Packed college football bowl schedule: NFL conflicts, expanded playoff

The expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams means there will be college games aplenty during the holidays and after New Year's Day in 2025. And in a scheduling twist, college football will find its first-round playoff games on Dec. 21 going head-to-head with a pair of NFL Saturday games that could weigh on the AFC playoff picture -- the Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens. The complete college bowl schedule was announced Thursday, with bowl season kicking off Dec. 14 with the Cricket Celebration Bowl in Atlanta and the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Ala., and culminating with the national championship game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta. In between, there will be nearly four dozen college bowl games played, including four CFP first-round games on Dec. 20-21, one quarterfinal on Dec. 31, three quarterfinals on Jan. 1 and the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl moving from their traditional holiday week time slots to Jan. 9 and 10, respectively, to host semifinal games. Eight of those games will be played on Dec. 28 alone, giving football fans an extra holiday-week treat. For the first time, the annual Army-Navy rivalry game will share a day with bowl games. The service academies still get a time slot all to themselves at 3 p.m. ET on Dec. 14, but first up will be the Celebration Bowl -- an FCS tradition that pits the MEAC champion against the SWAC champion -- and the Camellia Bowl will follow that night. Below is the complete bowl schedule, without a listing for the Holiday Bowl. That game has yet to be scheduled. All times are Eastern. --Dec. 14 Celebration Bowl, noon, ABC Camellia Bowl, 9 p.m., ESPN --Dec. 17 Boca Raton Bowl, 5:30 p.m., ESPN Frisco Bowl, 9 p.m. ESPN --Dec. 18 LA Bowl, 9 p.m., ESPN --Dec. 19 New Orleans Bowl, 7 p.m., ESPN2 --Dec. 20 Cure Bowl, Noon, ESPN Gasparilla Bowl, 3:30 p.m., ESPN CFP first-round game, 8 p.m., ABC/ESPN --Dec. 21 CFP first-round game, noon, TNT CFP first-round game, 4 p.m., TNT CFP first-round game, 8 p.m., ABC/ESPN --Dec. 23 Myrtle Beach Bowl, 11 a.m., ESPN Potato Bowl, 2:30 p.m., ESPN --Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl, 8 p.m., ESPN --Dec. 26 Detroit Bowl, 2 p.m., ESPN Guaranteed Rate Bowl, 5:30 p.m., ESPN 68 Ventures Bowl, 9 p.m., ESPN --Dec. 27 Armed Forces Bowl, noon or 3:30 p.m., ESPN Birmingham Bowl, noon or 3:30 p.m., ESPN Liberty Bowl, 7 p.m., ESPN Las Vegas Bowl, 10:30 p.m., ESPN --Dec. 28 Fenway Bowl, 11 a.m., ESPN Pinstripe Bowl, noon, ABC New Mexico Bowl, 2:15 p.m., ESPN Pop-Tarts Bowl, 3:30 p.m., ABC Arizona Bowl, 4:30 p.m., The CW Military Bowl, 5:45 p.m., ESPN Alamo Bowl, 7:30 p.m., ABC Independence Bowl, 9:15 p.m., ESPN --Dec. 30 Music City Bowl, 2:30 p.m., ESPN --Dec. 31 ReliaQuest Bowl, noon, ESPN Sun Bowl, 2 p.m., CBS Citrus Bowl, 3 p.m., ABC Texas Bowl, 3:30 p.m., ESPN Fiesta Bowl, 7:30 p.m., ESPN (CFP quarterfinal) --Jan. 1 Peach Bowl, 1 p.m., ESPN (CFP quarterfinal) Rose Bowl, 5 p.m., ESPN (CFP quarterfinal) Sugar Bowl, 8:45 p.m., ESPN (CFP quarterfinal) --Jan. 2 Gator Bowl, 7:30 p.m., ESPN --Jan. 3 First Responder Bowl, 4 p.m. ET, ESPN Duke's Mayo Bowl, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN --Jan. 4 Bahamas Bowl, 11 a.m., ESPN2 --Jan. 9 Orange Bowl, 7:30 p.m., ESPN (CFP semifinal) --Jan. 10 Cotton Bowl, 7:30 p.m., ESPN (CFP semifinal) --Jan. 20 National championship game, 7:30 p.m., ESPN --Field Level Media