The 2026-27 College Football Playoff and Bowl Schedule: Dates, Sites and Networks
College football's postseason is spread across six weeks, a dozen-plus networks, and venues from campus stadiums to Fenway Park. It's exactly the kind of thing that used to send me into ten browser tabs: when the bracket comes out, which games are on campus, which bowls host playoff games this year, and where they're on TV.
So here's that map for 2026-27, using only dates, sites and networks the College Football Playoff, ESPN and the conferences have officially announced. Matchups don't exist yet: teams, seeds and first-round sites will be announced on Selection Day, Dec. 6, and bowl matchups during bowl selections after that. Anything else that hasn't been announced is marked TBD. All times are Eastern.
First, the format: still 12 teams
Possible format changes have been under discussion, but on Jan. 23, 2026 the CFP Management Committee announced that the 12-team format continues for the 2026-27 season, to allow more time to evaluate it. Here's what the field looks like this year, per the CFP:
- Automatic bids: the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC champions, plus the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt.
- At-large bids: seven, going to the next-highest-ranked teams.
- Notre Dame gets in automatically if it's ranked in the CFP top 12. If that happens, there are six at-large spots instead of seven.
- Seeds 1–4 get first-round byes. NCAA.com notes this differs from the original 2024 setup: the byes now go to the four highest-ranked teams, whether or not they won their conference. Any automatic qualifier ranked outside the top 12 is placed at the bottom of the seeding.
I've covered the general difference between the AP poll, the Coaches Poll and the CFP rankings in our schedule guide, so I won't repeat it here. The short version: only the selection committee's ranking decides the bracket.
The bracket, and the new bowl-pick rule
The bracket itself is simple:
- First round (on campus): No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 7 vs. No. 10 and No. 8 vs. No. 9. Each game is at the higher seed's home stadium, or another site that school designates.
- Quarterfinals: No. 1 plays the 8/9 winner, No. 2 the 7/10 winner, No. 3 the 6/11 winner and No. 4 the 5/12 winner.
- No reseeding once the bracket is set, and no adjustments to avoid regular-season or conference rematches.
The part that's new this season is how the top seeds get placed in the bowls. The CFP says historic conference bowl tie-ins have been removed from the assignment process. Instead:
- The No. 1 seed picks its quarterfinal bowl and the semifinal it would advance to.
- The No. 2 seed, then the No. 3 seed, pick from the remaining quarterfinal bowls. They're assigned to the other semifinal.
- The No. 4 seed gets whichever quarterfinal bowl is left.
In practice, you won't know which bowl your team is playing in until Selection Day, even if you can already guess its seed.
Rankings and Selection Day
The selection committee releases six rankings, all on ESPN:
| Date | Time (ET) |
|---|---|
| Tuesday, Nov. 3 | 7–8 p.m. |
| Tuesday, Nov. 10 | 9–9:30 p.m. |
| Tuesday, Nov. 17 | 9–9:30 p.m. |
| Tuesday, Nov. 24 | 7:30–8 p.m. |
| Tuesday, Dec. 1 | 7–7:30 p.m. |
| Sunday, Dec. 6 (Selection Day) | Noon–3 p.m. |
Selection Day is when the final ranking, bracket pairings and game sites are all announced.
The weekend before Selection Day is conference championship weekend, and several title games already have times and networks:
- Big 12: Friday, Dec. 4, 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT), ABC, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
- Pac-12: Friday, Dec. 4, 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT), CBS and Paramount+, at the highest seed's home stadium.
- ACC: Saturday, Dec. 5, noon, ABC, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
- SEC: Saturday, Dec. 5, 4 p.m., ABC, in Atlanta.
- Big Ten: Saturday, Dec. 5, 8 p.m., FOX, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
The 2026-27 CFP schedule
These are the official kickoff times and networks from the CFP's broadcast announcement.
First round: campus sites (to be announced Dec. 6)
| Date | Time (ET) | Network |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, Dec. 18 | 8 p.m. | ESPN |
| Saturday, Dec. 19 | Noon | ABC & ESPN |
| Saturday, Dec. 19 | 3:30 p.m. | TNT, truTV & HBO Max |
| Saturday, Dec. 19 | 7:30 p.m. | TNT, truTV & HBO Max |
Quarterfinals
| Date | Time (ET) | Bowl / site | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, Dec. 30 | 7:30 p.m. | Fiesta Bowl, State Farm Stadium (Glendale, Ariz.) | TNT, truTV & HBO Max |
| Friday, Jan. 1 | Noon | Cotton, Peach or Rose (assigned Dec. 6) | TNT, truTV & HBO Max |
| Friday, Jan. 1 | 4 p.m. | Cotton, Peach or Rose (assigned Dec. 6) | ABC & ESPN |
| Friday, Jan. 1 | 8 p.m. | Cotton, Peach or Rose (assigned Dec. 6) | ESPN |
The Cotton Bowl (AT&T Stadium, Arlington), Peach Bowl (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta) and Rose Bowl (Pasadena) are all on Jan. 1. The CFP will assign them to those three windows on Selection Day.
Semifinals
| Date | Time (ET) | Bowl / site | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Jan. 14 | 7:30 p.m. | Orange Bowl (Miami Gardens, Fla.) | TNT, truTV & HBO Max |
| Friday, Jan. 15 | 7:30 p.m. | Sugar Bowl (New Orleans) | ABC & ESPN |
National championship
Monday, Jan. 25, 2027, 7:30 p.m. ET, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, on ABC and ESPN.
A few broadcast notes from the CFP announcement. ESPN is in the first year of a new expanded deal and sublicenses five games to TNT Sports, including the Orange Bowl semifinal. This is also the first season one game in every round is simulcast on ABC and ESPN. ESPN-network games stream in the ESPN app, and the TNT and truTV games stream on HBO Max.
The rest of bowl season
Outside the playoff, bowl season opens on Saturday, Dec. 12 with the Celebration Bowl (noon, ABC, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta). That's the HBCU national championship between the MEAC and SWAC champions. ESPN Events runs 17 bowls this season, and NCAA.com keeps a full schedule of all the others. A few dates I'd put on the calendar now:
- Tuesday, Dec. 15: Salute to Veterans Bowl (5:30 p.m., ESPN) and Frisco Football Classic (9 p.m., ESPN)
- Thursday, Dec. 24: New Mexico Bowl (2:30 p.m., ESPN) and Hawai'i Bowl (7 p.m., ESPN), a Christmas Eve doubleheader
- Saturday, Dec. 26: a busy day, including the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium (noon, ABC), Fenway Bowl at Fenway Park (2 p.m., ESPN) and Duke's Mayo Bowl in Charlotte (3:30 p.m., ABC)
- Thursday, Dec. 31: Sun Bowl (2 p.m., CBS), Las Vegas Bowl (3:45 p.m., ESPN) and Texas Bowl (7:30 p.m., ESPN)
- Saturday, Jan. 2: Citrus Bowl (noon, ABC), First Responder Bowl (3:30 p.m., ABC) and Liberty Bowl (7:30 p.m., ABC)
Matchups for every bowl are TBD. They'll be announced during bowl selections in December, after the CFP field is set on Dec. 6. ESPN also says its schedule is subject to change.
How I'd plan around it
- Dec. 6 is the day the playoff locks in. Before then you can plan around dates and networks, but not opponents, sites or which bowl hosts your team.
- First-round games are home games. If your team looks like a 5–8 seed, a Dec. 18 or 19 game in your own stadium is realistic. Watch the final two rankings.
- Jan. 1 has three playoff games in three windows, and you won't know which bowl is in which window until Selection Day.
- Count TNT Sports and HBO Max. Five playoff games air there this year, including a semifinal, so an ESPN-only setup won't cover every round.
On One Page Season, the season builder, team pages and printable PDFs cover the regular season, because postseason games depend on qualification. Use them to get through rivalry week and conference championship weekend. After that, the weekly lists on our college football page and games page follow ESPN's listings, so bowl and playoff games show up there as matchups are announced. Right now the blanks really are blank, and in October that's the honest answer.
Sources
- College Football Playoff, "Management Committee Extends Current Format Through 2026-27 Season"
- College Football Playoff, 2026-27 CFP Bracket (format, seeding and bowl-selection rules, schedule)
- College Football Playoff, "2026-27 CFP Broadcast Schedule Revealed"
- College Football Playoff, "CFP Selection Committee Prepares for 2026-27 Season" (rankings schedule, bowl tie-in change)
- NCAA.com, "How the College Football Playoff works" (2026-27 changes)
- NCAA.com, "2026-27 college football bowl game schedule"
- ESPN Press Room, "ESPN Events announces 17-game college football bowl schedule for 2026-27 season"
- Big 12 Conference, 2026 TV selections (championship game)
- Pac-12 Conference, 2026 broadcast schedule (championship game)
- ACC, 2026 early TV and kickoff announcements (championship game)
- FBSchedules, SEC 2026 TV windows (championship game)
- On3, Big Ten 2026 TV schedule (championship game)
- One Page Season, schedule guide
Times, TV assignments and prices can change; check the linked sources and providers before you plan or pay. Commentary is our own. Send a correction if you spot an error.