The 2015–16 NCAA football bowl games were a series of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl games. They completed the

2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on September 3, 2015 and ended on D ...

. The games began on December 19, 2015 and, aside from the all-star games, ended with the

2016 College Football Playoff National Championship The 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship was a bowl game that determined a national champion of NCAA Division I FBS college football for the 2015 season. It was played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on Ja ...

which was played on January 11, 2016. A new record total of 41 team-competitive bowl games were played in FBS, including the national championship game and the inaugural Cure Bowl and Arizona Bowl. While bowl games had been the purview of only the very best teams for nearly a century, this was the tenth consecutive year that teams with non-winning seasons were bowl-eligible and participated in bowl games. To fill the 80 available team-competitive bowl slots, a new record 15 teams (19% of all participants) with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games—12 had a .500 (6–6) season and, for another new record, three had a sub-.500 season. Those three teams each had 5–7 seasons, sharing a new record for the most regular season losses by a bowl team, which had previously been six. This situation led directly to the NCAA Division I Council imposing a three-year moratorium on new bowl games in April 2016.

Schedule

The schedule for the 2015–16 bowl games is below. All times are EST ( UTC−5). The rankings used were the CFP rankings."2015–16 College Football Bowl Schedule – 2016 Playoff"
, FBSchedules.com. Retrieved May 6, 2015.

College Football Playoff and Championship Game

The 2015–16 postseason was the second to feature a College Football Playoff (CFP) to determine a national champion of Division I FBS college football. Four teams were selected by a 12-member committee to participate in a single-elimination tournament, whose semifinals were held at the Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl as part of a yearly rotation of six bowls. Their winners advanced to the

at University of Phoenix Stadium in

Glendale, Arizona Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located approximately northwest of Downtown Phoenix. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 248,325. History In the la ...

on January 11, 2016."College Football Playoff 101"
ESPN, May 19, 2014. Retrieved May 6, 2015. Both semifinal bowls were held on December 31, 2015. Under the TV contracts with ESPN that predate the CFP, both the Rose Bowl and the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

(the first two bowls in the three cycling pairs that host semi-final games) are guaranteed exclusive TV time slots on January 1, regardless of whether they will be hosting a semifinal game. Analysts expressed concerns that the semifinal games could face reduced television viewership due to the

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

scheduling, believing that fans would not be accustomed to the scheduling, and that they would face competition from New Year's Eve events and television specials like ''

New Year's Rockin' Eve ''Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve'' (''NYRE'') is an annual New Year's Eve television special broadcast by ABC. The special broadcasts primarily from New York City's Times Square and prominently features coverage of its annual ball drop eve ...

'', which is aired by ABC—a corporate sibling to CFP broadcaster ESPN. ESPN then proposed moving the semifinal games to January 2, 2016, a Saturday, arguing that the games would enjoy a higher level of prominence if held on a day of the week that is traditionally associated with college football. However, its proposal was rejected. CFP commissioner Bill Hancock suggested this scheduling issue would instead "change the paradigm of what New Year's Eve is all about," opining that "if you're hosting a New Year's Eve party, you better have a bunch of televisions around." Ratings for the two semifinal games were down from the prior season's equivalents, with the Orange Bowl reaching a 9.7 rating (in comparison to 15.5 for the 2015 Rose Bowl) and the Cotton Bowl reaching a 9.9 rating (in comparison to a 15.3 rating for the 2015 Sugar Bowl). On the online WatchESPN streaming service, the Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl drew the second and third-largest streaming audiences in the service's history (excluding

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

games), behind the

2015 College Football Playoff National Championship The 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship was a bowl game that determined a national champion of NCAA Division I FBS college football for the 2014 season, which took place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on January 12, 2015. ...

. As a result of the reduced viewership, it was reported that ESPN was negotiating $20 million worth of credits to advertisers to compensate for the lower than expected ratings.

Non-CFP bowl games

For the 2015–16 season, two new bowl games were added, the Cure Bowl and the Arizona Bowl, bringing the total number of bowl games to 41. Due to not having enough teams with a 6–6 or better record to fill available bowl slots, the increase in number of bowls had the adverse effect of allowing a record three teams with losing records (5–7) to participate in bowls. The teams were selected by being the ones with the highest Academic Progress Rate (APR) among all 5–7 teams. The participating teams with a losing record were Nebraska, Minnesota, and San Jose State. + Notre Dame is eligible for any one of the bowl bids reserved for ACC teams, if Notre Dame: (a) is bowl-eligible; and (b) is not selected for one of the CFP Bowls. Notre Dame may not be selected for one of the bowl games having ACC tie-ins unless Notre Dame has no less than one less overall loss than the winningest-remaining ACC team which has not yet been selected for a bowl game. BYU has an agreement with the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl and the Hawaii Bowl for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The Cougars will appear, in place of a Mountain West team, in the Las Vegas Bowl this season.

All-star games

FCS bowl game

The FCS has one bowl game; they also have a championship bracket that began on November 28 and ended on

January 9 Events Pre-1600 * 681 – Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiates a council in which he implements diverse measures against the Jews in Spain. *1127 – Jin–Song Wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the J ...

Results

The Southeastern Conference was the Bowl Challenge Cup winner for the 2015-16 bowl season, which is awarded to the FBS football conference with the highest winning percentage. In addition, the nine total bowl wins by the SEC were the most ever accomplished by a single conference during a single bowl season. Southeastern Conference member Alabama won the

game to finish the year as

consensus national champions A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best coll ...

for the 2015 football season.

Selection of the teams

CFP top 25 teams

On December 6, 2015, the College Football Playoff selection committee announced their final team rankings for the year:

Conference champions' bowl games

The Cotton Bowl Classic and Orange Bowl featured two conference champions playing against each other. Rankings are per the above CFP standings.

Bowl-eligible teams

* ACC (9): Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech * The American (8): Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Memphis, Navy,

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

, Temple, Tulsa * Big Ten (8): Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State,

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

, Wisconsin * Big 12 (7): Baylor, Kansas State,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, Oklahoma State,

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

, Texas Tech, West Virginia *

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

(5): Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, Western Kentucky * Independents (2): BYU,

Notre Dame Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to: * Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France * University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States ** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, th ...

* MAC (7): Akron, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Ohio,

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

, Western Michigan * Mountain West (7): Air Force,

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, Utah State *

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

(10): Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon,

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

, UCLA,

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

, Utah, Washington, Washington State * SEC (10): Alabama, Arkansas,

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas A&M *

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — des ...

(4):

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern,

Georgia State Georgia state or ''variation'', may refer to: Primarily * Georgia State University ("State", "Georgia State"), a state university * Georgia (U.S. state) ("Georgia state"), a state of the United States of America Sports * sports teams of Georgia St ...

Number of bowl berths available: 80
Number of bowl-eligible teams: 77

Conditionally bowl-ineligible teams

* The American (4): East Carolina*, SMU, Tulane,

UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

* ACC (5):

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, Georgia Tech,

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

, Virginia, Wake Forest * Big Ten (6): Illinois*, Maryland, Minnesota*, Nebraska*,

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

, Rutgers * Big 12 (3):

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, Kansas, Texas* *

(8): Charlotte,

Florida Atlantic Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 12-cam ...

FIU Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florida ...

*, North Texas, Old Dominion*, Rice*, UTSA, UTEP* * Independent (1): Army * MAC (6):

Ball State Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, industrialists and founders of the Ball C ...

, Buffalo*, Eastern Michigan,

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in Ash ...

, Miami (OH),

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

* Mountain West (5): Fresno State, Hawaii, San Jose State*, UNLV, Wyoming *

(2): Colorado, Oregon State * SEC (4): Kentucky*, Missouri*, South Carolina, Vanderbilt *

(7): Idaho, Louisiana–Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, New Mexico State, South Alabama*, Texas State, Troy Number of bowl-ineligible teams: 51 Note: Being bowl-ineligible does not, in itself, exclude a team from the chance to play in a bowl game. Tiebreaker procedures based on a school's Academic Progress Rate (APR) allowed for the possibility of 5–7 teams to play in bowl games since not enough teams qualified to fill all 80 spots with at least a 6–6 record. Note: Teams with Asterisk (*) have a 5–7 record (14 total). Since a maximum of 77 bowl slots were filled, 3 of these teams qualified for a bowl game. These teams were Nebraska, Minnesota, and San Jose State. Missouri would have qualified over Minnesota or San Jose State, but announced they would decline a bowl bid. Note: There are 128 teams in FBS.