New Year’s Eve isn’t just for celebration in Times Square.
Five bowl games will occur on last day of the year, and the schedule works out so that the most anticipated is saved for last. That means that right around the time the ball drops is when the CFP game will be coming to an end.
Choose your interest wisely.
Let’s take a look at the action to be played on the final day of 2025.
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ReliaQuest Bowl
#23 Iowa vs. #14 Vanderbilt (Wednesday, 12 PM ET – ESPN)
The second of three ranked vs. ranked matchups in bowl season that aren’t part of the CFP should be a good one. The Hawkeyes’ defense will get a chance to humble Heisman runner-up Diego Pavia, who has been quite vocal all season, an aspect of his personality that backfired following the Heisman presentation.
Neither team has significant opt outs in this game and it should play out as if these two were playing during the regular season. Iowa is not easy to run against and all four of the Hawkeyes’ losses this season were by less than a touchdown. As strong a season as Vanderbilt has had, I think that Iowa is up to the challenge of slowing down Pavia, which has proven to be a recipe for success in terms of neutralizing the Vanderbilt offense.
My Pick: 24-20 Iowa
Bowl Mania Confidence: 28 points
Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl
Arizona State vs. Duke (Wednesday, 2 PM ET – CBS)
Arizona State retained Kenny Dillingham but lost a lot of contributors from this season’s team ahead of the bowl game. Sam Leavitt, Jordyn Tyson, leading rusher Raleek Brown and a host of players on both the offensive and defensive line are expected to miss this one. Dillingham will therefore get to evaluate the talent he has heading into next season, and perhaps let senior quarterback Jeff Sims and opportunity to lead the team to victory.
ACC champions Duke already have their hardware for the season, so this feels to an extent like icing on an already pretty sweet cake, considering the circumstances that allowed the Blue Devils to reach their conference title game. Manny Diaz’s team is the slight favorite at the time of writing, but I think Dillingham will have his team fired up that he is staying with the program that he in large part resurrected from the dead.
My Pick: 24-21 Arizona State
Bowl Mania Confidence: 16 points
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl
#18 Michigan vs. #13 Texas (Wednesday, 3 PM ET – ABC)
This game got a lot more interesting just after Christmas thanks to news coming from both programs. For Michigan, it is obviously the hiring of current Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham to be the next Wolverines coach. For Texas, the announcement from leading rusher Quintrevion Wisner that he will enter the portal means that the Longhorns will be without one of its best players in Orlando. This was originally pegged as a fun matchup between blueblood programs, but with these news pieces it is more than just that.
Whittingham coming from Utah begs the question, “how much of Michigan’s offense will be motivated to play in this game?” The Wolverines were stifled by Ohio State in the regular season finale, and more broadly, brought into question whether Ann Arbor was the right place for Bryce Underwood. He hasn’t developed during his freshman season the way that his circle would have hoped, and Michigan is unlikely to change its offensive philosophy drastically under Whittingham. Texas’s defense can be beat with the pass, but is more difficult to run on. Whether Underwood will be afforded the opportunity to test it with his arm is questionable. With Michigan experiencing more turmoil at this point, and Texas being the better team pound for pound, I’ll take the Longhorns.
My Pick: 23-16 Texas
Bowl Mania Confidence: 43 points
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl
Nebraska vs. #15 Utah (Wednesday, 3:30 PM ET – ESPN)
Kyle Whittingam can’t be two places at once, so despite his comments earlier in the month suggesting that he would coach the Utes in his final game with the program, it seems that he’ll be watching the game above this one without a headset. That type of jerking around could make even the most even-keeled player upset, so it’ll be interesting to see how Utah responds to the news about their head coach.
Nebraska wasn’t going into this game full strength, losing Dylan Raiola to injury, then the transfer portal, earlier this season. But Raiola’s absence overshadows perhaps the bigger loss, running back Emmett Johnson, who was fourth in the country with 1,451 yards rushing. It wouldn’t be shocking to see an anemic Cornhuskers offense that won’t do much to take advantage of any “lack of focus” that Utah exhibits.
My Pick: 24-13 Utah
Bowl Mania Confidence: 42 points
Goodyear Cotton Bowl
#10 Miami (FL) vs. #2 Ohio State (Wednesday, 7:30 PM ET – ESPN)
Many are likening this game to the 2002 national championship battle between the two programs, but the stakes being somewhat similar is pretty much where the comparison ends. Unlike that matchup, it’s the Buckeyes who enter this matchup as the heavy favorite and the Hurricanes seemingly needing to rely on a stout defense to keep things interesting. Miami does have the benefit of having played more recently, with Ohio State’s last game having occurred nearly a month prior. However, the Buckeyes have yet to be truly exposed defensively this season and Miami’s offense certainly left something to be desired on that side of the ball against Texas A&M.
As good as Ohio State’s run defense has been, it feels like Mario Cristobal’s squad is going to need to get more out of the passing game than it did last time out. The Buckeyes know better than most just how good Mark Fletcher, Jr. is and I’m sure that there will be a mandate from Matt Patricia & Co. not to let him beat them. That being said, Carson Beck can hurt just about any defense in the country when he is on. Ohio State’s defense doesn’t necessarily bait quarterbacks into taking risks as much as it simply forces the issue and the mistakes naturally follow. I don’t expect that Beck will enjoy a comfortable pocket all night long and will be forced to make quick decisions regularly. If he plays well, this one may go down to the wire. If he doesn’t, I think that the Buckeyes can cruise to victory. I don’t buy the school of thought that the Big Ten title game was a cause for concern about Ohio State’s offense, and think that the Buckeyes will be able to move the ball against Miami far better than the Aggies were able to do.
My Pick: 27-10 Ohio State
Bowl Mania Confidence: 44 points
