College football bowl tie-ins for 2026-27 after CFP uncertainty delays new conference connections

The college football postseason is in a holding pattern — at least through the 2026-27 campaign.

On Friday, Coca-Cola Bowl Season — the official, non-playoff organizer for the sport's postseason — announced that all FBS bowl games not part of the College Football Playoff will retain the conference affiliations they had in 2025. The original plan was to have those affiliations expire at the end of last season and transition into new tie-ins based on recent conference realignment. But because the NCAA, conference commissioners and the CFP have not come to an agreement on just what Playoff expansion will look like in 2026, the postseason as a whole has to go through one more year with the old plan in place.

“We believe maintaining stability across the bowl system for 2026 is the most appropriate path forward given the CFP’s decision to extend the current format through this upcoming season,” Executive Director Nick Carparelli wrote in a statement. “This approach provides clarity for our stakeholders while preserving flexibility as we collectively evaluate the future of the postseason.”

Below are the conference tie-ins for each bowl game played last year. The Los Angeles Bowl is not included, as it announced it would be folding in February after five seasons.

What the future of bowl season will look like after 2026-27

Once the CFP is expanded to either 14 or 16 teams, bowl season will have a clearer sense of how to implement changes to conference tie-ins based on recent realignment. The 2026-27 season will be the third year of having teams playing in a difference conference than the bowl they potential qualify for is affiliated with.

Mostly, this affects the 10 teams that departed the Pac-12 in 2023 and the five Mountain West squads (plus Texas State) that will join Oregon State and Washington State this fall to replace them. All of those programs will revert back to the affiliation of their previous homes through at least this coming season.

So, you won't see USC playing in a Big Ten traditional bowl game like the Pinstripe Bowl or Boise State in the Holiday Bowl until at least 2027-28. Of course, there could be some exceptions if there is an excessive amount of six-plus win teams or enough teams decline bowl invites.

Questions continue to swirl around the viability of bowl games outside the College Football Playoff, especially if additional power-conference schools are admitted into future iterations of the tournament. Will there be enough interest from fans to actually tune in anymore?

However, corporate sponsors and game organizers have found a new level of creativity to keep fans engaged throughout the month of December and early January in between playoff matchups. Just look at the Pop-Tarts Bowl — those edible mascot antics have even now reached across the divide into professional football.

So the college football powers that be will continue to pivot and adapt to an ever-changing landscape. But at least fans can begin to narrow down where their favorite teams could be heading geographically if they win six games this season and plan accordingly.

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