1996–97 NCAA football bowl games

Number of bowl games per state.

Season

Regular season

August 24–December 7

Number of bowls

December 19, 1996 –
January 2, 1997

National Championship

Location of Championship

The 1996-97 NCAA College Football Bowl Games post-season schedule followed the 1996 NCAA Division I-A regular football season in college football and contained 18 bowl games. This started with the 4th annual Las Vegas Bowl and ended with the 1997 Sugar Bowl. The Sugar Bowl served as the Bowl Alliance national championship game for the 1996 season and occurred in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. Featuring a rematch between the #1 Florida State Seminoles and the #3 Florida Gators, the Gators reversed the outcome of their regular season game with the Seminoles to capture both the AP and Bowl Alliance championships.

Non-Bowl Alliance bowls

Date	Game	Site	Result
Dec 19	1996 Las Vegas Bowl	Sam Boyd Stadium Las Vegas, NV	Nevada 18, Ball State 15
Dec 25	1996 Aloha Bowl	Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI	Navy 42, Cal 38
Dec 27	1996 Carquest Bowl	Pro Player Stadium Miami Gardens, FL	(19) Miami 31, Virginia 21
	1996 Liberty Bowl	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	(23) Syracuse 30, Houston 17
	1996 Copper Bowl	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	Wisconsin 38, Utah 10
Dec 28	1996 Peach Bowl	Georgia Dome Atlanta, GA	(17) LSU 10, Clemson 7
Dec 29	1996 Alamo Bowl	Alamodome San Antonio, TX	(21) Iowa 27, Texas Tech 0
Dec 30	1996 Holiday Bowl	Jack Murphy Stadium San Diego, CA	(8) Colorado 33, (13) Washington 21
Dec 31	1996 Independence Bowl	Independence Stadium Shreveport, LA	Auburn 32, (24) Army 29
Dec 31	1996 Sun Bowl	Sun Bowl Stadium El Paso, TX	Stanford 38, Michigan State 0
Jan 1	1997 Outback Bowl	Houlihan's Stadium Tampa, FL	(16) Alabama 17, (15) Michigan 14
	1997 Cotton Bowl Classic	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX	(5) BYU 19, (14) Kansas State 15
	1997 Gator Bowl	Alltel Stadium Jacksonville, FL	(12) North Carolina 20, (25) West Virginia 13
	1997 Rose Bowl	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA	(4) Ohio State 20, (2) Arizona State 17
	1997 Florida Citrus Bowl	Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL	(9) Tennessee 48, (11) Northwestern 28
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game.

-	Date	Game	Site	Result	Ref.
Dec 31	1996 Orange Bowl	Pro Player Stadium Miami Gardens, FL	(6) Nebraska 41, (10) Virginia Tech 21
Jan 1	1997 Fiesta Bowl	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	(7) Penn State 38, (20) Texas 15
Jan 2	1997 Sugar Bowl (championship game)	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA	(3) Florida 52, (1) Florida State 20
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game.

v t e 1996–97 NCAA football bowl game season
Las Vegas (Dec. 19) Aloha (Dec. 25) Carquest (Dec. 27) Liberty (Dec. 27) Copper (Dec. 27) Peach (Dec. 28) Alamo (Dec. 29) Holiday (Dec. 30) Independence (Dec. 31) Sun (Dec. 31) Outback (Jan. 1) Cotton (Jan. 1) Gator (Jan. 1) Florida Citrus (Jan. 1) Rose (Jan. 1)
Bowl Alliance games: Orange (Dec. 31) Fiesta (Jan. 1) Sugar (Jan. 2)

v t e NCAA football bowl seasons
1901–02 1902–14 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

NCAA football bowl seasons