44.
That’s the number of college football bowl games coming up over the next month, a record for a single season. But if it were up to ESPN’s Rece Davis, there’s another number we would be hearing about: eight. To the longtime host of College GameDay, that’s the “ideal number” of Playoff teams.
“I’ve been a longtime supporter of four [Playoff teams], because I like the exclusivity and the difficulty of getting into the Playoff that it’s brought,” Davis told Sling TV a day after the Playoff field (Alabama, Michigan, Georgia, and Cincinnati) was decided. “But I think—and I’ve said this from the very beginning—that it would run its course. And I think that it has and it’s time to expand.”
“I don’t like the idea of having byes,” Davis continues. “I would like to see an...eight team playoff where everybody plays the same number of games.”
As someone who has clearly spent a lot of time thinking about this issue, Davis has one more suggestion for the powers that be. “The other thing that I would like to see in addition to that is, you can have some automatic qualifiers but there has to be a threshold. It can’t just be because you win your conference. You have to meet some type of threshold within that in order to get one of the automatic bids. Which maybe would be something like being ranked in the top 8 or top 10 by the college football Playoff selection committee.”
With Davis in a candid mood, we asked him his opinion on the transfer portal, and its impact on college football.
“I think the transfer portal has really changed the way coaches recruit,” he says. “There are a number of coaches who are recruiting there first, and high school players second, depending on the level of their program.” To be clear, Davis doesn’t begrudge those who transfer; he specifically mentions Cincinnati running back Jerome Ford, who earned a featured role for the undefeated Bearcats after leaving Alabama. In fact, it’s not the student-athletes transfering that bothers him, it’s the coaching carousel.
“A lot of things are changing in college football in terms of coaches moving and coaches moving while they’re under contract, playoff-contending coaches like Brian Kelly leaving Notre Dame for LSU,” Davis notes. “We need to find a way to temper this. Whether it’s on the [college] presidents to start enforcing not tampering with coaches until a season is over, or whether it’s some type of ethical agreement among the coaches themselves through the coaches association, this is not good for the sport. You’re always going to have coaches moving and I’m fine with that, but I’d like to see it happen after the season is over. These guys are under contract and people are tampering with them while they’re under contract, but no one does anything about it because they’re afraid of the impact it will have on the next coach. So I would like to see some type of guardrail put up, some type of structure given so that we can at least get a coach through a season before he leaves his team and goes on to the next job.”
We’ll have plenty of other insights from Rece Davis here on the Sling blog over the next few weeks, as well as on our social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Below, we’ve got the full list of all the bowl games on Sling TV, along with full details on how to watch. To catch the most college football this bowl season, sign up for Sling Orange + Blue using the link at the bottom of this page.
UPDATE 12/29: COVID cancellations update.
(All times Eastern)
Friday, Dec. 17
Bahamas Bowl
Middle Tennessee vs. Toledo – 12pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Tailgreeter Cure Bowl
Northern Illinois vs. Coastal Carolina – 6pm, ESPN2 (Sling Orange)
Saturday, Dec. 18
RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl
Western Kentucky vs. Appalachian State – 11am, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Cricket Celebration Bowl
South Carolina State vs. Jackson State – 12pm, ESPN3 (Sling Orange)
PUBG Mobile New Mexico Bowl
UTEP vs. Fresno State – 2:15pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl
UAB vs. BYU – 3:30pm, ESPN3 (Sling Orange)
LendingTree Bowl
Eastern Michigan vs. Liberty - 5:45pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl pres. by Stifel
Utah State vs. Oregon State – 7:30pm, ESPN3 (Sling Orange)
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Louisiana vs. Marshall – 9:15pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Monday, Dec 20
Myrtle Beach Bowl Presented by TaxAct
Old Dominion vs. Tulsa – 2:30pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Tuesday, Dec. 21
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Kent State vs. Wyoming – 3:30pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl
UTSA vs. San Diego State – 7:30pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Wednesday, Dec. 22
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
Missouri vs. Army – 8pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Thursday, Dec. 23
Frisco Football Classic
North Texas vs. Miami (Ohio) – 3:30pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl
UCF vs. Florida – 7pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Friday, Dec. 24
EasyPost Hawai'i Bowl
Memphis vs. Hawai'i – CANCELLED
Saturday, Dec. 25
TaxAct Camellia Bowl
Georgia State vs. Ball State – 2:30pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Monday, Dec. 27
Quick Lane Bowl
Western Michigan vs. Nevada – 11am, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Military Bowl presented by Peraton
Boston College vs. East Carolina – CANCELLED
Tuesday, Dec. 28
TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl
Houston vs. Auburn – 12pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl
Air Force vs. Louisville – 3:15pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
AutoZone Liberty Bowl
Mississippi State vs. Texas Tech – 6:45pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl
UCLA vs. NC State –CANCELLED
Guaranteed Rate Bowl
West Virginia vs. Minnesota – 10:15pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Wednesday, Dec. 29
Wasabi Fenway Bowl
SMU vs. Virginia – CANCELLED
New Era Pinstripe Bowl
Maryland vs. Virginia Tech – 2:15pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Cheez-It Bowl
Clemson vs. Iowa State – 5:45pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Valero Alamo Bowl
Oregon vs. Oklahoma – 9:15pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Thursday, Dec. 30
Duke's Mayo Bowl
North Carolina vs. South Carolina – 11:30am, ESPN (Sling Orange)
TransPerfect Music City Bowl
Tennessee vs. Purdue – 3pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
Michigan State vs. Pittsburgh – 7pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl
Wisconsin vs. Arizona State – 10:30pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Friday, Dec. 31
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
Wake Forest vs. Rutgers – 11am, ESPN (Sling Orange)
*RUTGERS REPLACES TEXAS A&M
Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl
Washington State vs. Central Michigan – 2pm, CBS (Local solutions)
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl
Central Michigan vs. Boise State – CANCELLED; CENTRAL MICHIGAN WILL PLAY WASHINGTON STATE IN THE TONY THE TIGER SUN BOWL.
CFP Semifinal: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
No. 4 Cincinnati vs. No. 1 Alabama – 3:30pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
CFP Semifinal: Capital One Orange Bowl
No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 2 Michigan – 7:30pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Saturday, Jan. 1
Outback Bowl
Penn State vs. Arkansas - 12pm, ESPN2 (Sling Orange)
Vrbo Citrus Bowl
Iowa vs. Kentucky – 1pm, ESPN3 (Sling Orange)
PlayStation Fiesta Bowl
Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State – 1pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Rose Bowl Game Pres. by Capital One Venture X
Ohio State vs. Utah – 5pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Allstate Sugar Bowl
Ole Miss vs. Baylor – 8:45pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Tuesday, Jan. 4
TaxAct Texas Bowl
LSU vs. Kansas State – 9pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
Monday, Jan. 10
CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T
TBD – 8pm, ESPN (Sling Orange)
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