The 2025-26 college football bowl season gets underway on Saturday, with a total of 46 bowl matchup featuring Football Bowl Subdivision teams.
While the College Football Playoff will attract the most attention, and deservedly so, there are a number of intriguing bowl contests outside of the CFP. Sometimes it’s the storylines which make a matchup so interesting, and the storylines involving the combatants in these bowl games make them must-see over the next month.
IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl: Troy Versus Jacksonville State on Dec. 16
There are two bowl games that feature in-state teams facing off, with the Veterans Bowl as well as the Armed Forces Bowl (Rice versus Texas State). The Veterans Bowl has a pair of 8–5 teams squaring off, and the two programs from Alabama will, appropriately, meet in Montgomery, Ala., and the intensity always cranks up a bit when facing an in-state opponent. Many of the players on both sides may have grown up with and competed with, or against, those they will see on the other sideline, making this must-watch, and not just for Alabamans.Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Washington State Versus Utah State on Dec. 22
Fans should get used to seeing this matchup, as it will be an annual occurrence starting next year. Utah State is joining the relaunched Pac-12 in 2026, with Washington State as one of the two holdovers in the conference. Not only will they be frequent opponents going forward, but they actually played in 2024 as well in an entertaining contest. WSU prevailed 49–28 in a game that saw 11 touchdowns and nary a made field goal.Sheraton Hawaii Bowl: Cal Versus Hawaii on Dec. 24
There are several ties between these programs, starting with the fact that both head coaches were former Hawaii quarterbacks and teammates. Timmy Chang leads the Rainbow Warriors after starring at QB for the team in the early 2000s, and Cal’s interim HC, Nick Rolovich, was Chang’s backup. Not only that, but Rolovich then served as Hawaii’s head coach from 2016-19, which is a post Chang has held since 2022.But wait, there’s more!
The two starting quarterbacks—Hawaii’s Micah Alejado and Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele are both natives of Hawaii, both left-handed, and they both have nine interceptions this season.
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl: Penn State Versus Clemson on Dec. 27
If one saw Clemson versus Penn State as a bowl matchup way back in August, they likely would have assumed it would be a CFP contest. Penn State was ranked No. 2 in the preseason poll, while Clemson was No. 4, but the 2025 college football season, clearly, didn’t go as planned for either.Nonetheless, these are two of the powerhouse programs in college football, and this will be just their second-ever meeting after Clemson beat PSU in the 1988 Citrus Bowl. A Clemson victory would give Dabo Swinney, who is already the active leader in bowl wins, his 13th bowl victory. Meanwhile, a Penn State win would keep it from becoming the first Preseason Top 2 team to finish with a losing record.
JLab Birmingham Bowl: Georgia Southern Versus App State on Dec. 29
One of the cool things about bowl games is that it creates unique matchups with the pairing of teams from different programs ... usually. That’s not the case, however, with the Birmingham Bowl as both teams represent the Sun Belt Conference. They just don’t play in the Sun Belt, though, as they are fierce rivals with one of the most-known rivalry nicknames in college football. They’ve played in the “Deeper Than Hate” rivalry game annually since 1993, with the first meeting coming in 1932, and App State leads 21–18–1. They met just last month, which Georgia Southern won, 25–23, as the Birmingham Bowl will be their first-ever neutral-site contest.ReliaQuest Bowl: Iowa Versus Vanderbilt on Dec. 31
The first-ever meeting between these programs adds some spice to this encounter, as does the quarterback matchup. It features a couple of graybeards, by college football standards, as Diego Pavia (23 years old) of Vanderbilt and Mark Gronkowski (24) are actually older than the starting quarterbacks—Shedeur Sanders and Caleb Williams—in the Browns versus Bears game in NFL Week 15.Pavia is a Heisman finalist—the first in Vandy history—as the sixth-year QB has 48 college starts, which is the most among active FBS quarterbacks. His 12,966 career total yards are the second-most amongst current Division I signal-callers, trailing only his counterpart in Gronowski (14,095). Also in his sixth season, Gronowski’s 57 wins as a starter are the most in NCAA history.
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl: Michigan Versus Texas on Dec. 31
The Sherrone Moore cloud will hang over this game, unfortunately, which takes away, a bit, from a matchup of Blue Bloods of the sport. These are two of the five winningest programs in college football history, with the Wolverines having the most victories ever. However, Texas (33) edges out Michigan (24) in terms of bowl victories, and the Longhorns are 2–0 all-time versus Michigan, including a win last year.
Additionally, maybe no bowl game will have the star power at quarterback quite like this one. Arch Manning of Texas was the No. 1 overall recruit in the Class of 2023, while Bryce Underwood of Michigan was the No. 1 overall recruit in the Class of 2025.
