NCAA Division II bowl games are American

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 played annually among some of the highest-ranking NCAA Division II football teams not invited to participate in the NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs. The games are officially recognized by the NCAA. They are held in December, and are most commonly scheduled on the first Saturday of the month, three weeks after the final games of the Division II football regular season. Like the bowl games of the

NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(FBS) that are not integrated into the College Football Playoff, Division II bowl games are purely "consolation" games, with conferences supplying teams to specific bowls by prior arrangement. Unlike Division I bowl games, they offer no financial "payout" to the participating schools, are typically played in small venues before small crowds, and must be sustained by the efforts of local sponsors and chambers of commerce. As a result, Division II bowl games have been fewer in number and mostly short-lived. Nine bowls have been contested since 1997, with at least one (and as many as four) being played in any given year. Teams from ten conferences (plus independents) have participated.

Background

In 1956 the NCAA College Division was created to serve the athletic needs of the association's smaller member institutions. The division held separate championships in several sports, starting with a basketball tournament at the end of the 1956–57 season. In lieu of a football championship, the division eventually held four regional bowl games from 1964 through 1972, intended to crown the small-college "champions" of different parts of the country. These included the

Camellia Bowl Camellia Bowl can refer to one of three college football bowl games: * Camellia Bowl (1948) The Camellia Bowl was a post-season major college football bowl game played at McNaspy Stadium in Lafayette, Louisiana, on December 30, 1948, between t ...

for the West; the Grantland Rice Bowl for the Mideast; the Tangerine Bowl (1964–67), then the Boardwalk Bowl (1968–72) for the East; and the

Pecan Bowl The Pecan Bowl was the name of some December college football bowl games played in two different eras. In 1946 and 1947, the game was contested between historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). From 1964 through 1970, the game was a reg ...

(1964–70), then the

Pioneer Bowl The Pioneer Bowl was the name of some December college football bowl games played in two different eras. Between 1971 and 1982, the game was contested 10 times in Texas as an NCAA College Division regional final, or as a playoff game for Divisio ...

(1971–72) for the Midwest. In 1969, the NCAA created two more postseason games, the

Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl The NCAA Division III Football Championship began in 1973. The Division III playoffs begin with 32 teams selected to participate in the Division III playoffs. The Division III championship game, known as the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl or Stagg Bowl ...

and the

Knute Rockne Bowl The Knute Rockne Bowl (named after football coach Knute Rockne) was played as the NCAA College Division East Regional championship from 1969 to 1972, one of four national quarterfinals. After an absence of three seasons, it was a Division II natio ...

, "for its

College Division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...

II schools, those 100-plus smallest schools in the NCAA." Eligible schools were divided into an East Region (the Northeast and Middle Atlantic states) and West Region (the rest of the country), with the Stagg Bowl serving as the West championship and the Rockne Bowl as the East championship. At least for the sport of football, this accommodation foreshadowed the decision to subdivide the College Division four years later. After the reorganization of the NCAA into the present three divisions (I, II, and III) in 1973, Division II and Division III began to conduct postseason football playoffs. The Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl became the championship game for Division III, and the remaining active College Division bowls were incorporated into the Division II playoffs. The Boardwalk Bowl (1973) served as a quarterfinal game; the Grantland Rice Bowl (1973–77), Pioneer Bowl (1973–75), and Knute Rockne Bowl (1976–77) served as the semifinal games; and the Camellia Bowl (1973–75) and Pioneer Bowl (1976–77) were venues for the championship game. With the creation of Division I-AA (today's FCS) in 1978, the Pioneer Bowl became the I-AA title game. That autumn, the Division II championship was referred to as a "bowl" in some press accounts but remained unnamed, and the practice of designating the semifinal games as bowls came to an end. The Zia Bowl hosted the championship in 1979 and 1980, then the Palm Bowl (former venue for the NAIA Football National Championship) hosted it from 1981 through 1985. The Palm Bowl folded after the 1985 contest, and for the next dozen years no Division II postseason game carried a bowl designation.

History (1997–present)

The current system of Division II bowl games has its origins in 1997, when a new

(unrelated to the former game) was created as a contest between teams from the division's two conferences of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The game moved among five southeastern US cities: first Atlanta, GA, then Mobile, AL, Columbia, SC, Charlotte, NC, and finally Columbus, GA. It was held annually until 2012, except for cancellations in 2002 and 2008. In 2000, the

Mineral Water Bowl The Mineral Water Bowl is an annual American NCAA Division II college football bowl game between teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and an at large opponent hosted in Excelsior Springs, Missouri at Tiger Stadium. History ...

became the era's second Division II bowl game. The bowl, held in Excelsior Springs, MO, dated from 1948 (with interruptions) and had been a junior college postseason contest from 1992 to 1999. It included teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and

Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, headquartered ...

(MIAA), an arrangement that continued through 2017, when it gave way to a matchup between an NSIC team and an at-large team. The game was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was never played again. Another former junior college postseason game, the

Dixie Rotary Bowl The Dixie Rotary Bowl was a college bowl game initiated by the St. George, Utah Rotary Club and hosted at Greater Zion Stadium, the home field of Dixie State Junior College in St. George, Utah. From 1986 to 2005, the game was a junior college b ...

in St. George, UT, became a Division II bowl in 2006, but only lasted three years. From 2006 through 2008, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) sent a team to the game; in 2007 and 2008, teams from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) provided the opponent. From 2009 through 2012, the short-lived

Kanza Bowl The Kanza Bowl was an annual American NCAA Division II college football bowl game played between teams from the Lone Star Conference and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association that is played the first Saturday of each December at t ...

matched teams from the MIAA and the Lone Star Conference (LSC). The game was held in Topeka, KS. From 2012 through 2018 (except for a cancellation in 2013), the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl matched a team from the LSC against an at-large team. The game was held in Copperas Cove, TX (2012–17), then Waco, TX (2018). It was played on a double bill with a junior college postseason game which remained active after 2018. From 2013 through 2023, the

Live United Texarkana Bowl The Live United Texarkana Bowl, known under a naming rights agreement as the Fun Town RV Live United Bowl, is a college football bowl game played annually in Texarkana, Arkansas between teams from NCAA Division II. It is one of four NCAA Division ...

featured a team from the

Great American Conference The Great American Conference (GAC) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, with headquarters located in Russellvill ...

(GAC), initially against an opponent from either the MIAA or the LSC. From 2017 until its cancellation, the game was a GAC-MIAA matchup. It was held in Texarkana, AR. The

Heritage Bowl The Heritage Bowl was a NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) bowl game held by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The bowl pitted a team from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) against a team from the Southwe ...

, founded in 2017, matches teams chosen from among the MIAA, LSC, and GAC. The game is held in Corsicana, TX. America's Crossroads Bowl, founded in 2019, matches teams from the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) and the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC). Formerly hosted by Hobart, IN (2019–22), the game is now held in Hammond, IN. The

Florida Beach Bowl The Florida Beach Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game contested between NCAA Division II teams from the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), two athle ...

, founded in 2023, revived the matchup of the defunct Pioneer Bowl by featuring HBCU teams from the CIAA and SIAC. The game is held in Fort Lauderdale, FL.1st Annual Florida Beach Bowl, https://www.floridabeachbowl.com/ No Division II bowls were played in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the onset of the current Division II bowl system, Tuskegee has the most appearances (ten) and most victories (seven) of any team, all in the

, largely because its traditional Turkey Day Classic against

Alabama State Alabama State University (ASU) is a public historically black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the Lin ...

extended its regular season to Thanksgiving Day, precluding participation in the Division II playoffs. Tuskegee thus was unique in choosing to go to a bowl game in several years when it would have qualified for the playoffs, if not for its Thanksgiving Day game. The most notable examples came in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and again in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, when Tuskegee capped perfect 12–0 seasons with victories in the Pioneer Bowl. On the conference level, teams from the MIAA have registered the greatest success, participating in the most bowls (5), the most games (36), and posting the most victories (26). The conference's most impressive year was 2017, when MIAA teams played in each of the four bowls then in existence and won all four games. Within the MIAA, Missouri Western has the most bowl appearances (nine) and most victories (six), in both cases second only to Tuskegee overall. Thus far, teams from the remaining six Division II football-playing conferences—the Northeast-10 Conference (NE10), Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), South Atlantic Conference (SAC), Gulf South Conference (GSC),

Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) is a competitive List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level. ...

(GLIAC), and

Mountain East Conference The Mountain East Conference (MEC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level and officially began competition on September 1, 2013. It consists of 12 schools, mo ...

(MEC)—have not participated in Division II bowl games.

Timeline of bowl games

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:25 Period = from:1996 till:2028 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:20 top:5 Colors = id:line value:black id:Full value:rgb(0.63,0.88,0.755) # all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.88,0.755,0.63) # non-football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.88,0.63,0.63) # football-only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.755,0.755,0.63) # associate PlotData = width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:1997 till:2002 text:

(1997–2012) bar:1 color:FullxF from:2002 till:2003 bar:1 color:Full from:2003 till:2008 bar:1 color:FullxF from:2008 till:2009 bar:1 color:Full from:2009 till:2013 bar:2 color:Full from:2000 till:2020 text:

(2000–2019) bar:3 color:Full from:2006 till:2009 text:

(2006–2008) bar:4 color:Full from:2009 till:2013 text:

(2009–2012) bar:5 color:Full from:2012 till:2013 text: Heart of Texas Bowl (2012–2018) bar:5 color:FullxF from:2013 till:2014 bar:5 color:Full from:2014 till:2019 bar:6 color:Full from:2013 till:2020 text:

(2013–2023) bar:6 color:FullxF from:2020 till:2021 bar:6 color:Full from:2021 till:2024 bar:7 color:Full from:2017 till:2020 text:

(2017–present) bar:7 color:FullxF from:2020 till:2021 bar:7 color:Full from:2021 till:2028 bar:8 color:Full from:2019 till:2020 text: America's Crossroads Bowl (2019–present) bar:8 color:FullxF from:2020 till:2021 bar:8 color:Full from:2021 till:2028 bar:9 color:Full from:2023 till:2028 text:

(2023–present) bar:10 ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1997

Conference bowl records (1997–present)

Division II teams in non-Division II bowls

From 1976 through 1980, the champions of the CIAA and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) met in the Gold Bowl. The game continued even after the MEAC reclassified to Division I-AA (today's FCS) in 1978, and thus was unique in matching teams from two different NCAA divisions.

Virginia Union Virginia Union University is a private historically black Baptist university in Richmond, Virginia. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. History The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) founded the school as Rich ...

(1978) was the only CIAA team to win the Gold Bowl before the game was discontinued. Division II teams with dual membership in the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCAA) have played in the NCCAA's

Victory Bowl The Victory Bowl is the championship football game between schools that sponsor football and are members of the National Christian College Athletic Association and did not qualify for either the NCAA or NAIA playoffs. It is one of the few post-se ...

, typically against teams from the NAIA with dual NCCAA membership. North Greenville has appeared in more Victory Bowls than any other Division II team, losing the 2003 game and winning in 2006, 2010, and 2014, all while competing as a Division II independent.

Azusa Pacific Azusa Pacific University (APU) is a private, evangelical Christian university in Azusa, California. The university was founded in 1899, with classes opening on March 3, 1900, in Whittier, California, and began offering degrees in 1939. The unive ...

of the GNAC won the 2013 Victory Bowl. The 2014 game, matching North Greenville against Shorter of the GSC, is the only one thus far to feature two Division II teams.

References

{{NCAA Division II bowl game navbox College football bowls Bowl games