It has been a tradition since the early 1900s. College football season wouldn’t be the same without Bowl Season. The end of the the football year sees the best teams rewarded with shots at the most prestigious bowls, but are these the bowl games the ones that have been around the longest? Whether it be the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Cotton Bowl or the Orange Bowl, teams relish the chance to put their names in the history books. Over the years, many bowls have been added, but here we take a look at the oldest bowl games that are still played today.
5. The Cotton Bowl
The first Cotton Bowl took place on January 1, 1937. TCU beat the then named Marquette Golden Avalanche 16-6. The Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, Texas held the event from 1937 until 2009. Since 2010, the Cotton Bowl has been held at Jerry World, otherwise known as the AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys.
This season will be the 87th Cotton Bowl Classic. It will feature Tulane and LSU and will be played on January 2.
T2. The Sun Bowl
The first Sun Bowl took place in 1935. That year, the El Paso All-Stars were victorious over the Ranger Bulldogs. It is another bowl game that has its origins in Texas. This time, El Paso.
From 2011 onwards, the Sun Bowl features teams from the ACC and Pac-12.
Since 2019, the Sun Bowl has been sponsored by Kellogg’s and has been known as the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. This season’s edition features UCLA and Pittsburgh on December 30.
T2. Orange Bowl
The Orange Bowl takes place annually in Miami. It has done so, like the Sun Bowl, since 1935. The 1965 edition of the Orange Bowl between Texas and Alabama was the first bowl game to be televised in prime time.
This year’s edition of the Orange Bowl features two teams that generally play in orange. The ACC Champions or highest placed non-CFP ACC team are the first teams guaranteed a place in the Orange Bowl. The highest ranked SEC, Big Ten or Notre Dame team that aren’t College Football Playoff bound or conference champions are generally the opposition. That means that this this year, Clemson will take on Tennessee on December 30.
T2. Sugar Bowl
Like our last two bowls, the first Sugar Bowl also took place on January 1, 1935. Tulane were the winners of the inaugural Sugar Bowl back then when the bowl game was played in Tulane Stadium. Alabama and LSU lead the field in terms of appearances in the Sugar Bowl. Alabama have been there 16 times, while LSU has made 13 Sugar Bowl appearances.
This year’s version of the Sugar Bowl will be held on New Year’s Eve when Alabama makes its seventeenth appearance and takes on Kansas State.
1. Rose Bowl
The oldest bowl of them all is the Rose Bowl. Often referred to as the ‘Granddaddy Of Them All,’ the inaugural Rose Bowl took place on January 1, 1902. This year’s edition will be the 109th Rose Bowl matchup. Every matchup bar two has been hosted in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
What started out as the Tournament East-West Game has morphed into the biggest bowl game on the schedule. In the 1902 version, Michigan routed Stanford 49-0. In more recent times, the Rose Bowl has tried to pit Pac-12 teams against Big Ten teams. This led to arguably one of the greatest matchups in college football history when USC and Texas squared off in a 1 vs. 2 battle in the 2005/6 season. Texas eventually triumphed and won the National Championship on the back of Vince Young in a 41-38 thriller.
Since the inception of the College Football Playoff, the Rose Bowl has been a semi-final game every three years.
This year it is back to its Big Ten vs. Pac-12 roots. Penn State will take on Utah on January 2.
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