A total of 78 FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) teams are taking part in this season’s college bowl football games. Forty games will be played and culminate in the National championship game, Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, in Santa Clara, Calif.. Reality, and bowl payout, is a story in contrast.
Six teams from the Mid-American Conference (MAC) are playing in bowl games this season led by MAC champion Northern Illinois. The Huskies played University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Tuesday in the Boca Raton (Fla.) Bowl. UAB won, 37-13.
The Big Ten Conference has nine of its 14 teams in bowl games with Conference champion Ohio State in the Conference’s final game Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019, against Washington in the Rose Bowl.
All six MAC sides involved in bowl games this season will play prior to the first Big Ten school’s first game. Eastern Michigan was first, and lost, 23-21, to Georgia Southern in the Camellia Bowl Saturday.
The Big Ten will not have a team play until next week. Minnesota, 6-6, will start when the Gophers will play Georgia Tech, 7-5, in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit, the day after Christmas.
Minnesota will be followed by Wisconsin, 7-5, in the Pinstripe Bowl in New York. Purdue, 6-6, will play in the American Mortgage Bowl in Nashville.
In San Diego in California the Holiday Bowl game between Northwestern, 8-5, will play Utah, 9-4, Monday, Dec. 31 following Michigan, 10-2, in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Ga.. Michigan State, 7-5, will be in the Redbox Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif..
New Year’s Day: Iowa, 8-4, against Mississippi State, 8-4, in the Outback Bowl, in Tampa, Fla.; Penn State, 9-3, against Kentucky, 9-3, in the Citrus Bowl, in Orlando, Fla.; and Ohio State, 12-1, and Washington, 10-3, are in the Rose Bowl, in Pasadena, Calif..