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The 2014–15 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football bowl games. They completed the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season, and included 39 team-competitive games and four all-star games. The games began on December 20, 2014 and, aside from the all-star games, ended with the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship which was played on January 12, 2015.

A new record total of 39 team-competitive bowl games were played, including the national championship game and the inaugural Miami Beach Bowl, Camellia Bowl, Boca Raton Bowl and Bahamas Bowl. While bowl games had been the purview of only the very best teams for nearly a century, this was the ninth consecutive year that teams with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games. To fill the 76 available team-competitive bowl slots, a total of 13 teams (17% of all participants) with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games—12 with a .500 (6-6) season and, for the third time in four years, a team with a sub-.500 (6-7) season.

Schedule

The schedule for the 2014–15 bowl games is below. All times are EST (UTC−5). The rankings used are the CFP rankings.

Playoff

The 2014–15 postseason was the first to feature a College Football Playoff (CFP) to determine a national champion of Division I FBS college football. Four teams were selected by a 13-member committee to participate in a single-elimination tournament, whose semifinals were held at the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl as part of a yearly rotation of six bowls. Their winners advanced to the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

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CFP bowl games and Championship Game

Starting with the 2014–15 postseason, six College Football Playoff (CFP) bowl games will host two semifinal playoff games on a rotating basis—the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. The games will be played on two days, on or around January 1. The winners of the two semifinal games will advance to the College Football Playoff National Championship. These six bowl games are also known as the New Year's Six. All games will be televised by ESPN and broadcast on the radio by ESPN Radio.

Non-CFP bowl games

For the 2014–15 postseason, four new bowl games were added — the Camellia Bowl, Miami Beach Bowl, Boca Raton Bowl, and Bahamas Bowl — bringing the total number of bowl games to 39. Additionally, the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl was replaced by the Quick Lane Bowl.

Post College Football Playoff all-star games

Selection of the teams

CFP top 25 teams

On December 7, 2014, the 13-member College Football Playoff selection committee announced their final team rankings for the year.

Conference champions' bowl games

Three bowls featured two conference champions playing against each other—the Boca Raton Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Sugar Bowl. Rankings are per the above CFP standings.

† denotes a conference that named co-champions
‡ Georgia Southern was not bowl-eligible, due to their transition from FCS to FBS

Bowl-eligible teams

• American (6): Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, Temple, UCF
• ACC (11): Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami (FL), NC State, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech
• Big 12 (7): Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, West Virginia
• Big Ten (10): Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Wisconsin
• Conference USA (7): Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, Rice, UAB, UTEP, Western Kentucky
• Independents (3): BYU, Navy, Notre Dame
• MAC (6): Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan
• Mountain West (7): Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State
• Pac-12 (8): Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington
• SEC (12): Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M
• Sun Belt (4): Arkansas State, Louisiana–Lafayette, South Alabama, Texas State

Number of bowl berths available: 76
Number of bowl-eligible teams: 81

Bowl-eligible teams that did not receive a berth

As there were more bowl-eligible teams than bowl berths, five bowl-eligible teams did not receive a bowl berth:

• Middle Tennessee (6–6)
• Ohio (6–6)
• Temple (6–6)
• Texas State (7–5)
• UAB (6–6)

Bowl-ineligible teams

• American (5): Connecticut, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, USF
• ACC (3): Syracuse, Virginia, Wake Forest
• Big Ten (4): Indiana, Michigan, Northwestern, Purdue
• Big 12 (3): Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech
• Conference USA (6): FIU, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Old Dominion†, Southern Miss, UTSA
• Independents (1): Army
• MAC (7): Akron, Ball State, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Massachusetts, Miami (OH)
• Mountain West (5): Hawai'i, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV, Wyoming
• Pac 12 (4): California, Colorado, Oregon State, Washington State
• SEC (2): Kentucky, Vanderbilt
• Sun Belt (7): Appalachian State†, Georgia Southern†, Georgia State, Idaho‡, Louisiana–Monroe, New Mexico State, Troy

Number of bowl-ineligible teams: 47

† – Appalachian State (7–5), Georgia Southern (9–3, Sun Belt champions), and Old Dominion (6–6) were conditionally eligible based on win–loss record. However, under FCS-to-FBS transition rules, they were not eligible because enough teams qualified under normal circumstances.

‡ – Idaho was ineligible for postseason play due to an insufficient Academic Progress Rate. However, the Vandals would not have been eligible without the ban, as they finished with a 1–10 record.

References

1. ^ "College Football Playoff 101", ESPN, May 19, 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
2. "2014–15 College Football Bowl Schedule – 2015 Playoff", FBSchedules.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
3. Wolken, Dan (April 25, 2013). "Questions and Answers for the College Football Playoff", USA Today. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
4. "Future Sites and Schedules" Archived 2014-12-30 at the Wayback Machine, College Football Playoff. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
5. Berkes, Peter (July 23, 2013). "College Football Playoff Bowls to Be Part of 'New Year's Six'", SB Nation. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
6. Huston, Chris. (October 7, 2013). "Report: Four New Bowl Games on Tap for 2014", NBC Sports. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
7. "Detroit's Quick Lane Bowl to Feature ACC vs. Big Ten", USA Today, August 26, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
8. Conway, Taylor (December 7, 2014). "College Football Playoff 2014: Final Official Selection Committee Rankings", Bleacher Report. Retrieved December 14, 2014.

Further reading

• Schlabach, Mark (January 16, 2015). "Elliott headlines All-Bowl team". ESPN. Retrieved January 10, 2019.

• 2014–15 NCAA football bowl games