The college football season is almost here and it’s never too early to start looking at the bowl games that will host the College Football Playoff.
Every season since 2014, the college football world has their eyes on the annual College Football Playoff. The playoff format features the top four teams in the country playing in two bowl games to see who plays for the championship. In the championship game the following week, a new champion is crowned.
Last year The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana hosted the semifinal games. The Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia hosted the championship game in its first year of existence.
This year two familiar sites will host the semifinals while the championship will be held at a new site. The Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas and the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida will host the semifinal games on Dec. 29. The championship game will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the home of the San Francisco 49ers, on Jan. 7.
Last year’s College Football Playoffs were exciting, to say the least. No. 2 Georgia and No. 3 Oklahoma battled in the Rose Bowl Game with the Bulldogs edging out a victory in overtime on a walk-off Sony Michel touchdown run. In the Sugar Bowl No. 1 Alabama faced No. 4 Clemson. and avenged their National Championship loss the year before.
The championship game lived up to the hype. In overtime, new Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa hit receiver DeVonta Smith for a 41-yard game-winning touchdown. The win gave the Tide their second National Championship in three years.
With the preseason AP Top 25 set to drop, fans can truly begin making their predictions for the playoff starting then. Whether we see some familiar teams or new faces in this year’s College Football Playoff remains to be seen.