ESPN released its full 2026 college football bowl schedule, including the 32-game lineup outside the six College Football Playoff bowls. The Pop-Tarts and Alamo headline Dec. 29, while the Citrus and ReliaQuest—normally on the same night—kick off on separate d
The countdown to the 2026 bowl season begins with one familiar collision—then quietly breaks it.
On Tuesday, Dec. 29, ESPN will air the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando at 5:30 p.m. ET, then conclude its non-College Football Playoff slate with the Alamo Bowl at 9 p.m. ET. It’s a pairing that lands in the spotlight because the Pop-Tarts Bowl featuring BYU and Georgia Tech drew 8.7 million viewers last year. finishing as the second-highest rated non-CFP bowl. The Alamo Bowl between USC and TCU. which aired as well during that same week. brought in 4.9 million viewers and ranked sixth.
The matchups are framed by conference standings outside the College Football Playoff. The games feature the top two Big 12 teams outside the CFP, with the No. 1 ACC squad outside the CFP heading to Orlando. The Alamo has the Big 12’s top non-CFP choice and a team from the Pac-12 legacy alignment. which consists of teams that competed in the Pac-12 through 2023.
That Orlando-versus-San Antonio rhythm continues through the broader schedule—32 games on ESPN—covering every postseason bowl game outside the six bowls comprising the CFP. As those non-CFP matchups roll. ESPN also places two marquee bowls against each other across the calendar in a way fans won’t be used to.
The Citrus (Orlando) and ReliaQuest (Tampa) bowls usually overlap on the same day and regularly feature the Big Ten’s top two teams outside the CFP against two SEC teams. Both conferences’ No. 1 non-CFP team heads to the Citrus. This year, the Citrus will kick off on Jan. 1 at noon on ESPN, while the ReliaQuest starts later in the postseason window at 7:30 p.m. ET on Jan. 3.
That separation is the headline shift: the Citrus and ReliaQuest bowls will kick off on separate dates for just the third time in nearly four decades. And it changes how viewers plan their holiday and New Year’s schedules.
On Jan. 2, the Citrus leads off an ABC tripleheader. The same date cluster reshapes the way the ReliaQuest package lands on TV: the ReliaQuest leads off a trio of New Year’s Eve games on ESPN that also includes the Las Vegas and Texas bowls. The New Year’s Eve lineup on ESPN therefore stretches beyond Tampa, with the Las Vegas Bowl scheduled for Dec. 31 at noon local time in Las Vegas at 3 p.m. ET, and the Texas Bowl scheduled for Dec. 31 at 3 p.m. ET in Houston.
The holiday calendar fills out around those anchors. On Dec. 31, CBS will broadcast the Sun Bowl, which it has done annually since 1968, with the Sun Bowl listed for Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. ET in El Paso, Texas.
The schedule also shows ESPN spreading its coverage across multiple bowl sites and networks. from traditional afternoon windows to late-night starts. On Dec. 15, the Veterans Bowl is listed at 5:30 p.m. ET in Montgomery, Ala., on ESPN; on Dec. 16, the Frisco Classic is set for 9 p.m. ET in Frisco, Texas, on ESPN. The CFP first round begins Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m. ET at a campus site, with TNT/HBO carrying the game.
Several other non-CFP bowls are slotted at distinct times across ESPN’s stretch of coverage. The Boca Raton Bowl is listed for Dec. 18 at 11 a.m. ET in Boca Raton, Fla. The Gasparilla Bowl is Dec. 18 at 11 a.m. ET as well, on ESPN, in Tampa, Fla. ESPN’s lineup includes the Independence Bowl at 2 p.m. ET in Shreveport, La., on Dec. 23; the New Orleans Bowl at 2 p.m. ET in New Orleans on Dec. 23; and the Armed Forces Bowl at 5:30 p.m. ET in Fort Worth, Texas, on Dec. 23.
The schedule continues into Christmas and the final non-CFP weekend. ESPN will air two games on Christmas Eve: the New Mexico Bowl at 2:30 p.m. ET and the traditional Hawaii Bowl at 7 p.m. ET. Non-CFP bowl season is set to conclude on Jan. 2 with the First Responder Bowl at 3:30 p.m. ET and the Liberty Bowl at 7:30 p.m. ET, both following the Citrus.
Last year’s audience benchmarks make ESPN’s positioning feel consequential. ESPN’s bowls last year averaged 3.1 million viewers, up 13 percent year-over-year. The Citrus Bowl between Michigan and Texas was the highest-rated non-CFP bowl with 9.1 million viewers.
There are also new-season storylines embedded in the schedule itself. The inaugural Puerto Rico Bowl is listed for Dec. 22 at 1:30 p.m. ET from Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.
And the Cactus Bowl’s identity is tied to where it’s played. The Rate Bowl has renamed itself the Cactus Bowl, of which it was known from 2015 to 2017. This year, the game returns to Arizona State’s Mountain America Stadium after a decade at Chase Field, where the Arizona Diamondbacks play.
Still, not every game has locked in everything yet. Three bowls don’t have dates or kickoff times: Arizona (Tucson), Holiday (San Diego, Calif.), and Poinsettia (San Diego, Calif.). The CW will televise the Arizona Bowl, while the San Diego-based games have not announced a network affiliation.
All of it leads back to the same tension point viewers will feel as the calendar turns: for most of the last decades. Citrus and ReliaQuest have hit together. creating a one-night showdown for fans following Big Ten and SEC matchups outside the CFP. This year. ESPN’s schedule deliberately stretches them across separate days—making the bowl season not just longer. but harder to binge in a single evening.
Below is the 2026 bowl schedule as released by ESPN (non-CFP bowls):
– Dec. 15: Veterans (5:30 p.m., Montgomery, Ala., ESPN) – Dec. 16: Frisco Classic (9 p.m., Frisco, Texas, ESPN) – Dec. 18: CFP first round (7:30 p.m., Campus site, TNT/HBO) – Dec. 18: Boca Raton (11 a.m., Boca Raton, Fla., ESPN) – Dec. 18: Gasparilla (11 a.m., Tampa, Fla., ESPN) – Dec. 19: CFP first round (7:30 p.m., Campus site, ABC/ESPN) – Dec. 19: CFP first round (7:30 p.m., Campus site, ABC/ESPN) – Dec. 19:
CFP first round (7:30 p.m., Campus site, ABC/ESPN) – Dec. 19: CFP first round (7:30 p.m., Campus site, ABC/ESPN) – Dec. 20: Myrtle Beach (Noon, Conway, S.C., ESPN) – Dec. 21: Potato (11 a.m., Conway, S.C., ESPN) – Dec. 21: Potato (2:30 p.m., Boise, Idaho, ESPN) – Dec. 22: Puerto Rico (1:30 p.m., Bayamón, PR, ESPN) – Dec. 22: Cure (2 p.m., Orlando, Fla., ESPN) – Dec. 22: Independence (2:30 p.m., Tampa, Fla., ESPN) –
Dec. 23: New Orleans (2 p.m., New Orleans, ESPN) – Dec. 23: Armed Forces (5:30 p.m., Fort Worth, Texas, ESPN) – Dec. 24: Frisco (2 p.m., Frisco, Texas, ESPN) – Dec. 24: New Mexico (2:30 p.m., Albuquerque, N.M., ESPN) – Dec. 24: Hawaii (2:30 p.m., Honolulu, Hawaii, ESPN) – Dec. 25: Pinstripe (7 p.m., Bronx, N.Y., ABC) – Dec. 26: Fenway (2 p.m., Boston, ESPN) – Dec. 26: Duke’s Mayo (3 p.m., Charlotte, N.C., ABC)
– Dec. 26: 68 Ventures (5:30 p.m., Mobile, Ala., ESPN) – Dec. 26: Cactus (6:30 p.m., Tempe, Ariz., ABC) – Dec. 27: Military (8 p.m., Annapolis, Md., ESPN) – Dec. 29: Pop-Tarts (Noon, Birmingham, Ala., ESPN) – Dec. 29: Alamo (6 p.m., San Antonio, Texas, ESPN) – Dec. 30: Gator (11:30 a.m., Jacksonville, Fla., ESPN) – Dec. 30: Music City (3 p.m., Nashville, Tenn., ESPN) – Dec. 30: Fiesta (7:30 p.m., Glendale, Ariz., TNT) –
Dec. 31: Sun (2 p.m., El Paso, Texas, CBS) – Dec. 31: Las Vegas (3 p.m., Las Vegas, ESPN) – Dec. 31: Texas (3:45 p.m., Houston, ESPN) – Jan. 1: Citrus (Noon, Arlington, Texas, ESPN) – Jan. 1: Citrus (Noon, Orlando, Fla., ABC) – Jan. 2: First Responder (3:30 p.m., Dallas, ABC) – Jan. 2: Liberty (7:30 p.m., Memphis, Tenn., ABC) – Jan. 3: ReliaQuest (7:30 p.m., Tampa, ESPN) – Jan. 4: Sugar (7:30 p.m.,
New Orleans, ESPN) – Jan. 5: National championship (7:30 p.m., Las Vegas, ESPN).
Notes: ESPN’s release also lists additional bowls with “TBD” dates and times, including Holiday (San Diego, Calif.) and Poinsettia (San Diego, Calif.), plus other entries marked as TBD.
ESPN 2026 college football bowl schedule Citrus Bowl ReliaQuest Bowl Pop-Tarts Bowl Alamo Bowl New Year’s Eve bowls Sun Bowl First Responder Bowl Liberty Bowl Puerto Rico Bowl Cactus Bowl