The New Year's Six, sometimes abbreviated as NY6, are the following NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl games: the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. These games are traditionally played annually on or around New Year's Day and represent six of the ten oldest bowl games played at the FBS level.
Since the 2024 season, the New Year's Six hosts the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the College Football Playoff (CFP). Twelve teams are selected and seeded, following the conclusion of regular-season play, for a single-elimination tournament. Eight teams meet in first-round games, played at campus sites. The four winners then advance to play four teams who received a bye; these quarterfinal games are played as four of the New Year's Six games. The four quarterfinal winners then advance to the semifinals, played as two of the New Year's Six games. The two semifinal winners then advance to the CFP National Championship.
For the 2014 through 2023 seasons, two of the New Year's Six games served as semifinal games in a four-team playoff, while teams appearing in the other four New Year's Six games were not eligible to appear in the national championship game. These six top-tier bowl games rotated the hosting of the two CFP semifinal games. The rotation was set on a three-year cycle with the following pairings: Rose–Sugar, Orange–Cotton, and Peach–Fiesta.
The National Championship game may be considered part of the New Year's Six, depending on context.
History leading to the creation and expansion of the CFP The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created five bowl game match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football, including an opportunity for the top two teams to compete in the BCS National Championship Game. The system was in place for the 1998 through 2013 seasons and in 2014 was replaced by the College Football Playoff. The four-team playoffs consist of two semifinal games, with the winners advancing to the College Football Playoff National Championship. If New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the traditional New Year's Day games are played on January 2 in deference to the National Football League's week 17 games.
In June 2012, the BCS conference presidents approved the College Football Playoff to replace the Bowl Championship Series. Three bowls—Rose, Sugar, and Orange—because of their contracts with Power Five conferences, were selected to be part of the rotating semifinal playoff games, with three more bowls to be named. Because of issues about fairness and the Big East Conference's status as a BCS automatic qualifier, conference commissioners began to consider accommodating the Group of Five conferences with a seventh participating bowl. On November 12, 2012, in Denver, the conference commissioners granted the top Group of Five conference champion a guaranteed slot in one of the six premier bowls. In July 2013, the Cotton Bowl Classic, the Fiesta Bowl, and the Peach Bowl were selected as the other three rotating semifinal playoff bowls, ahead of the Holiday Bowl. Also, the conference commissioners selected AT&T Stadium as the first host of the College Football Playoff National Championship game, held on January 12, 2015.
When the playoff expanded to 12 teams beginning in 2024, the six bowls were designated as the quarterfinals and semifinals on a rotating basis. Four first-round games, added to the expanded playoff and to be held before the six bowls, are contested at campus sites.
Former bowl game conference tie-ins Three of the bowls had traditional tie-ins with the specified conference champions in the years they were not hosting playoff games (2014–2023):
Rose Bowl: Big Ten vs. Pac-12 Sugar Bowl: SEC vs. Big 12 Orange Bowl: ACC vs. Big Ten, SEC, or Notre Dame
When the conference champion is unavailable, the bowls invite the next-best team from that conference. The Cotton, Fiesta, and Peach Bowls have no conference tie-ins; as such, the best conference champion from the Group of Five will play in one of those bowls if it does not qualify for the CFP semifinal until 2024 when all games are part of the playoff and thus removes all conference tie ins.
History and schedule Games are listed in chronological order, with final CFP rankings, and win–loss records prior to the respective bowl being played.
2014 season
Day Date Bowl Location (city/state) Winning team Losing team Wednesday December 31, 2014 Peach Bowl Atlanta, GA No. 6 TCU (11–1) 42 No. 9 Ole Miss (9–3) 3 Wednesday December 31, 2014 Fiesta Bowl Glendale, AZ No. 20 Boise State (11–2) 38 No. 10 Arizona (10–3) 30 Wednesday December 31, 2014 Orange Bowl Miami Gardens, FL No. 12 Georgia Tech (10–3) 49 No. 7 Mississippi State (10–2) 34 Thursday January 1, 2015 Cotton Bowl Classic Arlington, TX No. 8 Michigan State (10–2) 42 No. 5 Baylor (11–1) 41 Thursday January 1, 2015 (CFP Semifinal) Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA No. 2 Oregon (12–1) 59 No. 3 Florida State (13–0) 20 Thursday January 1, 2015 (CFP Semifinal) Sugar Bowl New Orleans, LA No. 4 Ohio State (12–1) 42 No. 1 Alabama (12–1) 35 Monday January 12, 2015 National Championship Game Arlington, TX No. 4 Ohio State (13–1) 42 No. 2 Oregon (13–1) 20
2015 season
Day Date Bowl Location (city/state) Winning team Losing team Thursday December 31, 2015 Peach Bowl Atlanta, GA No. 18 Houston (12–1) 38 No. 9 Florida State (10–2) 24 Thursday December 31, 2015 (CFP Semifinal) Orange Bowl Miami Gardens, FL No. 1 Clemson (13–0) 37 No. 4 Oklahoma (11–1) 17 Thursday December 31, 2015 (CFP Semifinal) Cotton Bowl Classic Arlington, TX No. 2 Alabama (12–1) 38 No. 3 Michigan State (12–1) 0 Friday January 1, 2016 Fiesta Bowl Glendale, AZ No. 7 Ohio State (11–1) 44 No. 8 Notre Dame (10–2) 28 Friday January 1, 2016 Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA No. 6 Stanford (11–2) 45 No. 5 Iowa (12–1) 16 Friday January 1, 2016 Sugar Bowl New Orleans, LA No. 12 Ole Miss (9–3) 48 No. 16 Oklahoma State (10–2) 20 Monday January 11, 2016 National Championship Game Glendale, AZ No. 2 Alabama (13–1) 45 No. 1 Clemson (14–0) 40
2016 season
Day Date Bowl Location (city/state) Winning team Losing team Friday December 30, 2016 Orange Bowl Miami Gardens, FL No. 11 Florida State (9–3) 33 No. 6 Michigan (10–2) 32 Saturday December 31, 2016 (CFP Semifinal) Peach Bowl Atlanta, GA No. 1 Alabama (13–0) 24 No. 4 Washington (12–1) 7 Saturday December 31, 2016 (CFP Semifinal) Fiesta Bowl Glendale, AZ No. 2 Clemson (12–1) 31 No. 3 Ohio State (11–1) 0 Monday January 2, 2017 Cotton Bowl Classic Arlington, TX No. 8 Wisconsin (10–3) 24 No. 15 Western Michigan (13–0) 16 Monday January 2, 2017 Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA No. 9 USC (9–3) 52 No. 5 Penn State (11–2) 49 Monday January 2, 2017 Sugar Bowl New Orleans, LA No. 7 Oklahoma (10–2) 35 No. 14 Auburn (8–4) 19 Monday January 9, 2017 National Championship Game Tampa, FL No. 2 Clemson (13–1) 35 No. 1 Alabama (14–0) 31
2017 season
Day Date Bowl Location (city/state) Winning team Losing team Friday December 29, 2017 Cotton Bowl Classic Arlington, TX No. 5 Ohio State (11–2) 24 No. 8 USC (11–2) 7 Saturday December 30, 2017 Fiesta Bowl Glendale, AZ No. 9 Penn State (10–2) 35 No. 11 Washington (10–2) 28 Saturday December 30, 2017 Orange Bowl Miami Gardens, FL No. 6 Wisconsin (12–1) 34 No. 10 Miami (FL) (10–2) 24 Monday January 1, 2018 Peach Bowl Atlanta, GA No. 12 UCF (12–0) 34 No. 7 Auburn (10–3) 27 Monday January 1, 2018 (CFP Semifinal) Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA No. 3 Georgia (12–1) 54 No. 2 Oklahoma (12–1) 482OT Monday January 1, 2018 (CFP Semifinal) Sugar Bowl New Orleans, LA No. 4 Alabama (11–1) 24 No. 1 Clemson (12–1) 6 Monday January 8, 2018 National Championship Game Atlanta, GA No. 4 Alabama (12–1) 26 No. 3 Georgia (13–1) 23OT
2018 season
Day Date Bowl Location (city/state) Winning team Losing team Saturday December 29, 2018 Peach Bowl Atlanta, GA No. 10 Florida (9–3) 41 No. 7 Michigan (10–2) 15 Saturday December 29, 2018 (CFP Semifinal) Cotton Bowl Classic Arlington, TX No. 2 Clemson (13–0) 30 No. 3 Notre Dame (12–0) 3 Saturday December 29, 2018 (CFP Semifinal) Orange Bowl Miami Gardens, FL No. 1 Alabama (13–0) 45 No. 4 Oklahoma (12–1) 34 Tuesday January 1, 2019 Fiesta Bowl Glendale, AZ No. 11 LSU (9–3) 40 No. 8 UCF (12–0) 32 Tuesday January 1, 2019 Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA No. 6 Ohio State (12–1) 28 No. 9 Washington (10–3) 23 Tuesday January 1, 2019 Sugar Bowl New Orleans, LA No. 15 Texas (9–4) 28 No. 5 Georgia (11–2) 21 Monday January 7, 2019 National Championship Game Santa Clara, CA No. 2 Clemson (14–0) 44 No. 1 Alabama (14–0) 16
2019 season
Day Date Bowl Location (city/state) Winning team Losing team Saturday December 28, 2019 Cotton Bowl Classic Arlington, TX No. 10 Penn State (10–2) 53 No. 17 Memphis (12–1) 39 Saturday December 28, 2019 (CFP Semifinal) Peach Bowl Atlanta, GA No. 1 LSU (13–0) 63 No. 4 Oklahoma (12–1) 28 Saturday December 28, 2019 (CFP Semifinal) Fiesta Bowl Glendale, AZ No. 3 Clemson (13–0) 29 No. 2 Ohio State (13–0) 23 Monday December 30, 2019 Orange Bowl Miami Gardens, FL No. 9 Florida (10–2) 36 No. 24 Virginia (9–4) 28 Wednesday January 1, 2020 Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA No. 6 Oregon (11–2) 28 No. 8 Wisconsin (10–3) 27 Wednesday January 1, 2020 Sugar Bowl New Orleans, LA No. 5 Georgia (11–2) 26 No. 7 Baylor (11–2) 14 Monday January 13, 2020 National Championship Game New Orleans, LA No. 1 LSU (14–0) 42 No. 3 Clemson (14–0) 25 Source:
2020 season
Day Date Bowl Location (city/state) Winning team Losing team Wednesday December 30, 2020 Cotton Bowl Classic Arlington, TX No. 6 Oklahoma (8–2) 55 No. 7 Florida (8–3) 20 Friday January 1, 2021 Peach Bowl Atlanta, GA No. 9 Georgia (7–2) 24 No. 8 Cincinnati (9–0) 21 Friday January 1, 2021 (CFP Semifinal) Rose Bowl Arlington, TX No. 1 Alabama (11–0) 31 No. 4 Notre Dame (10–1) 14 Friday January 1, 2021 (CFP Semifinal) Sugar Bowl New Orleans, LA No. 3 Ohio State (6–0) 49 No. 2 Clemson (10–1) 28 Saturday January 2, 2021 Orange Bowl Miami Gardens, FL No. 5 Texas A&M (8–1) 41 No. 13 North Carolina (8–3) 27 Saturday January 2, 2021 Fiesta Bowl Glendale, AZ No. 10 Iowa State (8–3) 34 No. 25 Oregon (4–2) 17 Monday January 11, 2021 National Championship Game Miami Gardens, FL No. 1 Alabama (12–0) 52 No. 3 Ohio State (7–0) 24 Source:
2021 season
Day Date Bowl Location (city/state) Winning team Losing team Thursday December 30, 2021 Peach Bowl Atlanta, GA No. 10 Michigan State (10–2) 31 No. 12 Pittsburgh (11–2) 21 Friday December 31, 2021 (CFP Semifinal) Cotton Bowl Classic Arlington, TX No. 1 Alabama (12–1) 27 No. 4 Cincinnati (13–0) 6 Friday December 31, 2021 (CFP Semifinal) Orange Bowl Miami Gardens, FL No. 3 Georgia (12–1) 34 No. 2 Michigan (12–1) 11 Saturday January 1, 2022 Fiesta Bowl Glendale, AZ No. 9 Oklahoma State (11–2) 37 No. 5 Notre Dame (11–1) 35 Saturday January 1, 2022 Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA No. 6 Ohio State (10–2) 48 No. 11 Utah (10–3) 45 Saturday January 1, 2022 Sugar Bowl New Orleans, LA No. 7 Baylor (11–2) 21 No. 8 Ole Miss (10–2) 7 Monday January 10, 2022 National Championship Game Indianapolis, IN No. 3 Georgia (13–1) 33 No. 1 Alabama (13–1) 18
2022 season