Bowl Quality Rankings

If you want to determine the quantity of the college bowl game you’re watching relative to the national championship game, this list ranks the bowls by the USA Today Saragin rankings. The lower the combined rank, the better the bowl. Over the years the Peach Bowl has been able to achieve a relatively low rank, but its status as perhaps the least of the playoff committee’s bowl games may have cost it some panache.

The Russell Athletic and Alamo bowls boasts stronger matchups than both the Sugar and Peach. The traditional New Year’s Day bowl game in Jacksonville has teams with a rank equal to the lowly Belk Bowl. Thirty-two team ranked higher than 50th in the nation are going bowling, which makes sense with 82 bowl spots to fill.

A bowl game may have two low ranked teams but still be competitive, especially if the teams have rankings close to each other - like the Pinstripe and Hawaii bowls. So the lower the second number (the difference between the two team’s rankings) the better the game should be.    

322 17 Celebration Bowl Alcorn St (169) vs NC A&T (152) 17

212 12 Cure Bowl San Jose St (100) vs Ga State (112) 12

192 10 Arizona Bowl Nevada (101) vs Colorado State (91) 10

170 28 Idaho Potato Bowl Akron (99) vs Utah State (71) 28

163 47 New Mexico Bowl Arizona (58) vs New Mexico (105) 47

159 21 St Petersburg Bowl UConn (90) vs Marshall (69) 21

155 21 Bahamas Bowl Middle Tenn (88) vs W Mich (67) 21

154 32 Camellia Bowl Ohio (93) vs Appalachian State (61) 32

148 18 Quick Lane Bowl Cent Mich (83) vs Minn (65)

148 08 New Orleans Bowl Ark St (70) vs La Tech (78)

143 51 Independence Bowl Tulsa (97) vs Va Tech (46)

127 25 Poinsettia Bowl Boise St (51) vs N Illinois (76)

125 07 Pinstripe Bowl Indiana (66) vs Duke (59)

121 39 GoDaddy Bowl Ga Sou (80) vs Bowling Green (41)

115 05 Hawaii Bowl SD State (55) vs Cincinnati (60)

109 41 Armed Forces Bowl Cal (34) vs Air Force (75)

102 46 Heart of Dallas Bowl Wash (28) vs Sou Miss (74)

93 13 Miami Beach Bowl W Kent (40) vs South Fla (53)

92 04 Sun Bowl Miami (44) vs Washington State (48)

88 02 Boca Raton Bowl Toledo (43) vs Temple (45)

79 05 Birmingham Bowl Auburn (37) vs Memphis (42)

76 24 Foster Farms Bowl UCLA (26) vs Nebraska (50)  

75 33 Liberty Bowl Kansas St (54) vs Arkansas (21)

72 22 Belk Bowl NC State (47) vs Miss State (25)

72 26 TaxSlayer Bowl Penn State (49) vs UGA (23)

68 10 Cactus Bowl WV (29) vs Ariz St (39)

66 04 Music City Bowl Tex A&M (31) vs Louisville (35)  

63 03 Military Bowl Pittsburgh (33) vs Navy (30)

60 12 Las Vegas Bowl BYU (36) vs Utah (24)

57 19 Texas Bowl LSU (19) vs Texas Tech (38)   

49 15 Outback Bowl Northwestern (32) vs Tennessee (17)

36 08 Holiday Bowl USC (14) vs Wisconsin (22)

35 05 Citrus Bowl Michigan (15) vs Florida (20)

33 21 Peach Bowl Houston (27) vs FSU (6)

26 06 Sugar Bowl Oklahoma State (16) vs Ole Miss (10)  

25 11 Alamo Bowl Oregon (18) vs TCU (7)

23 01 Russell Athletic Bowl UNC (12) vs Baylor (11)

18 08 Rose Bowl Stanford (5) vs Iowa (13)

12 04 Fiesta Bowl Notre Dame (8) vs Ohio State (4)

10 08 Cotton Bowl Michigan State (9) vs Alabama (1)

5 01 Orange Bowl Oklahoma (2) vs Clemson (3)