Most Watchable College Football Bowl and Playoff Games

By Christopher Boan

Dec 18th, 2025 4:29 PM EST

Oklahoma and Alabama met in the regular season, with the Sooners winning 23-21 in Tuscaloosa. (Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images)

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Bookies.com created this Bowl Watchability Index as the College Football Playoff approaches.

We developed a ranking system that factors in all college football bowl and playoff games for the 2025-26 season. Using data from FanDuel Sportsbook and Sport-Reference.com, our scoring system factors in win disparity, point spread, whether the game is on during prime time or a national network slot, if there is a major storyline in addition to the game itself, and if the game has potential for extreme weather or an impactful crowd.

Most Watchable College Football Bowl & Playoff Games

This list is exclusive to Bookies.com, where you can find real money sportsbook promo codes all year.

What Are The Most Watchable College Football Bowl Games of 2025?

Unsurprisingly, the top bowl games by our metrics were the two College Football Playoff first-round contests on the schedule. Year Two of the 12-team CFP features Oklahoma hosting Alabama (44.5 score) and Miami visiting Texas A&M (42.5 score).

The rematch between SEC rivals Alabama and Oklahoma kick off at 8 p.m. Eastern on Friday; then at noon Saturday, the Hurricanes and Aggies square off. They both are expected to be back-and-forth affairs; oddsmakers from DraftKings Sportsbook listing the Sooners as 1.5-point favorites and another SEC team, A&M, is a 3.5-point favorite over UM.

The other two first-round games (Tulane at Ole Miss at 3:30 Saturday and James Madison at Oregon at 7) did not make our top 15, partly because of wide point spreads. As of Dec. 18, FanDuel has the Rebels (-17.5) and Ducks (-21) as sizable favorites in those contests.

Which Non-CFP Games Made the Cut?

While the latter two CFP games didn’t make our list, other traditional bowl games might be intriguing for college football betting.

The Pop-Tarts Bowl between BYU and Georgia Tech (3:30 p.m. Dec. 27, Orlando) got a 40.5 score by our metrics, good for the No. 3 spot on our list. That was followed by the Sun Bowl between Arizona State and Duke (40.0 score), then the Citrus Bowl matchup between Michigan and Texas (39.5).

What’ll be interesting for the matchup in Orlando between the 12th ranked Cougars and No. 22 ranked Yellow Jackets is the contrasting styles. Georgia Tech uses a ground-and-pound offense powered by quarterback Haynes King (the team’s leading passer and rusher), while BYU operates more of a “run and shoot” style at a fast tempo.

The Cougars feature a 2,500-yard passer (Bear Bachmeier) and a 1,300-yard rusher (LJ Martin), part of the reason that bet365 Sportsbook lists BYU as a 5-point favorite.

The Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas (2 p.m. Dec. 31) pits teams with disparate fortunes. The Duke Blue Devils enter as ACC champions while the ASU Sun Devils are still licking their wounds from the 23-7 home rout that in-state rival Arizona handed them on Nov. 28.

Finally, the Citrus Bowl clash in Orlando (3 p.m. Dec. 31) between Michigan and Texas is a rematch of the 2005 Rose Bowl and a regular-season game last season, both won by the Longhorns. This one pits a Wolverines team without a coach against one that started the year ranked No. 1 overall before floundering their way through the season.

Duke (-1.5) and Texas (-7.5) have the wagering edge in their respective contests with Caesars Sportsbook.

The rest of our list includes contests with Power 4 teams facing Group of 5 squads.

Tonight’s Xbox Bowl between Arkansas State and Missouri State (38.5 score) ranks sixth overall on our list, followed by the Hawai’i Bowl between California and Hawai’i (37.5 score), Pinstripe Bowl with Clemson facing Penn State (35.75), Military Bowl featuring Pitt vs. East Carolina (35.5) and the Frisco Bowl as UNLV takes on Ohio (34.5) rounding out the watchability top 10.

Top sports betting apps will offer a wide array of wagers on all of these games and more. Keep in mind that our chart measures games not including the CFP quarterfinals. No. 1 CFP seed Indiana (Rose Bowl), No. 2 Ohio State (Cotton Bowl) No. 3 Georgia (Sugar Bowl) and No. 4 Texas Tech (Orange Bowl) will find out this weekend who they will face in those quarterfinal games.

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Bowl Watchability Index Q&A

Q: Which college football bowl games are expected to be the most entertaining this postseason?

A: According to Bookies.com Watchability Index (BWI) rankings, the most entertaining games this postseason are led by the College Football Playoff first-round matchup between Oklahoma and Alabama, which ranks No. 1 with a BWI score of 44.5. Other highly watchable games include Texas A&M vs. Miami (FL) in the CFP first round and the Pop-Tarts Bowl featuring BYU vs. Georgia Tech, both projecting strong competitiveness and national interest.

Q: Why do College Football Playoff first-round games rank higher than traditional bowl games?

A: College Football Playoff first-round games dominate the watchability rankings because they combine elite teams, championship stakes and national fan interest. For example, two CFP matchups this weekend rank in the top two spots, outperforming traditional bowls such as the Citrus Bowl or Sun Bowl. High BWI scores reflect closer spreads, stronger brand recognition, and greater implications for the national title race. Keep in mind that we did not measure the Rose, Sugar, Cotton and Orange bowls because we don’t have matchups determined yet for those four CFP quarterfinal games.

Q: Are there any underrated bowl games fans shouldn’t overlook?

A: Yes, several non-Playoff bowls offer strong watchability while flying under the CFP radar. The Sun Bowl (Arizona State vs. Duke) and Citrus Bowl (Texas vs. Michigan) both rank inside the top five, while matchups like the Pinstripe Bowl (Clemson vs. Penn State) and Texas Bowl (LSU vs. Houston) promise competitive action. These games often feature motivated teams, intriguing matchups, and high entertainment value beyond the playoff spotlight.

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