College Football Bowl Schedule Released; Here’s Our Favorite Games of The Postseason

Bowl Season is officially upon us and we’d like to highlight some of our favorite games on the schedule – from the Mayo Bowl, to the traditional quarterfinals of the College Football Playoffs. No matter what games you choose to watch, you’re surely in for a show as these guys are top notch athletes with tons of heart for the game.

In the 2024 Duke’s Mayo Bowl, we see the 7-5 Minnesota Golden Gophers face-off against the 6-6 Virginia Tech Hokies in a matchup that is a slight home game for the Hokies since the game will be held less than 2 and a half hours away from Blacksburg, Virginia. Whether the well-rounded offense of the Gophers or the rush-powered Hokies takes the win, we are sure in for a treat as the victorious coach traditionally gets drenched in buckets of mayo. Though Minnesota holds a better regular-season record, both teams have a common loss this season to Rutgers so this matchup should shape up to be a close contest and a highly competitive football game. We see some exciting stars to watch on both sides including first-team All-Big Ten team member freshman Koi Perich, sack monster Antwaun Powell-Rilend who has 16 sacks this season, and dual-threat running back Darius Taylor who finished the season with over 1,200 combined rushing and receiving yards.

This might have been the Big 12 matchup we’ve been waiting for all season! Out of all the non-playoff bowl games, this is the one we’re looking forward to watching the most. It’s almost as if it’s a second-championship game since there was a 4-way tie for first place in the conference. Both teams, BYU and Colorado, have very strong teams with a high potential for an exciting game. Colorado’s dual-threat Heisman-likely wide receiver and cornerback, Travis Hunter, has confirmed his participation in Saturday’s primetime bowl game which coupled with star quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, is sure to bring us a show as always. Despite a disappointing end to the season where playoff hopes were at a high, BYU looks to defeat Colorado by putting their faith in the arm of their junior quarterback, Jake Retzlaff, who had a career-high 2,796 pass yards and 388 rush yards this season, scoring 26 touchdowns in total. This will be BYU and Colorado’s first time meeting on the field since 1988.

After quite a letdown for the Miami Hurricanes this season who were at one point No. 4 in the rankings, they look to take on the Cyclones of Iowa State who had a disappointing loss to Arizona State in the Big 12 Championship Game last Saturday for a chance to play in the College Football Playoffs. Miami’s Heisman contender quarterback, Cam Ward, is set to lead the Canes to a bowl victory with help from fifth-year senior wide receiver, Xavier Restrepo, who had 1,127 receiving yards this season for 11 touchdowns. The Cyclones finished the season 10-3(7-2 when playing conference opponents) making them tied for first place in the Big 12 with conference rivals, Arizona State, Colorado, and BYU. This has been quite an impressive season for them with the addition of a few major schools to the conference after the previous season. A win for the Cyclones in the Pop-Tart Bowl will give them their 11th win of the season capping off the already winningest season in school history.

This is an interesting matchup. This game is less about the play and more about the hype around the game. Every year, the LA Bowl is held at SoFi Stadium, home to the NFL’s Rams and Chargers, and for the past 2 seasons has been hosted by Rob Gronkowski who is always sure to bring excitement to anything he is involved in. Typically, the teams playing in the LA Bowl have been the Mountain West champions and the fifth-place team in the Pac-12. That sounds great except for one small fact, there are now only 2 teams in the Pac-12. Because of this, there has been an exception to allow the teams to be picked from the old Pac-12 teams. This year, the Mountain West champions, Boise State, have had a historic season and made it to the College Football Playoffs which leaves the 2nd place team in the Mountain West to play in the LA Bowl. That leaves the 10-3 UNLV Rebels to play against the 6-6 California Golden Bears under the bright lights of Los Angeles. Cal is led by top-20 quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, who racked up an insane 3,004 yards this season and threw 16 touchdowns. This year’s Rebels had a lot of hype around them being the first team in school history to be ranked in the AP Poll, topping out at No. 19.

Indiana and Notre Dame are set to make history as the Fighting Irish play the Hoosiers on the road in South Bend, Indiana. This game will officially be the first game of the new 12-team College Football Playoff format.

Indiana’s season was historical in itself as this was only the 5th team in school history to be ranked in the top 10 in the AP Poll. The Hoosiers are led by redshirt senior quarterback, Kurtis Rourke, who is ranked 3rd in QBR(quarterback rating) and finished the season with 2,827 pass yards and 27 touchdowns. Rourke is a transfer from Ohio where he played 4 seasons, topping off his stat chart with 3,256 pass yards during the 2022 season.

Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish have a notable defense with stars like defensive lineman Rylie Mills, who had 6.5 sacks this season, linebacker Jack Kiser, with 64 tackles, and star safety Xavier Watts, ending the season with an impressive 5 interceptions and 50 tackles(31 solo, 19 assisted). Luckily for Notre Dame, their starting running back, Jeremiyah Love, will be back from an injury suffered in the 3rd quarter of the USC. This is huge news as Love brought in 16 rushing touchdowns and 949 yards for the Irish in his standout sophomore season.

The winner of this game will go on to play Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Years Day.

In the first game of this year’s quarterfinals, we see the Boise State Broncos and the winner of the SMU/Penn State game face each other inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ.

This year’s Boise State team has been one to remember with Heisman contender Ashton Jeanty leading the team to an impressive No. 3 spot in the College Football Playoffs. Jeanty has blown the minds of almost everybody who watches college football with an insane 2,497 yards on the ground with 29 rushing touchdowns. Depending on his performance in the Fiesta Bowl and potentially the National Championship Game, Jeanty has the potential to break Barry Sanders’ 1988 record during his Heisman-winning season where he rushed for 2,628 yards.

The Broncos also have a standout defense with 51 sacks, 7 interceptions, and 13 forced fumbles. Some of their defensive stars are Jayden Virgin-Morgan, Ty Benefield, and Seyi Oladipo.

Whether SMU or Penn State are able to advance to the quarterfinals, they are in for a tough game against Boise State. Sunday, SMU was selected for the final spot in the College Football playoff over Alabama which took a lot of fans by surprise. The Mustangs made a name for themselves as they became conference champions after going undefeated against their new opponents in the ACC after they entered the conference prior to the 2024 season. Penn State lost to Oregon in the Big Ten Championship but still had an impressive season finishing 11-2(8-1 against conference opponents).

Oregon, the surprising power team of the 2024 season, is set to take on the winner of the Tennese vs Ohio State game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

I’m not sure if anyone predicted the Ducks to be as powerful as they have been this year. Led by Heisman contender quarterback Dillon Gabriel, they were the only undefeated team at the end of the season. While they dominated almost every team on their schedule, they had a close call against Ohio State in week 8 where they barely won by a single point. They are now waiting for a chance to possible play them again and prove their dominance over the Buckeyes.

Both Tennesee and Ohio State are strong teams as usual. It’s almost expected to see both teams ranked in the top 25 and this season, neither team faltered. While the Buckeyes had a disappointing loss to Michigan’s Wolverines during Rivalry Week, they look to recover as they get ready to play for a chance at the College Football Playoffs Quarterfinals. Tennesee has a well balanced team with standout players on both sides of the ball. They are sure to give Ohio State a run for their money.

Martin Carpenter

Based in Los Angeles, California, Martin is a freelance photographer with Martin26Photos, specializing in sports and portrait photography. He has made a name for himself in Southern California’s sports photojournalism scene, covering local high school and college events as well as media days. With experience capturing high-profile Division 1 athletics, Martin aims to expand his work to professional sports in the near future.