Bowl Streaks as of the 2024 season
First, I want to note that this not a judgement call on the way teams handled
the pandemic. It was probably not a great idea to play in 2020, but we did it
anyway. That said, I still find it interesting to track these streaks.
Completely uninterrupted streaks (at least five seasons):
- Georgia (28): 1997-98 Outback Bowl (beat Wisconsin 33-6)
- Oklahoma (26): 1999 Independence Bowl (lost to Mississippi 27-25)
- Alabama (24): 2001 Independence Bowl (beat Iowa State 14-13)
- Clemson (20): 2005 Champs Sports Bowl (beat Colorado 19-10)
- Ohio State (13): 2013-14 Orange Bowl (lost to Clemson 40-35)
- Notre Dame (8): 2017-18 Citrus Bowl (beat Louisiana State 27-17)
- Oregon (8): 2017 Las Vegas Bowl (lost 38-28 to Boise State)
- Louisiana (7): 2018 Cure Bowl (lost 41-24 to Tulane)
- Western Kentucky (6): 2019 First Responder Bowl (beat Western Michigan
23-20)
- North Carolina (6): 2019 Military Bowl (beat Temple 55-13)
- Texas-San Antonio (5): 2020 First Responder Bowl (lost to Louisiana
31-24)
Missed 2020 or 2021 but otherwise at least five seasons:
- Louisiana State would have a 25 game streak dating to a 28-14 win over
Georgia Tech in the 2000 Peach Bowl, but skipped 2020.
- Boise State would have a 26 game streak dating to the 1999 Humanitarian
Bowl, but skipped 2020 and the 2021 Arizona Bowl was canceled.
- Memphis would have an 11 game streak dating to the 2014 Miami Beach
Bowl, but the 2021 Hawaii Bowl was canceled.
- Iowa would have a 12 game streak dating to the 2013-14 Outback Bowl, but
they did not play in a bowl game in 2020.
- Pennsylvania State would have an 11 game streak dating to the 2014
Pinstripe Bowl, but they did not play in a bowl game in 2020.
- Utah would have an 11 game streak dating to the 2014 Royal Purple Bowl,
but they did not play in a bowl game in 2020.
- Miami (the Ohio one) have a six game streak dating to the 2019 Mobile
Alabama Bowl, but they did not play in a bowl game in 2020.
- North Carolina State would have a five game streak dating to the 2020
Gator Bowl, but the 2021 Holiday Bowl was canceled.
- Michigan would have a 10 game streak dating to the 2015-16 Citrus Bowl,
but they did not play in a bowl game in 2020.
Other oddities and notes:
- Marshall was set to play in the 2024 Independence Bowl against Army,
which would give them eight bowl games in a row. However, they withdrew due
to a lack of available players after letting their coach go and a
significant portion of the roster planning to transfer.
- Toledo would have a 15 game streak dating to 2010, but they were left
out in 2013 and 2019 and skipped 2020.
- Entering 2024, Wisconsin had a 28 game streak, but went 5-7 and missed a
bowl.
- Clemson went 6-5 in 2004 and didn't go a bowl. If they had, their streak
would date back to the 1999 Peach Bowl, a 17-7 loss to Mississippi State.
- Entering 2024, Oklahoma State had an 18 game streak, but they went 3-9
and missed a bowl.
- Ohio State had a bowl ban in 2012, otherwise they'd have a streak dating
back to 1999.
- Missouri went 6-6 in 2019 and didn't go to a bowl game due to a
postseason ban. They also did not play in a bowl in 2020.
I used
this now-archived site as the basis for this page.