The Orange Bowl

The Orange Bowl is a "New Year's Six" game that serves as a semifinal for the College Football Playoff National Championship once every three years. It last served as a semifinal in 2018, when No. 1 Alabama defeated No. 4 Oklahoma. It will be a semifinal game again in 2021.

Who will play in the Orange Bowl of college football?

The 2019 Orange Bowl on Monday, December 30 will feature the No. 9 Florida Gators and the No. 24 Virginia Cavaliers. After a seven-point loss to Georgia on November 2, the Gators finished their regular season on a tear, with wins over Vanderbilt, Missouri and Florida State by a combined score of 119-23. The Cavaliers will head to South Florida licking their wounds after a 62-17 thrashing by Clemson in the ACC Championship Game, but entered that mismatch on a three-game win streak.

Orange Bowl champions

The history of college football’s Orange Bowl

The Orange Bowl has been played annually since Jan. 1, 1935 in Miami, Florida and is held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens since 1996. Since December 2014, the game has been known as the Capital One Orange Bowl and is part of the College Football Playoff.

In the early years of the Orange Bowl, there was no conference tie-in. On January 1, 1965, the Texas vs. Alabama Orange Bowl was the first college bowl game to be televised live in prime time. The game usually featured the champion of the former Big Eight Conference starting in 1968.

From 1998 to 2005 the game hosted the champion of either the ACC or Big East conferences, unless they were invited to the BCS National Championship Game, or if the Orange Bowl itself was hosting the national title game.

From 2006-2013, the Orange Bowl was part of the BCS (Bowl Championship Series), and the site of the Orange Bowl hosted the National Championship game on a four-year rotation with the Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Rose Bowl.

Starting in 2015, the Orange Bowl is one of six major bowls to host a College Football Playoff game on a rotating basis. Usually played at night, the 2015 Orange Bowl was the first in 51 years with an afternoon kickoff. Clemson (+3.5) defeated Oklahoma 37-17 before it lost to Alabama in the national title game.

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Orange Bowl historic moments

Oklahoma (20) and Nebraska (17) have competed in the most Orange Bowls, and Oklahoma has won a record 12 Orange Bowls.

In 1984 local Miami University won its first national championship when it defeated Nebraska, 31-30, in the Orange Bowl.

In the 2000 Orange Bowl, Michigan defeated Alabama 35-34 in the first overtime game of the BCS era.

The 2006 Orange Bowl was the final meeting between coaching legends Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden. Penn State won after three overtimes, 26-23.

Schools with the most Orange Bowl wins