From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
A break in play during the 2017 edition of the Cotton Bowl Classic, one of the New Year's Six

The New Year's Six, sometimes abbreviated as NY6, is an unofficial but commonly used term that refers to the top six major NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl games: the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. These games are played annually on or around New Year's Day, and represent six of the ten oldest bowl games currently played at the FBS level.

These six top-tier bowl games rotate the hosting of the two College Football Playoff (CFP) semifinal games, which determine the teams that play in the final College Football Playoff National Championship game.[1] The rotation is set on a three-year cycle with the following pairings: Rose/Sugar, Orange/Cotton, and Fiesta/Peach. The National Championship game may be considered as part of the New Year's Six, depending on context.

Using the final CFP rankings, the selection committee seeds and pairs the top four teams and determines the participants for the other four non-playoff New Year's Six bowls that are not hosting the semifinals that year. These four non-playoff bowls are also referred to as the Selection Committee bowl games. These six games focus on the top 12 teams in the rankings; to date during the College Football Playoff era (2014–2020 football seasons), only 9 of the 84 teams selected by the committee have been ranked lower than 12th.

Overall, 12 teams are selected each football season for these major, top tier bowls. These are required to include the champions of the "Power Five" conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC). In addition, the highest-ranked champion from the "Group of Five" conferences (The American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West and Sun Belt) is guaranteed a berth if the group's top team is not in the playoff.[2]

History leading to the creation of the CFP[edit]

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created five bowl game match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football, including an opportunity for the top two teams to compete in the BCS National Championship Game. The system was in place for the 1998 through 2013 seasons and in 2014 was replaced by the College Football Playoff. The four-team playoffs consist of two semifinal games, with the winners advancing to the College Football Playoff National Championship. If New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, those games traditionally on New Year's Day will be played the next day on January 2 in deference to the National Football League's Week 17, which marks the end of the NFL regular season.

In June 2012, the BCS conference presidents approved the College Football Playoff to replace the Bowl Championship Series.[2] Three bowls, Rose, Sugar and Orange bowls, due to their contracts with power conferences were part of the rotating semi-playoff games with three more bowls to be named.[1] With issues about fairness and the Big East's BCS Automatic Qualifier conference status, talk of accommodating the Group of Seven leagues with a seventh participating bowl started up. On November 12, 2012 in Denver, the conference commissioners granted the top Group of Seven conference champion a guaranteed slot in one of the six premier bowls.[2] In July 2013, Cotton Bowl Classic, Fiesta Bowl and the Chick-fil-A Bowl were selected as the other three rotating semi-playoff bowls ahead of the Holiday Bowl. Also, the BCS conference commissioners meetings selected Cowboys Stadium as the first host of the College Football Playoff Championship Game on January 12, 2015.[1]

Bowl game conference tie-ins[edit]

Three of the bowls have tie-ins with the specified conference champions in the years they're not hosting playoff semifinals:

  • Rose Bowl: Big Ten vs. Pac-12[3]
  • Sugar Bowl: SEC vs. Big 12[2]
  • Orange Bowl: ACC vs. Big Ten, SEC or Notre Dame[4]

When the conference champion is unavailable, the bowls invite the next-best team from that conference. The Cotton,[1] Fiesta[3] and Peach Bowls have no conference tie-ins;[3] as such, the best conference champion from the Group of Five ends up in one of those bowls if it doesn't end up in a playoff semifinal.[2]

History and schedule[edit]

Games are listed in chronological order, with final CFP rankings, and win-loss records prior to the respective bowl being played.

2014 season[edit]

2015 season[edit]

2016 season[edit]

2017 season[edit]

2018 season[edit]

2019 season[edit]

Source:[5][6]

2020 season[edit]

Source:[7]

Future games[edit]

dagger Denotes CFP semifinal games
Source:[8]

New Year's Six bowl appearances[edit]

New Year's Six bowl appearances by team[edit]

+ Denotes CFP Semifinal

New Year's Six bowl appearances by conference[edit]

Conference USA and Sun Belt Conference have never appeared in the New Year's Six.
* In 2020, Notre Dame played as part of the ACC Conference due to COVID-19

New Year's Six performance[edit]

College Football Playoff Appearances and Performances[edit]

College Football Playoff appearances by team[edit]

College Football Playoff appearances by conference[edit]

The "Group of Five" conferences have never appeared in the College Football Playoff
~ denotes teams with playoff appearances in two conferences

College Football Playoff performance[edit]

College Football Playoff National Championship appearances[edit]

College Football Playoff National Championship appearances by team[edit]

College Football Playoff National Championship appearances by conference[edit]

The Big 12 Conference and the "Group of Five" conferences have never appeared in the CFP National Championship.

See also[edit]

  • College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS
  • Plus-One system

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Staff reports (July 22, 2013). "Sources: 'New Year's Six' likely the working title for College Football Playoff's six bowl games". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e Stewart Mandel (12 November 2012). "Stewart Mandel: Big East, rest of 'Group of Five' score victory with six-bowl decision". SI.com. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b c McMann, Aaron (November 30, 2018). "Michigan's bowl destination hinges on Ohio State and the playoff". Flint Journal. MLive Media Group. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  4. ^ Daily Press (15 November 2012). "Teel Time: ACC, Orange Bowl announce ties with SEC, Big Ten, Notre Dame, ESPN". dailypress.com. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  5. ^ "2019-2020 College Football Playoff, New Year's Six, Bowl Schedule, Conference Matchups". CollegeFootballNews.com. January 14, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  6. ^ "86th Capital One Orange Bowl now Scheduled for Primetime". orangebowl.org (Press release). May 13, 2019. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  7. ^ "College Football Bowl Schedule 2020". fbschedules.com. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  8. ^ "Dates Announced for College Football Playoff Games Through 2026". collegefootballplayoff.com (Press release). August 30, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2019.

External links[edit]

  • Official website