2016 NCAA Football Bowl Game Matchups

After an agonizing four-hour wait thanks to ESPN milking the College Football Playoff selections and the New Year’s Six Bowls, we finally have all 40 bowl matchups.

Thoughts on the Underdog bowl matchups

• Western Michigan makes the MAC the third G5 conference in as many years to send a team to the New Year’s Six. Western Michigan has already beaten two Big Ten schools (Illinois and Northwestern) and will go for the Big Ten West crown against Wisconsin.
• UTSA will travel to the New Mexico Bowl for their first ever bowl game. They’ll have an opportunity to snap a 1-1 series tie against the 8-4 New Mexico Lobos.
• While Houston’s New Year’s bowl hopes didn’t materialize, fans will love their match up against a tough San Diego State squad in Las Vegas.
• In what should be a high-scoring affair, Appalachian State will face Toledo in the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl.
• Sun Belt co-champs Arkansas State will travel to Orlando to face UCF in the Cure Bowl. Tough draw to face UCF in Orlando but this could give the Red Wolves some valuable recruiting exposure to Florida athletes.
• This year’s New Orleans Bowl will feature two regional opponents with traveling fan bases. The Ragin’ Cajuns will travel to NOLA for the fifth time in six years to face Southern Miss in what should be a rocking Superdome.
• Tulsa will bring their high octane offense to the Sunshine State as the Golden Hurricanes will face Central Michigan in the Miami Beach Bowl.
• It’s a bit of a bummer that C-USA champions Western Kentucky won’t play a P5 opponent but they secured their top bowl pick as they will travel to Boca Raton to face Memphis. This should be a fantastic game on December 20th as both of these offenses are some of the best in the nation.
• Idaho will enjoy home field advantage as they’ll be staying home for this year’s Potato Bowl against Colorado State. While it’s a disappointment that Boise State didn’t end up facing the Vandals, Idaho should match up well with CSU.
• Old Dominion kind of got the shaft for their first bowl game in my opinion. Not only will fans have to scramble to figure out travel to the Bahamas Bowl but they’ll also be playing Eastern Michigan for the third time in three years.
• I love this match up for Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs will have a short trip to Dallas for the Armed Forces Bowl where they’ll face Navy in a highly winnable game against a top 25 opponent.
• Troy will face Ohio in the Dollar General Bowl, which I promise is a real thing. Disappointing pairing but this should be a win for the Trojans.
• Aloha Hawai’i! The MTSU Blue Raiders will face the Rainbow Warriors on their home turf on Christmas Eve. If the Blue Raiders can stay focus it should be a nice post-season victory for Coach Stockstill.
• In the biggest finesse move of the bowl season, UNT will stay in the Metroplex for the Heart of Dallas Bowl against Army. While the Mean Green have already beaten Army once this year it’s tough to complain since UNT only had five wins on the season.
• South Florida will face South Carolina in a Birmingham Bowl, giving the Bulls a great opportunity to claim a key victory over a Power Five program.
• South Alabama will travel to the Arizona Bowl to face Air Force to cap off a roller coaster season. Only downside is that the Arizona Bowl is not nationally-broadcast.
• Temple won’t have to travel far for their bowl game this year as the Owls will face Wake Forest in the Military Bowl.