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New Year's Six
A break in play during the 2017 edition of the Cotton Bowl Classic, one of the New Year's Six
In operation	2014–present
Preceded by	BCS (1998–2013) Bowl Alliance (1995–1997) Bowl Coalition (1992–1994)
Number of New Year's Six games	Six plus the National Championship game
Television partner(s)	ESPN (2014–present)
Most New Year's Six appearances	Ohio State (10)
Most New Year's Six wins	Alabama (9)
Most New Year's Six championships	Alabama (3)
Conference with most appearances	SEC (24)
Conference with most game wins	SEC (20)
Conference with most championships	SEC (6)
Last championship game	January 8, 2024
Current champion	Michigan

The New Year's Six, sometimes abbreviated as NY6, are the following NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl games: the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. These games are played annually on or around New Year's Day and represent six of the ten oldest bowl games played at the FBS level.

As of the 2024 season, the New Year's Six hosts the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the College Football Playoff. Twelve teams are selected and seeded, following the conclusion of regular-season play, for the single-elimination tournament. Eight teams meet in first-round games, played at campus sites. The four winners then advance to play the four highest-ranked conference champions, who received a bye; these quarterfinal games are played as four of the New Year's Six games. The four quarterfinal winners then advance to the semifinals, played as two of the New Year's Six games. The two semifinal winners then advance to a championship game.

For the 2014 through 2023 seasons, two of the New Year's Six games (selected annually on a rotating basis) served as semifinal games in a four-team playoff, while teams appearing in the other four New Year's Six games were not eligible to appear in the national championship game. These six top-tier bowl games rotated the hosting of the two College Football Playoff (CFP) semifinal games, which determine the teams that play in the final College Football Playoff National Championship game. The rotation was set on a three-year cycle with the following pairings: Rose–Sugar, Orange–Cotton, and Peach–Fiesta. The National Championship game may be considered part of the New Year's Six, depending on context.

History leading to the creation and expansion of the CFP

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created five bowl game match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football, including an opportunity for the top two teams to compete in the BCS National Championship Game. The system was in place for the 1998 through 2013 seasons and in 2014 was replaced by the College Football Playoff. The four-team playoffs consist of two semifinal games, with the winners advancing to the College Football Playoff National Championship. If New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the traditional New Year's Day games are played on January 2 in deference to the National Football League's week 17 games.

In June 2012, the BCS conference presidents approved the College Football Playoff to replace the Bowl Championship Series. Three bowls—Rose, Sugar, and Orange—because of their contracts with Power Five conferences, were selected to be part of the rotating semifinal playoff games, with three more bowls to be named. Because of issues about fairness and the Big East Conference's status as a BCS automatic qualifier, conference commissioners began to consider accommodating the Group of Five conferences with a seventh participating bowl. On November 12, 2012, in Denver, the conference commissioners granted the top Group of Five conference champion a guaranteed slot in one of the six premier bowls. In July 2013, the Cotton Bowl Classic, the Fiesta Bowl, and the Peach Bowl were selected as the other three rotating semifinal playoff bowls, ahead of the Holiday Bowl. Also, the conference commissioners selected AT&T Stadium as the first host of the College Football Playoff National Championship game, held on January 12, 2015.

When the playoff expanded to 12 teams beginning in 2024, the six bowls were designated as the quarterfinals and semifinals on a rotating basis. Four first-round games, added to the expanded playoff and to be held before the six bowls, are contested at campus sites.

Former bowl game conference tie-ins

Three of the bowls had traditional tie-ins with the specified conference champions in the years they were not hosting playoff games (2014–2023):

• Rose Bowl: Big Ten vs. Pac-12
• Sugar Bowl: SEC vs. Big 12
• Orange Bowl: ACC vs. Big Ten, SEC, or Notre Dame

When the conference champion is unavailable, the bowls invite the next-best team from that conference. The Cotton, Fiesta, and Peach Bowls have no conference tie-ins; as such, the best conference champion from the Group of Five will play in one of those bowls if it does not qualify for the CFP semifinal until 2024 when all games are apart of the playoff and thus removes all conference tie ins.

History and schedule

Games are listed in chronological order, with final CFP rankings, and win–loss records prior to the respective bowl being played.

2014 season

2015 season

2016 season

2017 season

2018 season

2019 season

Source:

2020 season

Source:

2021 season

2022 season

2023 season

2024 season

Future games

The below games dates have been announced by CFP organizers. Starting with the 2024 season (2024–25 bowl season), with the expansion of the playoff from four to 12 teams, games not hosting the national semifinals will host the national quarterfinals.

* Denotes CFP semifinal games

† Denotes CFP quarterfinal games

Source:

New Year's Six bowl appearances

New Year's Six performance

New Year's Six bowl appearances by team

Texas

+ Denotes CFP Semifinal

New Year's Six bowl appearances by conference

Sun Belt Conference has never appeared in the New Year's Six.
* In 2020, Notre Dame played as part of the ACC due to COVID-19

College Football Playoff appearances and performances

College Football Playoff performance

School Conference (as of 2024) # QF SF CG CH 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Alabama SEC 8 8 8 6 3 SF CH RU CH RU CH RU SF Clemson ACC 7 6 6 4 2 RU CH SF CH RU SF # Georgia SEC 4 4 3 3 2 RU CH CH Ohio State Big Ten 6 6 5 2 1 CH SF SF RU SF Michigan Big Ten 3 3 3 1 1 SF SF CH LSU SEC 1 1 1 1 1 CH Washington Big Ten 2 2 2 1 - SF RU Oregon Big Ten 2 2 1 1 - RU TCU Big 12 1 1 1 1 - RU Oklahoma SEC 4 4 4 - - SF SF SF SF Notre Dame Independent 3 3 2 - - SF SF Texas SEC 2 2 1 - - SF Florida State ACC 1 1 1 - - SF Michigan State Big Ten 1 1 1 - - SF Cincinnati Big 12 1 1 1 - - SF Arizona State Big 12 1 1 - - - Boise State Mountain West 1 1 - - - Penn State Big Ten 1 1 - - - Indiana Big Ten 1 - - - - # SMU ACC 1 - - - - # Tennessee SEC 1 - - - - #

AlabamaClemsonGeorgiaLSUMichiganOhio Stateclass=notpageimage| Teams that have won the College Football Playoff 3, 2, 1

College Football Playoff National Championship appearances

College Football Playoff National Championship appearances by team

College Football Playoff National Championship appearances by conference

1. The 2017 and 2021 championship games featured SEC teams Alabama and Georgia. The SEC has a record of 4–2 (.667) in championship games against other conferences.

See also

• College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS

References

1. "College Football Playoff to expand to 12 teams starting with the 2024 season". NCAA.com. 2022-12-01. Retrieved 2024-11-27.
2. ^ Staff reports (July 22, 2013). "Sources: 'New Year's Six' likely the working title for College Football Playoff's six bowl games". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
3. ^ Stewart Mandel (12 November 2012). "Stewart Mandel: Big East, rest of 'Group of Five' score victory with six-bowl decision". SI.com. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
4. Thamel, Pete (2022-12-01). "Source: Rose Bowl allows for 12-team CFP in '24". ESPN. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
5. ^ McMann, Aaron (November 30, 2018). "Michigan's bowl destination hinges on Ohio State and the playoff". Flint Journal. MLive Media Group. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
6. Daily Press (15 November 2012). "Teel Time: ACC, Orange Bowl announce ties with SEC, Big Ten, Notre Dame, ESPN". dailypress.com. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
7. "2019-2020 College Football Playoff, New Year's Six, Bowl Schedule, Conference Matchups". CollegeFootballNews.com. January 14, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
8. "86th Capital One Orange Bowl now Scheduled for Primetime". orangebowl.org (Press release). May 13, 2019. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
9. "College Football Bowl Schedule 2020". fbschedules.com. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
10. Sallee, Barrett (May 2, 2023). "College Football Playoff schedule, dates set for 2024, 2025 seasons with field expanding to 12 teams". CBS Sports. Retrieved January 9, 2024.

• College Football Playoff