The Best Bowl Games


On a weekend of college football games, it is often quite overwhelming sifting through all of the matchups. If only there was a way of knowing which games were the most appealing in some objective way. If you ever have faced this conundrum, you’ve come to the right place! Using my power rankings of a given week, I have created a formula that calculates a “game score” for every matchup for the upcoming weekend, and ranks all of the games accordingly.

My formula is based off of two components: overall team quailty and team rankings similarities. Unsurprisingly, games featuring better teams will be scored better than games with weaker schools. However, the “closeness” of the teams is taken into account as well. Where the game is played is also taken into account (I would rather watch #5 at #20 than #20 at #5, for example).

Things that are NOT included are factors like the general reputation of the schools involved, the style of play that the teams use, and the past history of a given matchup. Certainly rivalry games are more fun regardless of the quality of the teams, but that is not considered here.

Bowl Games


Rank Away   Home Score
1 3 Georgia VS 2 Oklahoma 3.51
2 4 Auburn VS 1 Clemson 4.42
3 7 Wisconsin VS 8 Miami 6.96
4 6 Ohio State VS 10 USC 8.31
5 11 UCF VS 4 Auburn 9.12
6 14 Washington VS 12 Penn State 10.34
7 13 Stanford VS 15 TCU 10.85
8 17 Washington St VS 16 Michigan State 11.8
9 19 Virginia Tech VS 18 OK State 12.76
10 9 Notre Dame VS 22 LSU 14.98
11 30 Louisville VS 23 Mississippi St 17.87
12 28 Michigan VS 32 South Carolina 18.5
13 24 NC State VS 33 Arizona St 19.22
14 37 Wake Forest VS 38 Texas AM 20.73
15 25 Iowa VS 38 Boston College 21.45
16 41 Kansas State VS 42 UCLA 22.23
17 38 Iowa State AT 21 Memphis 22.81
18 46 Utah VS 34 West Virginia 24.3
19 26 San Diego St VS 45 Army 24.5
20 27 Boise State VS 48 Oregon 25.73
21 50 Arizona VS 53 Purdue 26.22
22 53 Texas Tech VS 29 S Florida 27.7
23 58 Virginia VS 52 Navy 28.07
24 44 Texas VS 57 Missouri 28.17
25 36 Fresno St VS 56 Houston 28.37
26 51 Duke VS 61 N Illinois 29.3
27 62 N Texas VS 31 Troy 31.26
28 35 Toledo VS 66 App State 32.53
29 63 Kentucky VS 20 Northwestern 32.68
30 73 Southern Miss VS 42 Florida State 34.71
31 80 UAB VS 72 Ohio 35.19
32 73 C Michigan VS 81 Wyoming 35.49
33 82 Marshall VS 70 Colorado St 36.02
34 83 Temple VS 71 FIU 36.33
35 92 N Mexico St VS 91 Utah State 38.49
36 85 Akron VS 35 Toledo 39.94
37 98 W Kentucky VS 94 Georgia St 40.32
38 85 Akron AT 49 FAU 40.74
39 95 Louisiana Tech VS 55 SMU 41.92
40 99 Mid Tennessee VS 69 Arkansas St 42.25