Committee Sets ‘New Year’s Six’ Bowls

The College Football Selection Committee on Sunday dictated the New Year’s Day television viewing schedule of millions of Americans.

Iowa missed out on the playoff because of Saturday’s last-minute loss to Michigan State. The Hawkeyes nevertheless travel to Pasadena, where Big Ten champions once annually played their Pac-12 counterparts. Unfortunately for Iowa, their game plays as a consolation bowl rather than this year’s Grandaddy of Them All. The Big Ten runner-up faces Stanford, the Pac-12 champion left out, alone among the Big Five conference champions, of the playoff.

The committee on Sunday afternoon outlined the competitors for the five other New Year’s Six bowls.

Notre Dame takes on Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl at 1 p.m. Eastern. Oklahoma State plays Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl at 8:30 p.m. in New Orleans. In the Peach Bowl, a so-called New Year’s Six bowl played on New Year’s Eve, the upstart Houston Cougars clash with perennial powerhouse Florida State at noon.

The Cotton Bowl’s Michigan State-Alabama match-up, and Oklahoma-Clemson in the Orange Bowl, follow the Peach Bowl on December 31. The winners of the two playoff games compete for the national championship in Glendale, Arizona on January 11.