ESPN · Running

Orange Bowl

1935

Last aired: S1 E92, 2025 Orange Bowl: Oregon Ducks vs. No. 4 Texas Tech Red Raiders · 2026-01-01

The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. This bowl game is sponsored by Capital One and part of the College Football Playoff. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935 and celebrated its 75th playing on January 1, 2009. The Orange Bowl, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl (first played 1902, played annually since 1916). The Orange Bowl was a member of the now-defunct Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The Orange Bowl served as the BCS National Championship Game in 2001 and 2005. However, beginning with the 2006 season, the BCS National Championship Game became a stand-alone event, hosted by the local bowl organization about one week following the New Year's Day bowl games (including the Orange Bowl). Under that format the Orange Bowl Committee hosted two separate games in both 2009 (the 2009 Orange Bowl on January 1 and the 2009 BCS National Championship Game on January 8) and in 2013 (the 2013 Orange Bowl on January 1 and the 2013 BCS National Championship Game on January 7), all at Sun Life Stadium. The BCS ended after the 2013 season, being replaced by the current College Football Playoff. Since 2007, the Orange Bowl has been host to the Atlantic Coast Conference champion unless they are involved in the national championship game (whereas the #2 ACC team would take their place) and has used the brand Home of the ACC Champion. The 2013 match-up ended with the Florida State Seminoles, who won the ACC championship, defeating the MAC champion Northern Illinois Huskies. This was the first time a non-AQ team that had suffered a loss previously in the season made it to the Orange Bowl.