Other, non-playoff bowl games that caught my eye. All takes on the quality of games subject to change, depending on how many players from each team opt out:
• Tulane vs. Florida, Gasparilla Bowl — A good G5 team against a mid-level SEC team that was playing well at the end of the year. Could be a good one.
• BYU vs. Colorado, Alamo Bowl — Two upper-tier Big 12 teams that somehow missed each other all season. This looked like it could be the Big 12 championship game for a hot minute in November. Probably the best non-playoff bowl game on the schedule if all of the players show up, which is a distinction the Alamo Bowl has seemed to grab from the Holiday Bowl over the past few years. This is the ninth time in 12 years it's paired up two ranked teams, and is one of only three non-playoff games this year that does so.
• Georgia Tech vs. Vanderbilt, Birmingham Bowl — Like
@Neutral Corner said, it should be fun atmosphere with two "happy to be there" teams both within easy driving distance.
• Miami vs. Iowa State, Pop-Tarts Bowl — The "We were thisclose to the Playoff" bowl. Killing and eating an anthropomorphic Pop-Tart to celebrate their victory might be good therapy.
• East Carolina vs. North Carolina State, Military Bowl — Doesn't East Carolina have a huge little brother complex with the other North Carolina schools? This is a pretty regular series, so it ought to have some sort of rivalry feel that you don't often get in these games.
• Missouri vs. Iowa, Music City Bowl — Missouri played five games this season that were decided in the final two minutes or overtime, and also lost two by a combined 75 points. We don't often see a year stranger than that, so let's enjoy one last moment of 2024 Missouri football.
Also, the Music City Bowl is now sponsored by some translation service called TransPerfect. It was previously sponsored by the Gaylord hotel chain. Is the Music City Bowl very subtly trolling SEC football fans by partnering with sponsors who sound vaguely like LGBTQ advocacy groups? The game is on Dec. 30. I'll give -600 odds that some ill-informed right-wing talk show host filling in for one of the big names makes this a segment on Dec. 26 or 27.
• Alabama vs. Michigan, ReliaQuest Bowl — Just for the LOLz of seeing Alabama slum it at 11 a.m. on New Year's Eve in Tampa with what might be a JV roster, while they're still complaining about being left out of the Playoff despite running the non-conference gauntlet of Western Kentucky, South Florida, Wisconsin and Mercer.
• Baylor vs. LSU, Texas Bowl — Dave Aranda plays LSU for the first time since he left to become Baylor's coach. First meeting since 1985, in a series that dates back to 1907. LSU wearing purple jerseys as the home team. The last time LSU was in the Texas Bowl, it had about 17 players on the roster. Lots of fun, goofy notes for the announcers to dish out if this devolves into a 42-10 blowout.
• North Texas vs. Texas State, First Responders Bowl — Wasn't this the finale of "Necessary Roughness"?
• Liberty vs. Buffalo, Bahamas Bowl — The final "normal" bowl game on the schedule deserves better than to be in another country, at 11 a.m. on a Tuesday, with two teams who might have escaped the ESPN+ zone a combined four times this season.
