Bowl Games Worst to Best

Which bowls feature the best two teams? Obviously the Orange and Cotton. Based on the lowest combined Saragin ranking, here are all the bowls ranked from worst to best. Atlanta gets the worst and best: the Celebration Bowl features the two worst ranked bowl teams, and the Peach Bowl is the 5th best matchup.  

 

Both the Pinstripe and Alamo Bowl scored a 58, so I broke the tie with the most desirable locale: New York City trumps San Antonio for most people. Miami travels further north than most teams travel south.

 

341 Celebration Bowl (155) North Carolina A&T v (186) Alcorn State

223 Hawaii Bowl (108) Louisiana Tech vs (115) Hawaii

200 Cure Bowl (91) Tulane vs (109) Louisiana

 

185 Gasparilla Bowl (89) Marshall vs (96) South Florida

177 Bahamas Bowl (103) Florida International vs (74) Toledo

176 Arizona Bowl (84) Arkansas State vs (92) Nevada

173 Camellia Bowl (86) Georgia Southern vs (87) Eastern Michigan

172 Idaho Potato Bowl (101) Western Michigan vs (71) BYU

158 Dollar General Bowl (77) Buffalo vs 2.53 (81) Troy

151 Boca Raton Bowl (76) UAB vs (75) Northern Illinois

147 Frisco Bowl (85) San Diego State vs (62) Ohio

 

127 New Orleans Bowl #83 Middle Tennessee vs #44 Appalachian State

120 Texas Bowl (69) Baylor vs (51) Vanderbilt

116 Armed Forces Bowl (55) Army vs (61) Houston

115 Independence Bowl (46) Temple vs (69) Duke

114 New Mexico Bowl (80) North Texas v (34) Utah State

108 Birmingham Bowl (48) Memphis vs (60) Wake Forest

102 Military Bowl (39) Cincinnati vs (63) Virginia Tech

101 Cheez-It Bowl (58) California vs (43) TCU

 

87 Quick Lane Bowl (49) Minnesota vs (38) Georgia Tech

82 Belk Bowl (28) South Carolina v (54) Virginia

73 Sun Bowl (23) Stanford vs (50) Pittsburgh

69 1st Responder Bowl (40) Boston College vs (29) Boise State

65 Las Vegas Bowl (24) Fresno State vs (41) Arizona State

61 Redbox Bowl (30) Michigan State vs (31) Oregon

58 Alamo Bowl (42) Iowa State vs (16) Washington State

 

58 Pinstripe Bowl (25) Miami vs (33) Wisconsin   

57 Music City Bowl (36) Purdue vs (21) Auburn  

53 Holiday Bowl (37) Northwestern vs (15) Utah

48 Liberty Bowl (13) Missouri vs (35) Oklahoma State

44 Camping World Bowl (12) West Virginia vs (32) Syracuse

43 Gator Bowl (26) NC State vs (17) Texas A&M

37 Citrus Bowl (27) Kentucky vs (10) Penn State

 

32 Fiesta Bowl (14) LSU vs (18) UCF

25 Sugar Bowl (3) Georgia vs (22) Texas  

24 Peach Bowl (19) Florida vs (5) Michigan

19 Outback Bowl (8) Mississippi State vs (11) Iowa

13 Rose Bowl (4) Ohio State vs (9) Washington

09 Cotton Bowl (2) Clemson v (7) Notre Dame  

07 Orange Bowl (1) Alabama v (6) Oklahoma