Bowl season is still over six months away, but preparation is already underway for the annual postseason slate.
In April, it was announced that the current bowl system will maintain its current structure through the 2026 season.
The College Football Playoff remains at 12 teams, with automatic bids for the five highest-ranked conference champions. Every other team that wins six or more games will be placed into a bowl game based on conference affiliation.
The fallout from the collapse of the old Pac-12 Conference will also still be felt during bowl season. For the past two seasons, legacy Pac-12 Conference members Utah, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Cal and Stanford continued to represent their old conference in bowl games.
Last year, Utah defeated Nebraska 44-22 in the Las Vegas Bowl in a Pac-12 vs. Big Ten matchup.
In 2026, legacy Pac-12 schools will still be tied into Pac-12 bowl options, meaning no Pop-Tarts Bowl for former Pac-12 and current Big 12 members Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State.
Here were the bowl games for last year’s non-CFP former Pac-12 schools:
- Alamo Bowl (Pac-12 vs. Big 12), San Antonio, Texas, Dec. 30 — TCU 30, USC 27 (OT).
- Holiday Bowl (Pac-12 vs. ACC), San Diego, Calif., Jan. 2. — SMU 24, Arizona 19.
- Las Vegas Bowl (Pac-12 vs. Big Ten), Las Vegas, Nev., Dec. 31 — Utah 44, Nebraska 22.
- Sun Bowl (Pac-12 vs. ACC), El Paso, Texas, Dec. 31 — Duke 42, Arizona State 39.
- LA Bowl (Pac-12 vs. Mountain West). Los Angeles, Calif., Dec. 13 — Washington 38, Boise State 10.
That rotation should be pretty similar for 2026.
“We believe maintaining stability across the bowl system for 2026 is the most appropriate path forward given the CFP’s decision to extend the current format through this upcoming season,” said Nick Carparelli, executive director of Bowl Season, in a press release.
“This approach provides clarity for our stakeholders while preserving flexibility as we collectively evaluate the future of the postseason.”
The Alamo Bowl — the New Year’s Eve bowl game is usually one of the top non-CFP bowls — announced that it will feature a legacy Pac-12 school in 2026 and so has the Sun Bowl.
The Holiday Bowl and Las Vegas Bowl haven’t officially announced the participants for next season’s games, but it is expected that they will feature a legacy Pac-12 school.
One change will be the replacement of the LA Bowl, which played its last game in 2025, with the Poinsettia Bowl. Played from 2005-2016 in San Diego, the Poinsettia Bowl is making a comeback and will feature a legacy Pac-12 school vs. the new Pac-12 champion if the new Pac-12 champion doesn’t make the playoff, according to Action Network’s Brett McMurphy.
The game will be played at Snapdragon Stadium.
After the 2026 season, it’s expected that there will be a major reorganizing of bowl games. At that point, after joining the Big 12 Conference ahead of the 2023 season, Utah will finally be eligible for Big 12 bowl tie-ins.