Best Non-College Football Playoff Bowl Games to Watch in 2024

For as much criticism as has been lobbed at bowl season for at least the last quarter-century—from oversaturation to player opt-outs, and now the expansion of the College Football Playoff—the sport’s traditional postseason produces plenty of memorable moments.

Amid the excitement of the first-ever 12-team Playoff, bowl games mark the last hurrahs of college football before eight months of dormancy. Enjoy it while you can, and pay especially close attention to these five bowl matchups beyond the Playoff bracket.

Armed Forces Bowl: Navy vs. Oklahoma, Friday, Dec. 27 at Noon ET

Meeting for the first time in almost 60 years, and just the second matchup ever, Navy and Oklahoma each have meaningful milestones to play for in the Armed Forces Bowl.

The Midshipmen ride an impressive performance against rival Army into the postseason, beating their nationally ranked counterparts in a 31-13 rout in a standalone game last weekend. The win marked Navy’s ninth of the season, giving the Mids the opportunity to reach 10 wins for the fourth time in the 21st century—and just the fifth in program history.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, is trying to avoid its second sub-.500 finish in three seasons after having gone the previous 23 consecutive campaigns before 2022 with at least seven wins. In addition to salvaging some of their first year as SEC members, the Sooners also have the chance to preview potential offensive difference-makers for the 2025 campaign with a variety of opt-outs and transfers on that side of the ball.

With quarterback Jackson Arnold headed to Auburn, highly regarded youngster Michael Hawkins Jr. can set the tone for next fall. He faces a Navy defense that intercepted as many passes (17) as it allowed passing touchdowns in the regular season, led by Dashaun Peele’s five.

Holiday Bowl: Syracuse vs. Washington State, Friday, Dec. 27 at 8 p.m. ET

After a brief stint at Petco Park, home of Major League Baseball’s Padres, San Diego’s 46-year-old bowl game moves to Snapdragon Stadium in 2024.

The new venue and home of San Diego State resides where Jack Murphy Stadium once stood. Perhaps the spirits of Holiday Bowls past will drive Washington State and Syracuse, a pair of surprising teams in 2024, to deliver another classic in America’s Finest City.

Washington State, which ranked No. 11 nationally in scoring offense with almost 37 points per game, resembled an old-school Holiday Bowl participant much of 2024. The Cougars lost catalyst John Mateer ahead of the postseason, with the quarterback transferring, but WSU coach Jake Dickert seems ready to keep things rolling.

“Our process is working,” Dickert told the Spokesman Review, speaking of Washington State’s quarterback development. “We’re offering a bunch of kids [who] have no Power Five [conference] offers. We’re developing them into something really, really special.”

After Mateer successfully stepped in for 2024 Heisman finalist Cam Ward, Zevi Eckhaus gets his opportunity to shine. Eckhaus was the Big South-OVC Player of the Year for Bryant University in 2023 and looks to make a successful FCS-to-FBS leap, as his Pullman predecessor Ward did.

And while the Holiday Bowl may set the scene for one team’s future, Syracuse can solidify a legacy in the San Diego classic. Quarterback Kyle McCord, coming off a 10th-place finish in Heisman voting, announced his intent to play for the Orange. He can lead Syracuse to another meaningful No. 10: the program’s third 10-win season of the last 30 years.

Las Vegas Bowl: Southern California vs. Texas A&M, Friday, Dec. 27 at 10:30 p.m. ET

More visitors to Las Vegas leave as losers than not. Such are the stakes for Lincoln Riley and Southern California, which risks a 6-7 finish with a loss to Texas A&M.

USC teams have fallen on the wrong side of .500 just three times in the 21st century; however, two of those have been in the last six years. A third such finish in the last six full seasons would raise a symbolic red flag about the overall state of the currently downtrodden blue-blood program—even more so than the already troubling guarantee of diminishing records in each of Lincoln Riley’s first three seasons at the helm.

For Texas A&M, the Las Vegas Bowl probably feels like a letdown after the Aggies went into late November positioned for a Playoff berth. Close losses to Auburn and rival Texas knocked A&M out of that mix, and combined with a blowout loss to South Carolina, put a damper on freshman Marcel Reed’s move to starting quarterback.

Reed, who has played well individually, heads into the bowl game seeking his first win against a power-conference opponent as A&M’s starter. Getting over that hurdle puts the Aggies on the right path into coach Mike Elko’s second season.

Pop-Tarts Bowl: Iowa State vs. Miami, Saturday, Dec. 28 at 3:30 p.m. ET

For a bowl game that has leaned heavily into gimmicks tied to its corporate sponsor, this year’s Pop-Tarts Bowl may not need bells and whistles to command attention. A pair of 10-win teams that flirted with the Playoff have the pieces to produce an outstanding game.

Miami welcoming back Cam Ward for one more game is a much bigger deal than the game’s viral mascot, for starters. Likewise, Iowa State brings back key figures from a 10-win regular-season lineup, including 1,000-yard receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel.

For Iowa State, the Pop-Tarts Bowl is also a chance to reach 11 wins for the first time in program history, which coach Matt Campbell told the Des Moines Register is “a chance to put an exclamation point on some of [these] things.”

And while Miami ended its regular season with the disappointment of letting an almost surefire Playoff spot slip in a loss to Syracuse, the bowl game provides a mulligan for the Hurricanes to get to 11 wins. That’s a milestone no Miami team has reached since the tail end of the turn-of-the-millennium dynasty, when the 2003 Hurricanes finished 11-2.

Alamo Bowl: BYU vs. Colorado, Saturday, Dec. 28 at 7:30 p.m. ET

It’s a testament to the general absurdity of present-day college football that a bowl with a well-established tradition as arguably the best played before New Year’s Day is now a conference game.

Nevertheless, the Alamo Bowl has already scored perhaps the biggest win of any postseason showcase this year with Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter declaring his intent to play in San Antonio.

BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick told reporters that Hunter is “probably the best football player” he has ever seen. Having the one-of-a-kind, two-way talent in the Alamodome ensures that the game returns some of the luster it built over the last three decades.

Solving the sensational Hunter is critical to BYU reaching 11 wins for a second time in three seasons, which would put Kalani Sitake in company with Bronco Mendenhall and the late, great LaVell Edwards among Cougars head coaches.