2015–16 NCAA football bowl games
The 2015–16 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football bowl games. They completed the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The games began on December 19, 2015 and, aside from the all-star games, ended with the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship which was played on January 11, 2016.
A new record total of 41 team-competitive bowl games were played in FBS, including the national championship game and the inaugural Cure Bowl and Arizona Bowl. While bowl games had been the purview of only the very best teams for nearly a century, this was the tenth consecutive year that teams with non-winning seasons were bowl-eligible and participated in bowl games. To fill the 80 available team-competitive bowl slots, a new record 15 teams with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games—12 had a.500 season and, for another new record, three had a sub-.500 season. Those three teams each had 5–7 seasons, sharing a new record for the most regular season losses by a bowl team, which had previously been six. This situation led directly to the NCAA Division I Council imposing a three-year moratorium on new bowl games in April 2016.
Schedule
The schedule for the 2015–16 bowl games is below. All times are EST. The rankings used were the CFP rankings.College Football Playoff and Championship Game
The 2015–16 postseason was the second to feature a College Football Playoff to determine a national champion of Division I FBS college football. Four teams were selected by a 12-member committee to participate in a single-elimination tournament, whose semifinals were held at the Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl as part of a yearly rotation of six bowls. Their winners advanced to the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on January 11, 2016.Both semifinal bowls were held on December 31, 2015. Under the TV contracts with ESPN that predate the CFP, both the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl are guaranteed exclusive TV time slots on January 1, regardless of whether they will be hosting a semifinal game. Analysts expressed concerns that the semifinal games could face reduced television viewership due to the New Year's Eve scheduling, believing that fans would not be accustomed to the scheduling, and that they would face competition from New Year's Eve events and television specials like New Year's Rockin' Eve, which is aired by ABC—a corporate sibling to CFP broadcaster ESPN. ESPN then proposed moving the semifinal games to January 2, 2016, a Saturday, arguing that the games would enjoy a higher level of prominence if held on a day of the week that is traditionally associated with college football. However, its proposal was rejected.
CFP commissioner Bill Hancock suggested this scheduling issue would instead "change the paradigm of what New Year's Eve is all about," opining that "if you're hosting a New Year's Eve party, you better have a bunch of televisions around." Ratings for the two semifinal games were down from the prior season's equivalents, with the Orange Bowl reaching a 9.7 rating and the Cotton Bowl reaching a 9.9 rating. On the online WatchESPN streaming service, the Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl drew the second and third-largest streaming audiences in the service's history, behind the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship. As a result of the reduced viewership, it was reported that ESPN was negotiating $20 million worth of credits to advertisers to compensate for the lower than expected ratings.
| Date | Game | Site | Television | Teams | Affiliations | Results |
| Dec. 31 | Peach Bowl | Georgia Dome Atlanta, GA Noon | ESPN | #18 Houston Cougars #9 Florida State Seminoles | American ACC | Houston 38 Florida State 24 |
| Dec. 31 | Orange Bowl | Sun Life Stadium Miami Gardens, FL 4:00 pm | ESPN | #1 Clemson Tigers | ACCBig 12 | Clemson 37 Oklahoma 17 |
| Dec. 31 | Cotton Bowl Classic | AT&T Stadium Arlington, TX 8:00 pm | ESPN | #2 Alabama Crimson Tide | SECBig Ten | Alabama 38 Michigan State 0 |
| Jan. 1 | Fiesta Bowl | University of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, AZ 1:00 pm | ESPN | #7 Ohio State Buckeyes #8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish | Big Ten Independent | Ohio State 44 Notre Dame 28 |
| Jan. 1 | Rose Bowl Game | Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA 5:00 pm | ESPN | #6 Stanford Cardinal | Pac-12Big Ten | Stanford 45 Iowa 16 |
| Jan. 1 | Sugar Bowl | Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, LA 8:30 pm | ESPN | #12 Ole Miss Rebels | SECBig 12 | Ole Miss 48 Oklahoma State 20 |
| Jan. 11 | College Football Playoff National Championship | University of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, AZ 8:30 pm | ESPN | #2 Alabama Crimson Tide
| SEC ACC | Alabama 45 Clemson 40 |
Non-CFP bowl games
For the 2015–16 season, two new bowl games were added, the Cure Bowl and the Arizona Bowl, bringing the total number of bowl games to 41. Due to not having enough teams with a 6–6 or better record to fill available bowl slots, the increase in number of bowls had the adverse effect of allowing a record three teams with losing records to participate in bowls. The teams were selected by being the ones with the highest Academic Progress Rate among all 5–7 teams. The participating teams with a losing record were Nebraska, Minnesota, and San Jose State.| Date | Game | Site | Television | Teams | Affiliations | Results |
| Dec. 19 | New Mexico Bowl | University Stadium Albuquerque, NM 2:00 pm | ESPN | Arizona Wildcats New Mexico Lobos | Pac-12 Mountain West | Arizona 45 New Mexico 37 |
| Dec. 19 | Las Vegas Bowl | Sam Boyd Stadium Whitney, NV 3:30 pm | ABC | #22 Utah Utes BYU Cougars | Pac-12 Independent | Utah 35 BYU 28 |
| Dec. 19 | Camellia Bowl | Cramton Bowl Montgomery, AL 5:30 pm | ESPN | Appalachian State Mountaineers Ohio Bobcats | Sun Belt MAC | Appalachian State 31 Ohio 29 |
| Dec. 19 | Cure Bowl | Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium Orlando, FL 7:00 pm | CBSSN | San Jose State Spartans Georgia State Panthers | Mountain West Sun Belt | San Jose State 27 Georgia State 16 |
| Dec. 19 | New Orleans Bowl | Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, LA 9:00 pm | ESPN | Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Arkansas State Red Wolves | C-USA Sun Belt | Louisiana Tech 47 Arkansas State 28 |
| Dec. 21 | Miami Beach Bowl | Marlins Park Miami, FL 2:30 pm | ESPN | Western Kentucky Hilltoppers South Florida Bulls | C-USA American | Western Kentucky 45 South Florida 35 |
| Dec. 22 | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | Albertsons Stadium Boise, ID 3:30 pm | ESPN | Akron Zips Utah State Aggies | MAC Mountain West | Akron 23 Utah State 21 |
| Dec. 22 | Boca Raton Bowl | FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL 7:00 pm | ESPN | Toledo Rockets
| MACAmerican | Toledo 32 Temple 17 |
| Dec. 23 | Poinsettia Bowl | Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA 4:30 pm | ESPN | Boise State Broncos Northern Illinois Huskies | Mountain West MAC | Boise State 55 Northern Illinois 7 |
| Dec. 23 | GoDaddy Bowl | Ladd–Peebles Stadium Mobile, AL 8:00 pm | ESPN | Georgia Southern Eagles Bowling Green Falcons | Sun Belt MAC | Georgia Southern 58 Bowling Green 27 |
| Dec. 24 | Bahamas Bowl | Thomas Robinson Stadium Nassau, Bahamas noon | ESPN | Western Michigan Broncos Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders | MAC C-USA | Western Michigan 45 Middle Tennessee 31 |
| Dec. 24 | Hawaii Bowl | Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI 8:00 pm | ESPN | San Diego State Aztecs Cincinnati Bearcats | Mountain West American | San Diego State 42 Cincinnati 7 |
| Dec. 26 | St. Petersburg Bowl | Tropicana Field St. Petersburg, FL 11:00 am | ESPN | Marshall Thundering Herd Connecticut Huskies | C-USA American | Marshall 16 Connecticut 10 |
| Dec. 26 | Sun Bowl | Sun Bowl Stadium El Paso, TX 2:00 pm | CBS | Washington State Cougars Miami Hurricanes | Pac-12 ACC | Washington State 20 Miami 14 |
| Dec. 26 | Heart of Dallas Bowl | Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX 2:20 pm | ESPN | Washington Huskies Southern Miss Golden Eagles | Pac-12 C-USA | Washington 44 Southern Miss 31 |
| Dec. 26 | Pinstripe Bowl | Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY 3:30 pm | ABC | Duke Blue Devils Indiana Hoosiers | ACC Big Ten | Duke 44 Indiana 41 |
| Dec. 26 | Independence Bowl | Independence Stadium Shreveport, LA 5:45 pm | ESPN | Virginia Tech Hokies Tulsa Golden Hurricane | ACC American | Virginia Tech 55 Tulsa 52 |
| Dec. 26 | Foster Farms Bowl | Levi's Stadium Santa Clara, CA 9:15 pm | ESPN | Nebraska Cornhuskers UCLA Bruins | Big Ten Pac-12 | Nebraska 37 UCLA 29 |
| Dec. 28 | Military Bowl | Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Annapolis, MD 2:30 pm | ESPN | #21 Navy Midshipmen Pittsburgh Panthers | American ACC | Navy 44 Pittsburgh 28 |
| Dec. 28 | Quick Lane Bowl | Ford Field Detroit, MI 5:00 pm | ESPN2 | Minnesota Golden Gophers Central Michigan Chippewas | Big Ten MAC | Minnesota 21 Central Michigan 14 |
| Dec. 29 | Armed Forces Bowl | Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX 2:00 pm | ESPN | California Golden Bears Air Force Falcons | Pac-12 Mountain West | California 55 Air Force 36 |
| Dec. 29 | Russell Athletic Bowl | Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium Orlando, FL 5:30 pm | ESPN | #17 Baylor Bears | Big 12ACC | Baylor 49 North Carolina 38 |
| Dec. 29 | Arizona Bowl | Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ 7:30 pm | ASN | Nevada Wolf Pack Colorado State Rams | Mountain West Mountain West | Nevada 28 Colorado State 23 |
| Dec. 29 | Texas Bowl | NRG Stadium Houston, TX 9:00 pm | ESPN | #20 LSU Tigers Texas Tech Red Raiders | SEC Big 12 | LSU 56 Texas Tech 27 |
| Dec. 30 | Birmingham Bowl | Legion Field Birmingham, AL noon | ESPN | Auburn Tigers Memphis Tigers | SEC American | Auburn 31 Memphis 10 |
| Dec. 30 | Belk Bowl | Bank of America Stadium Charlotte, NC 3:30 pm | ESPN | Mississippi State Bulldogs NC State Wolfpack | SEC ACC | Mississippi State 51 NC State 28 |
| Dec. 30 | Music City Bowl | Nissan Stadium Nashville, TN 7:00 pm | ESPN | Louisville Cardinals Texas A&M Aggies | ACC SEC | Louisville 27 Texas A&M 21 |
| Dec. 30 | Holiday Bowl | Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA 10:30 pm | ESPN | Wisconsin Badgers #25 USC Trojans | Big Ten Pac-12 | Wisconsin 23 USC 21 |
| Jan. 1 | Outback Bowl | Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL noon | ESPN2 | #23 Tennessee Volunteers | SECBig Ten | Tennessee 45 Northwestern 6 |
| Jan. 1 | Citrus Bowl | Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium Orlando, FL 1:00 pm | ABC | #14 Michigan Wolverines | Big TenSEC | Michigan 41 Florida 7 |
| Jan. 2 | TaxSlayer Bowl | EverBank Field Jacksonville, FL noon | ESPN | Georgia Bulldogs Penn State Nittany Lions | SEC Big Ten | Georgia 24 Penn State 17 |
| Jan. 2 | Liberty Bowl | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN 3:20 pm | ESPN | Arkansas Razorbacks Kansas State Wildcats | SEC Big 12 | Arkansas 45 Kansas State 23 |
| Jan. 2 | Alamo Bowl | Alamodome San Antonio, TX 6:45 pm | ESPN | #11 TCU Horned Frogs #15 Oregon Ducks | Big 12 Pac-12 | TCU 47 Oregon 41 |
| Jan. 2 | Cactus Bowl | Chase Field Phoenix, AZ 10:15 pm | ESPN | West Virginia Mountaineers Arizona State Sun Devils | Big 12 Pac-12 | West Virginia 43 Arizona State 42 |
BYU has an agreement with the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl and the Hawaii Bowl for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The Cougars will appear, in place of a Mountain West team, in the Las Vegas Bowl this season.
All-star games
FCS bowl game
The FCS has one bowl game; they also have a championship bracket that began on November 28 and ended on January 9.| Date | Game | Site | Television | Participants | Affiliations | Results |
| Dec. 19 | Celebration Bowl | Georgia Dome Atlanta, Georgia 12:00pm | ABC | North Carolina A&T Aggies Alcorn State Braves | MEAC SWAC | North Carolina A&T 41 Alcorn State 34 |
Results
The Southeastern Conference was the Bowl Challenge Cup winner for the 2015-16 bowl season, which is awarded to the FBS football conference with the highest winning percentage. In addition, the nine total bowl wins by the SEC were the most ever accomplished by a single conference during a single bowl season. Southeastern Conference member Alabama won the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship game to finish the year as consensus national champions for the 2015 football season.Selection of the teams
CFP top 25 teams
On December 6, 2015, the College Football Playoff selection committee announced their final team rankings for the year:| Rank | Team | W–L | Conference and standing | Bowl game |
| Clemson Tigers | ACC champions | Orange Bowl | ||
| Alabama Crimson Tide | SEC champions | Cotton Bowl Classic | ||
| Michigan State Spartans | Big Ten champions | Cotton Bowl Classic | ||
| Oklahoma Sooners | Big 12 champions | Orange Bowl | ||
| Iowa Hawkeyes | Big Ten West Division champions | Rose Bowl | ||
| Stanford Cardinal | Pac-12 champions | Rose Bowl | ||
| Ohio State Buckeyes | Big Ten East Division co-champions | Fiesta Bowl | ||
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish | Independent | Fiesta Bowl | ||
| Florida State Seminoles | ACC Atlantic Division second place | Peach Bowl | ||
| North Carolina Tar Heels | ACC Coastal Division champions | Russell Athletic Bowl | ||
| TCU Horned Frogs | Big 12 second place | Alamo Bowl | ||
| Ole Miss Rebels | SEC West Division second place | Sugar Bowl | ||
| Northwestern Wildcats | Big Ten West Division second place | Outback Bowl | ||
| Michigan Wolverines | Big Ten East Division third place | Citrus Bowl | ||
| Oregon Ducks | Pac-12 North Division second place | Alamo Bowl | ||
| Oklahoma State Cowboys | Big 12 second place | Sugar Bowl | ||
| Baylor Bears | Big Twelve fourth place | Russell Athletic Bowl | ||
| Houston Cougars | American champions | Peach Bowl | ||
| Florida Gators | SEC East Division champions | Citrus Bowl | ||
| LSU Tigers | SEC West Division third place | Texas Bowl | ||
| Navy Midshipmen | American West Division co-champions | Military Bowl | ||
| Utah Utes | Pac-12 South Division co-champions | Las Vegas Bowl | ||
| Tennessee Volunteers | SEC East Division second place | Outback Bowl | ||
| Temple Owls | American East Division champions | Boca Raton Bowl | ||
| USC Trojans | Pac-12 South Division co-champions | Holiday Bowl |
Conference champions' bowl games
The Cotton Bowl Classic and Orange Bowl featured two conference champions playing against each other. Rankings are per the above CFP standings.| Conference | Champion | W–L | Rank | Bowl game |
| ACC | Clemson Tigers | 13–0 | Orange Bowl | |
| American | Houston Cougars | 12–1 | 18 | Peach Bowl |
| Michigan State Spartans | 12–1 | Cotton Bowl Classic | ||
| Big 12 | Oklahoma Sooners | 11–1 | Orange Bowl | |
| C-USA | WKU Hilltoppers | 11–2 | — | Miami Beach Bowl |
| MAC | Bowling Green Falcons | 10–3 | — | GoDaddy Bowl |
| Mountain West | San Diego State Aztecs | 10–3 | — | Hawaii Bowl |
| Pac-12 | Stanford Cardinal | 11–2 | Rose Bowl | |
| SEC | Alabama Crimson Tide | 12–1 | Cotton Bowl Classic | |
| Sun Belt | Arkansas State Red Wolves | — | New Orleans Bowl |
Bowl-eligible teams
- ACC : Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech
- The American : Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Memphis, Navy, South Florida, Temple, Tulsa
- Big Ten : Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin
- Big 12 : Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, West Virginia
- Conference USA : Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, Western Kentucky
- Independents : BYU, Notre Dame
- MAC : Akron, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan
- Mountain West : Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, Utah State
- Pac-12 : Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State
- SEC : Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas A&M
- Sun Belt : Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State
Number of bowl-eligible teams: 77
Conditionally bowl-ineligible teams
- The American : East Carolina*, SMU, Tulane, UCF
- ACC : Boston College, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Virginia, Wake Forest
- Big Ten : Illinois*, Maryland, Minnesota*, Nebraska*, Purdue, Rutgers
- Big 12 : Iowa State, Kansas, Texas*
- Conference USA : Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, FIU*, North Texas, Old Dominion*, Rice*, UTSA, UTEP*
- Independent : Army
- MAC : Ball State, Buffalo*, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami, UMass
- Mountain West : Fresno State, Hawaii, San Jose State*, UNLV, Wyoming
- Pac-12 : Colorado, Oregon State
- SEC : Kentucky*, Missouri*, South Carolina, Vanderbilt
- Sun Belt : Idaho, Louisiana–Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, New Mexico State, South Alabama*, Texas State, Troy
Note: Being bowl-ineligible does not, in itself, exclude a team from the chance to play in a bowl game. Tiebreaker procedures based on a school's Academic Progress Rate allowed for the possibility of 5–7 teams to play in bowl games since not enough teams qualified to fill all 80 spots with at least a 6–6 record.
Note: Teams with Asterisk have a 5–7 record. Since a maximum of 77 bowl slots were filled, 3 of these teams qualified for a bowl game. These teams were Nebraska, Minnesota, and San Jose State. Missouri would have qualified over Minnesota or San Jose State, but announced they would decline a bowl bid.
Note: There are 128 teams in FBS.