregon Ducks | Pac-12 second place | Fiesta Bowl (NY6) | ||
| 9 | Missouri Tigers | SEC East Division second place | Cotton Bowl (NY6) | ||
| 10 | Penn State Nittany Lions | Big Ten East Division third place | Peach Bowl (NY6) | ||
| 11 | Ole Miss Rebels | SEC West Division second place (tie) | Peach Bowl (NY6) | ||
| 12 | Oklahoma Sooners | Big 12 second place (tie) | Alamo Bowl | ||
| 13 | LSU Tigers | SEC West Division second place (tie) | ReliaQuest Bowl | ||
| 14 | Arizona Wildcats | Pac-12 third place | Alamo Bowl | ||
| 15 | Louisville Cardinals | ACC second place | Holiday Bowl | ||
| 16 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | Independent | Sun Bowl | ||
| 17 | Iowa Hawkeyes | Big Ten West Division champions | Citrus Bowl | ||
| 18 | NC State Wolfpack | ACC third place | Pop-Tarts Bowl | ||
| 19 | Oregon State Beavers | Pac-12 fourth place (tie) | Sun Bowl | ||
| 20 | Oklahoma State Cowboys | Big 12 second place (tie) | Texas Bowl | ||
| 21 | Tennessee Volunteers | SEC East Division third place | Citrus Bowl | ||
| 22 | Clemson Tigers | ACC sixth place (tie) | Gator Bowl | ||
| 23 | Liberty Flames | C–USA champions | Fiesta Bowl (NY6) | ||
| 24 | SMU Mustangs | AAC champions | Fenway Bowl | ||
| 25 | Kansas State Wildcats | Big 12 fourth place (tie) | Pop-Tarts Bowl |
Generally, a team must have at least six wins to be considered bowl eligible, with at least five of those wins being against FBS opponents. The College Football Playoff semifinal games are determined based on the top four seeds in the playoff committee's final rankings. The remainder of the bowl-eligible teams are selected by each respective bowl based on conference tie-ins, order of selection, matchup considerations, and other factors.
Number of bowl berths available: 82
Number of bowl-eligible teams: 79
Number of conditionally bowl-eligible teams: 2: (Jacksonville State and James Madison)
Number of teams qualified by APR: 1 (Minnesota)[24]
Number of bowl-ineligible teams: 51
| Conference | Championship game | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Venue (Location) | Matchup | Result | Television | U.SViewers(Millions) | ||
| ACC | Dec. 2, 2023 | Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte, NC) | Florida State 16–6 | ABC | 7.03 | ||
| American | Dec. 2, 2023 | Yulman Stadium (New Orleans, LA) | SMU 26–14 | ABC | 1.87 | ||
| Big 12 | Dec. 2, 2023 | AT&T Stadium (Arlington, TX) | Texas 49–21 | ABC | TBA | ||
| Big Ten | Dec. 2, 2023 | Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis, IN) | Michigan 26–0 | FOX | 10.02 | ||
| C–USA | Dec. 1, 2023 | Williams Stadium (Lynchburg, VA) | New Mexico State at Liberty | Liberty 49–35 | CBSSN | TBA | |
| MAC | Dec. 2, 2023 | Ford Field (Detroit, MI) | Miami (OH) 23–14 | ESPN | 1.29 | ||
| MW | Dec. 2, 2023 | Allegiant Stadium (Paradise, NV) | Boise State 44–20 | FOX | TBA | ||
| Pac-12 | Dec. 1, 2023 | Washington 34–31 | ABC | 9.24 | |||
| SEC | Dec. 2, 2023 | Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, GA) | Alabama 27–24 | CBS | 17.51 | ||
| Sun Belt | Dec. 2, 2023 | Veterans Memorial Stadium (Troy, AL) | Troy 49–23 | ESPN | 0.37 | ||
Boise State, UNLV, and San José State all finished with a 6–2 conference record, creating a three-way tie. Since all three teams did not face each other during the season, and none of the teams were in the College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings before the conference championship game, the three-way tie was broken by a composite average of computer rankings from Anderson & Hester, Colley Matrix, Massey and Wolfe. UNLV finished with the best average rankings at 44.5, while Boise State came in second at 55.75 and San José State third at 58.5. Therefore, the Broncos and Rebels secured their spots in the MW Championship. UNLV and Boise State did not play each other during the regular season. The Rebels' superior average computer ranking earned them the right to host the title game.[25]
Ranks are per the final CFP rankings, released on December 3, 2023, with win–loss records at that time.
| Conference | Champion | W–L | Rank | Bowl game | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American | 24 | Fenway Bowl | |||
| ACC | 5 | Orange Bowl | |||
| MichiganCFP | 1 | Rose Bowl | |||
| Big 12 | TexasCFP | 3 | Sugar Bowl | ||
| C–USA | 23 | Fiesta Bowl | |||
| MAC | Cure Bowl | ||||
| Mountain West | LA Bowl | ||||
| Pac-12 | WashingtonCFP | 2 | Sugar Bowl | ||
| SEC | AlabamaCFP | 4 | Rose Bowl | ||
| Sun Belt | Birmingham Bowl |
CFP College Football Playoff participant
See also: Bowl Challenge Cup.
[26]Note: The only independent team that played in an FBS bowl game was Notre Dame.