NCAA
College football bowl games: Who plays today, Monday Jan. 6?
The 2024-25 NCAA bowl season is approaching its climax, with two College Football Playoff semi-finals this week.
After the Buffalo Bulls’ victory over the Liberty Flames in the Bahamas Bowl at the weekend, the college football bowl season is now in the midst of a brief hiatus.
For the second straight day, there will be no NCAA football today, Monday, January 6. However, the bowl-season action will resume later this week, when the College Football Playoff semi-finals get underway.
What happened in the 2025 Bahamas Bowl?
In the final non-CFP bowl game of the 2024-25 season, the Bulls beat the Flames 26-7 in Nassau, kicker Upton Bellenfant scoring four field goals as Buffalo became the first team to win the Bahamas Bowl for a second time.
When is the next 2024-25 bowl season game?
Bowl season continues on Thursday, January 9, when the Penn State Nittany Lions face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Orange Bowl. The 91st edition of the Miami event, the Orange Bowl doubles up as the first semi-final of the 2024-25 College Football Playoff tournament, which this year is being played in a new, 12-team format.
2025 Orange Bowl: Penn State vs Notre Dame
The Nittany Lions and the Fighting Irish will both be making their sixth appearance in the Orange Bowl, as they each bid to book their ticket to the National Championship Game later this month. Penn State are four-time Orange Bowl winners, most recently in 2006; Notre Dame have won the game twice in their history, in 1975 and 1990.
The 13-2 Nittany Lions have made it to the CFP semi-finals by beating the SMU Mustangs in the first round of the playoffs, before a quarter-final triumph over the Boise State Broncos. The 13-1 Fighting Irish, meanwhile, have seen off the Indiana Hoosiers and the Georgia Bulldogs.
What is Penn State and Notre Dame’s head-to-head record?
This year’s Orange Bowl will be the 20th all-time meeting between Penn State and Notre Dame, and the teams’ second ever bowl clash. So far, the head-to-head series is tied at 9-9-1. The colleges' one previous bowl meeting came in the 1976 Gator Bowl, which the Fighting Irish won 20-9. Penn State and Notre Dame last faced off in 2007, with the Nittany Lions earning a 31-10 triumph.
2025 Orange Bowl: start time, how to watch TV or online
Held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, Thursday’s Orange Bowl is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT. If you’re in the US, you can watch the CFP semi-final on ESPN, and can stream the network’s coverage on the online platform fubo, which offers a free trial.
Who will the Orange Bowl winners play in the National Championship?
Due to take place on Monday, January 20, the National Championship Game will see the winners of Penn State vs Notre Dame take on either the Ohio State Buckeyes or the Texas Longhorns. The title decider will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
Bowl season schedule 2024-25 - full list of upcoming games:
Thursday, January 9:
Orange Bowl, CFP semi-finals: Penn State vs Notre Dame
Friday, January 10:
Cotton Bowl, CFP semi-finals: Texas vs Ohio State
Monday, January 20:
National Championship Game: Penn State/Notre Dame vs Texas/Ohio State
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