Longtime college football fans remember it was not too long ago that the Rose Bowl was the signature game of the postseason.
Nicknamed “The Granddaddy of Them All” by legendary college football broadcaster Keith Jackson, the Rose Bowl, played in Pasadena, Calif., traditionally started at 5 p.m. (EST) on New Year’s Day.
Times change.
The 12-team College Football Playoff is here, and it was announced Tuesday that three major bowl games, the Rose Bowl, the Orange Bowl and the Cotton Bowl, will have adjusted starting times as part of the CFP quarterfinal round slate.
Two of those games will be on Jan. 1 and televised by ESPN. The Orange Bowl, traditionally a night game, will start at noon, followed by the Rose Bowl at 4 p.m. and the Sugar Bowl at 8 p.m.
The other quarterfinal, the Cotton Bowl, will be a 7:30 p.m. start on New Year’s Eve on ESPN.
ESPN will televise all the quarterfinal and semifinal games, as well as the national championship contest.
“This New Year’s Day schedule adjustment is the result of a thoughtful collaboration between the CFP, ESPN, the Capital One Orange Bowl, the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential, and the Allstate Sugar Bowl,” Rich Clark, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, said in a statement released on Tuesday.
“All three bowls shifting their start times allows us to place each game in an ideal window on New Year’s Day and provide the optimal viewing experience. New Year’s Day and college football are synonymous with each other, and these changes only strengthen that relationship.”
James Franklin’s Penn State team lost 27-24 to Notre Dame in a college playoff semifinal played at the Orange Bowl in Miami on Jan. 9. The contest kicked off in prime time.
