Mobile version. Acronyms are explained below. All times Eastern and PM, except where obvious. As of 11/15/2022 11:29:45 PM -0800.

Bowls When Where Time TV Teams Predictions
Bahamas Bowl Dec. 17 Nassau, Bahamas 12:00 ESPN MAC #1/2/3/4 C-USA #1/2/3 Toledo* 24 Middle Tennessee State* 10
Cure Bowl Dec. 17 Orlando, FL 6:00 ESPN2 AAC #4/5/6/7 Sun Belt #1/3/4/MAC/C-USA Coastal Carolina** 35 Northern Illinois* 28
Boca Raton Bowl Dec. 18 Boca Raton, FL 11:00 ESPN AAC #4/5/6/7 Sun Belt #1/3/4/MAC/C-USA Appalachian State* 31 Western Kentucky* 28
New Mexico Bowl Dec. 18 Albuquerque, NM 2:15 ESPN AAC #4/5/6/7/Sun Belt MWC #3/MAC/C-USA/Sun Belt Texas-El Paso** 10 Fresno State** 35
Independence Bowl Dec. 18 Shreveport, LA 3:30 ABC C-USA #1/2/3 Brigham Young Alabama-Birmingham* 14 Brigham Young** 28
Lendingtree Bowl Dec. 18 Mobile, AL 5:45 ESPN MAC/Sun Belt #5/C-USA MAC/Sun Belt #5/C-USA Eastern Michigan** 21 Liberty* 24
LA Bowl Dec. 18 Los Angeles, CA 7:30 ABC Pac-12 #5 MWC #1 Oregon State** 35 Utah State** 34
New Orleans Bowl Dec. 18 New Orleans, LA 9:15 ESPN C-USA #1/2/3 Sun Belt #2 Marshall* 31 Louisiana** 38
Myrtle Beach Bowl Dec. 20 Conway, SC 2:30 ESPN AAC #4/5/6/7 Sun Belt #1/3/4/MAC/C-USA Tulsa* 24 Old Domion* 10
Potato Bowl Dec. 21 Boise, ID 3:30 ESPN MWC #2/Sun Belt MAC #1/2/3/4/Sun Belt Wyoming* 14 Kent State** 21
Frisco Bowl Dec. 21 Frisco, TX 7:30 ESPN AAC #4/5/6/7 Sun Belt #1/3/4/MWC #5/MAC #6/7/C-USA Texas-San Antonio* 24 San Diego State* 25
Armed Forces Bowl Dec. 22 Fort Worth, TX 8:00 ESPN Big 12 #6/7 Pac-12 #6/C-USA Missouri* 14 Army** 24
Frisco Football Classic Dec. 23 Frisco, TX 3:30 ESPN ESPN Events ESPN Events Miami** 28 North Texas* 24
Gasparilla Bowl Dec. 23 Tampa, FL 7:00 ESPN ACC SEC #8/9/Pac-12 #7/AAC #4/5/6/7/C-USA Central Florida* 31 Florida** 34
Hawaii Bowl Dec. 24 Honolulu, HI 8:00 ESPN AAC #1/2/3 MWC #4 Memphis* 34 Hawaii* 14
Camellia Bowl Dec. 25 Montgomery, AL 2:30 ESPN MAC/Sun Belt #1/3/4/C-USA MAC/Sun Belt #1/3/4/C-USA Ball State* 34 Georgia State** 10
Quick Lane Bowl Dec. 27 Detroit, MI 11:00 ESPN Big Ten MAC #1/2/3/4 Nevada** 34 Western Michigan* 24
Military Bowl Dec. 27 Annapolis, MD 2:30 ESPN ACC AAC #1/2/3 Boston College*   East Carolina*  
Birmingham Bowl Dec. 28 Birmingham, AL 12:00 ESPN ACC SEC #8/9/AAC #4/5/6/7/C-USA Houston* 41 Auburn** 37
First Responder Bowl Dec. 28 Dallas, TX 3:15 ESPN ACC/MWC Big 12 #6/7/Pac-12 #7/AAC #4/5/6/7/MWC Air Force* 28 Louisville* 24
Liberty Bowl Dec. 28 Memphis, TN 6:45 ESPN Big 12 #4 SEC #2/3/4/5/6/7 Texas Tech* 28 Mississippi State* 41
Holiday Bowl Dec. 28 San Diego, CA 8:00 FOX ACC Pac-12 #3 North Carolina State* 51 California-Los Angeles* 31
Guaranteed Rate Bowl Dec. 28 Phoenix, AZ 10:15 ESPN Big Ten Big 12 #5 Minnesota** 35 West Virginia** 21
Fenway Bowl Dec. 29 Boston, MA 11:00 ESPN ACC AAC #1/2/3/C-USA Virginia**   Southern Methodist*  
Pinstripe Bowl Dec. 29 New York, NY 2:15 ESPN ACC Big Ten Virginia Tech* 24 Maryland** 21
Cheez-It Bowl Dec. 29 Orlando, FL 5:45 ESPN ACC/MWC Big 12 #2/MWC Clemson** 24 Iowa State** 7
Alamo Bowl Dec. 29 San Antonio, TX 9:15 ESPN Big 12 #1 Pac-12 #1 Oklahoma** 51 Oregon** 49
Mayo Bowl Dec. 30 Charlotte, NC 11:30 ESPN ACC SEC #2/3/4/5/6/7 North Carolina* 34 South Carolina** 24
Music City Bowl Dec. 30 Nashville, TN 3:00 ESPN Big Ten SEC #2/3/4/5/6/7 Purdue** 24 Tennessee** 34
Peach Bowl Dec. 30 Atlanta, GA 7:00 ESPN CFP (At-large) CFP (At-large) Michigan State* 24 Pittsburgh** 17
Las Vegas Bowl Dec. 30 Las Vegas, NV 10:30 ESPN Big Ten Pac-12 #2 Wisconsin* 24 Arizona State* 14
Gator Bowl Dec. 31 Jacksonville, FL 11:00 ESPN ACC SEC #2/3/4/5/6/7 Wake Forest* 49 Rutgers* 10
Sun Bowl Dec. 31 El Paso, TX 12:30 CBS ACC Pac-12 #4 Central Michigan* 14 Washington State* 31
Arizona Bowl Dec. 31 Tuscon, AZ 2:00 Brstl MWC #4 MAC #1/2/3/4 Boise State* 31 Central Michigan* 14
Cotton Bowl Dec. 31 Arlington, TX 3:30 ESPN CFP Semi-final CFP Semi-final Alabama (#1)** 28 Cincinnati (#4)** 21
Orange Bowl Dec. 31 Miami Gardens, FL 7:30 ESPN CFP Semi-final CFP Semi-final Michigan (#2)** 31 Georgia (#3)** 28
Outback Bowl Jan. 1 Tampa, FL 12:00 ESPN2 Big Ten SEC #2/3/4/5/6/7 Pennslyvania State* 27 Arkansas* 24
Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1 Glendale, AZ 1:00 ESPN CFP (At-large) CFP (At-large) Notre Dame** 21 Oklahoma State** 17
Citrus Bowl Jan. 1 Orlando, FL 1:00 ABC Big Ten SEC #1 Iowa** 17 Kentucky** 21
Rose Bowl Jan. 1 Pasadena, CA 5:00 ESPN CFP (Big Ten) CFP (Pac-12) Ohio State** 31 Utah** 17
Sugar Bowl Jan. 1 New Orleans, LA 8:45 ESPN CFP (Big 12) CFP (SEC) Baylor** 48 Mississippi** 49
Texas Bowl Jan. 4 Houston, TX 9:00 ESPN Big 12 #3 SEC #2/3/4/5/6/7 Kansas State** 31 Louisiana State* 13
CFP Championship Game Jan. 10 Indianapolis, IN 8:00 ESPN Cotton Bowl winner Orange Bowl winner Alabama 35 Georgia 24

Teams 6-6 or better that need at-large bids:

Overall: 20-18 (52.6%)
Scores: 7-74 (9.5%)

?=at-large because some conference couldn't fill its bids
* = Accepted invitation
** = Predicted correctly
A team in bold indicates that I predicted the winner correctly
A team in italics means that team won the game, but was not who I picked
A bold score means that I actually managed to pick the score correctly
1: Team meets one of the exception criteria, see the blurb about bylaw 18.7.2 below.

Old predictions
Past years: 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | Index

Conference  Teams Eligible Teams With Bids
ACC 14 10 10
Big Ten 14 9 10
Big 12 10 7 7
Pac-12 12 6 6
SEC 14 13 13
AAC 11 7 7
C-USA 14 8 8
MAC 12 8 8
MWC 12 7 8
Sun Belt 10 4 4
Indepedents 7 4 4
Totals 130 83 85

Above table reflects all teams that are currently bowl eligible as of when this page was last updated. 84 teams were needed to fill all available bids after the Frisco Football Classic was announced, allowing 6-7 Hawaii to become eligible. In addition, 5-7 Rutgers replaced Texas A&M in the Gator Bowl after bids were announced.

The introduction of the College Football Playoff in the 2014-2015 season changed a bunch of stuff. Below is a quick guide to the process and links to sources of information.

The College Football Playoff is a new system that includes a rotating set of six bowl games (the Peach, Cotton, Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange) plus a championship game. Each year, two of the games will host semi-final games, which will be seeded according to a committee. The winners of those games will meet in the championship game. The rotation of the games is as such for the semi-finals:
2014, 2017, 2020, 2023: Rose and Sugar
2015, 2018, 2021, 2024: Orange and Cotton
2016, 2019, 2022, 2025: Fiesta and Peach

When those games aren't hosting national semi-finals, they will be the home for conference champions and other teams not selected for the semi-finals. The default matchups are:
Rose: Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1
Sugar: SEC #1 vs. Big 12 #1
Orange: Highest-ranked ACC vs. the highest-ranked available team from the SEC, Big Ten, or Notre Dame
Cotton, Fiesta, and Peach: At-large selections or the "top team" from the Group of Five (which consists of the non-autobid conferences (the American, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, and Sun Belt). These bowls can also host the Big Ten or SEC champions if they are not in the playoff when the Rose or Sugar bowls are part of the playoff.

Other rules:
1. Notre Dame can only appear twice as an at-large
2. If the ACC faces a rematch in the Orange Bowl, then the Orange can select the highest ranked available opponent (according to the committee) and the spurned team is placed elsewhere in the framework.
3. If a conference's champion is selected for the play-off, then the next highest ranked team from that conference assumes the berth, except in the Big 12, where the conference runner-up gets it.

Future championship game sites:
2022: Los Angeles, CA
2023: Houston, TX
2024: Las Vegas, NV
2025: TBD

"ACC #1" means "the first ACC team after the CFP selection process", not "the ACC champion".

Overall eligibility: The 2016-2017 NCAA Division I Manual (warning, PDF) bylaw 18.7.2 governs Division I FBS football eligibility. The NCAA defines a "deserving team" as a team with an equal number of wins and losses, i.e, a record of 6-6 and better against FBS opponents. For the purposes of this record, a team is also allowed to count one FCS win as well. Note that it is no longer a requirement that all above .500 teams are selected before 6-6 teams. For 2013, the NCAA added what one might call the "UCLA and Georgia Tech" rule which basically boils down to: a) winning your conference title game makes you a "deserving team" and b) losing your title game does not affect your "deserving team" status.

In addition to deserving teams, bylaw 18.7.2 also spells out what will happen if there are not enough bowl eligible teams for the 40 bowl games. Note that these criteria apply in order, and a particular bowl game may use a team from this "pool" once every four years (effective 8/2012).
1. The "counting 1 FCS win" rule only applies if the FCS team in question uses 90% of available scholarships out of 63 (so 56.7 scholarships, as FCS allows partial scholarships), so the first criteria is that any FCS school counts for the 1-win.
2. Teams that finished 6-6 with two FCS wins. For 2021, there are no teams that meet this criterion.
3. Teams that finished 6-7 (this used to be the "UCLA rule" but conference championships can no longer make a team ineligible for a bowl).
5. Teams that are reclassifying to FBS and have a 6-6 record. There are no reclassifying teams for 2021.
6. Teams in the top 5 of the APR and with a 5-7 record. I don't have 2020-2021 data yet (and I'm not sure if there will be). For 2018-2019 data, the top five are: Washington, Mississippi, Northwestern, Air Force, and Clemson.

A new cycle began in 2020, which was of course immediately disrupted. Many of these changes are described here, and others are pieced together from various other sources.

The 2020-2025 ACC bowl agreements were announced in 2020 and pretty much abandon any sort of ranking criteria completely. The most important thing is that if the ACC's opponent in the Orange Bowl is from the Big Ten, it will also get a team in the Outback Bowl (I assume in place of the Big Ten).
The Big Ten selection process has its own page. The Citrus Bowl will pick an ACC team if the ACC faces a Big Ten team in the Orange Bowl (see below).
The Big 12 selection order.
For the Pac-12, I haven't been able to find an official source yet, but Jon Wilner is likely more reliable than the conference itself anyway. Note that the Pac-12 Championship Game loser won't make a repeat trip to Las Vegas for that bowl.
The SEC bowl selection order. Note that of the "pool of six", the Liberty is the first off if there's not enough teams.
The American bowl lineup. The American has 3 guarunteed slots for 2021 (Military, Hawaii, and Fenway), plus 4 slots in the Frisco, Cure, Boca Raton, Gasparilla, Birmingham, First Responder, or Myrtle Beach Bowls.
The Mountain West selection process is here.
I haven't been able to find an official source for the MAC. For now, I am using this. According to that source, the MAC will get 2 teams into the Cure, Myrtle Beach, New Mexico, Boca Raton, or Frisco Bowls.
The Sun Belt released their official bowl selection process here.
The Conference USA bowl agreements are here. Note that of the group just marked as "C-USA" the confernece will place 4-5 teams.
As far as independents other than Notre Dame go: this season, BYU is slotted into the Independence Bowl, Army can go to any ESPN bowl (likely the Armed Forces), and Liberty, New Mexico State, Connecticut, and Massachusetts do not have any tie-ins.

ESPN owns and operates the following bowls: Armed Forces Bowl, Birmingham Bowl, Bahamas Bowl, Boca Raton Bowl, Camellia Bowl, Potato Bowl, First Responder Bowl, Frisco Bowl, Gasparilla Bowl, Hawaii Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl, Myrtle Beach Bowl, New Mexico Bowl, and the Texas Bowl. Occasionally swaps occur for random reasons usually involving these games.

Schedule sources: Matt Sarz, conference media guides (see above), and individual bowl websites.