Eleven 2025-26 college football bowl games and four playoff matchup are in the books, but some bowl confidence pools remain open for entries or modifications as there are around 30 matchups remaining to make college football bowl picks on before the curtain closes on this season. The biggest remaining college football spread has Utah as a 15.5-point favorite over Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 31 as Kyle Whittingham will coach his final game for the Utes. While putting faith in big favorites is a part of just about everyone’s college football bowl confidence strategy, correctly predicting a couple upsets can give you a big edge in any football pools.
Anticipated matchups outside of the CFP include Penn State vs. Clemson (-3), Vanderbilt (-5.5) vs. Iowa, Georgia Tech vs. BYU (-4), Tennessee vs. Illinois (+2.5) and Michigan vs. Texas (-7.5). Before making any college football predictions for bowl season, be sure to see the latest college football bowl confidence picks from SportsLine’s proven model.
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The model simulates every FBS game 10,000 times, and it is 31-19 on its top-rated college football money-line picks since the beginning of the 2024 season.
Now, it has turned its attention to the latest college football odds and 2025-26 bowl season college football betting for confidence pools. Head here to see every pick.
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Top 2025-26 college football bowl confidence picks
One of the model’s most confident picks is that No. 16 USC (-6.5), who will have quarterback Jayden Maiava, gets a comfortable win over TCU in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 30. USC went 9-3 in the regular season, with all three defeats coming versus ranked teams. TCU found itself in the Top 25 once — back in September — before having a pedestrian run through the Big 12 schedule, finishing 5-4. Even with the Horned Frogs playing in the easier conference than the Trojans, USC both averaged more points and allowed fewer points per game. USC sports a 32-9 (78%) straight-up record when favored since Lincoln Riley came aboard in 2022, as it is projected to easily take care of business in San Antonio. SportsLine’s model has the Trojans prevailing 70% of the time. See all of the model’s college football bowl confidence picks here.
Another one of the bowl confidence predictions the model is high on: Northwestern (-10.5) handles Central Michigan in the GameAbove Sports Bowl on Dec. 26. Central Michigan struggled mightily against Power 4 opponents this year, losing 63-3 to Michigan and 45-17 to Pittsburgh. Northwestern went just 6-6 this year, but that was largely thanks to a very tough Big Ten schedule that included Oregon, Michigan, USC and Illinois. For comparison, Northwestern lost to Michigan by two points on a last-second field goal. The model has Northwestern winning nearly 80% of the time, making the Wildcats the clear side to back. See the rest of the college football bowl confidence predictions here.
How to make college football bowl confidence picks
The model has also made the call on who wins every other bowl game. There are several teams that win at least 70% of the time, so you need to go big on those matchups, as well as plenty of underdogs that win outright. You can get all the model’s picks at SportsLine.
So who wins every college football bowl game, and which matchups should you assign the most confidence points to? Check out the college football bowl schedule below, then visit SportsLine to see which teams to pick, all from a proven computer model that has simulated each bowl game 10,000 times, and find out.
College football bowl schedule
See every college football bowl game pick here
Friday, Dec. 26
GameAbove Sports Bowl: Central Michigan vs. Northwestern, 1 p.m. ET
Rate Bowl: New Mexico vs. Minnesota, 4:30 p.m. ET
First Responder Bowl: FIU vs. UTSA, 8 p.m. ET
Saturday, Dec. 27
Military Bowl: Pitt vs. East Carolina, 11 a.m. ET
Pinstripe Bowl: Penn State vs. Clemson, noon ET
Fenway Bowl: UConn vs. Army, 2:15 p.m. ET
Pop-Tarts Bowl: Georgia Tech vs. BYU, 3:30 p.m. ET
Arizona Bowl: Miami (OH) vs. Fresno State, 4:30 p.m. ET
New Mexico Bowl: North Texas vs. San Diego State, 5:45 p.m. ET
Gator Bowl: Virginia vs. Missouri, 7:30 p.m. ET
Texas Bowl: LSU vs. Houston, 9:15 p.m. ET
Monday, Dec. 29
Birmingham Bowl: Georgia Southern vs. App. State, 2 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Dec. 30
Independence Bowl: Coastal Carolina vs. Louisiana Tech, 2 p.m. ET
Music City Bowl: Tennessee vs. Illinois, 5:30 p.m. ET
Alamo Bowl: USC vs. TCU, 9 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Dec. 31
ReliaQuest Bowl: Iowa vs. Vanderbilt, noon ET
Sun Bowl: Arizona State vs. Duke, 2 p.m. ET
Citrus Bowl: Michigan vs. Texas, 3 p.m. ET
Las Vegas Bowl: Nebraska vs. Utah, 3:30 p.m. ET
CFP quarterfinals/Cotton Bowl: Miami vs. Ohio State, 7:30 p.m. ET
Thursday, Jan. 1
CFP quarterfinals/Orange Bowl: Texas Tech vs. Oregon, noon ET
CFP quarterfinals/Rose Bowl: Alabama vs. Indiana, 4 p.m. ET
CFP quarterfinals/Sugar bowl: Ole Miss vs. Georgia, 8 p.m. ET
Friday, Jan. 2
Armed Forces Bowl: Rice vs. Texas State, 1 p.m. ET
Liberty Bowl: Navy vs. Cincinnati, 4:30 p.m. ET
Holiday Bowl: Arizona vs. SMU, 8 p.m. ET
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: Wake Forest vs. Mississippi State, 8 p.m. ET
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