Major college football bowl season set to kickoff Dec. 19

(AP) — The bowl season will start Dec. 19, the day most of the major college football conferences are set to play their championship games, and includes 37 games.

College football’s postseason schedule was finally set Friday. Several bowls, including the Holiday Bowl in San Diego and the Hawaii Bowl, have already called off their games for this season because of issues related to the pandemic.

But there will still be opportunities for 72 teams to go bowling in the 36 games that lead up to the College Football Playoff national championship on Jan. 11 in Miami Gardens, Florida.

The CFP semifinals will be played Jan. 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, and Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The Peach Bowl in Atlanta will also be played earlier on New Year’s Day.

The Cotton Bowl will be the first New Year’s Six game played on Dec. 30. The Orange and Fiesta bowls will be played on Jan. 2.

Because of the delayed start to the regular-season in college football, and schedules altered to deal with COVID-19 disruptions, championship weekend is now on what would have been the first Saturday of bowls.

The day before the playoff field is set on Dec. 20 — when conferences such as the Big Ten and SEC are crowning their champions — the Frisco Bowl is set to be played in Texas.

Two new bowl games debut this season: the Montgomery Bowl in Alabama on Dec. 23 and the L.A. Bowl in Los Angeles on Dec. 30.