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Pac-12 Football: Changes are coming to the conference’s bowl lineup

By Mike Regalado

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - SEPTEMBER 10: This is the Pac12 logo in Rice Eccles Stadium before the Utah Utes and Brigham Young Cougars college football game on September 10, 2016 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - SEPTEMBER 10: This is the Pac12 logo in Rice Eccles Stadium before the Utah Utes and Brigham Young Cougars college football game on September 10, 2016 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images) /
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Pac-12 football is about to get a change to their conference bowl alignments as they will be dropping the Cheez-It Bowl for the Independence and Los Angeles Bowls.

David Bowie said it best, “Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. Turn and face the strange.” That is what Pac-12 football is facing as they will be realigning their postseason bowl affiliations.

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There is going to be a lot of strange shuffling starting in 2020 as the Power 5 conferences will be dropping and adding new bowl games. With 2019 being the last year in the six-year bowl cycle, conferences will be realigning themselves with new postseason games.

According to WatchStadium.com, conferences will link themselves with a few new bowl games in the new six-year cycle. But with conferences dropping specific tie-ins, this has left other conferences to fill in the gaps.

For fans of Pac-12 football, that means the addition of two new bowls, new opponents in two current bowl games and dropping a connection to a previous bowl tie-in.

Proposed Pac-12 Football Bowl Tie-Ins, 2020-25

  • Rose Bowl vs. the Big Ten
  • Alamo Bowl vs. the Big 12
  • Las Vegas Bowl vs. the SEC or Big Ten
  • Los Angeles Bowl vs. the Moutain West
  • Holiday Bowl vs. the ACC
  • Redbox Bowl vs. the Big Ten
  • Sun Bowl vs. the ACC
  • Independence Bowl vs. the ACC

Though it has not been announced what the tier structure will be, from 2020-2025 the teams of the Pac-12 will have a chance to compete in eight bowl games.

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The additions to the tie-ins include the Los Angeles Bowl and the Independence Bowl. With the new Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park set to open in Inglewood, CA (just outside Los Angeles) next year, west coast college football will be staying on the west coast as the Pac-12 and Mountain West will be doing battle in this brand new bowl game. Since this will be a lower-tiered bowl, we could expect this to be a mid-December game.

The Pac-12 also picks up the Independence Bowl (Shreveport, LA) against the ACC. The bowl was previously tied to the SEC who had dropped it for bids in the Las Vegas Bowl and Belk Bowl.

Speaking of Las Vegas Bowl, Pac-12 football will still be tied to this game, although they lose the Mountain West as an opponent and now face either an SEC or Big Ten team. This keeps a bowl matchup with the Big Ten intact as the midwest conference will drop the Holiday Bowl from their postseason slate. Instead, the ACC swoops in once again, making this the third bowl tie-in the Pac-12 will have with the east coast conference.

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Finally, the Pac-12 is expected to drop the lower tiered Cheez-It Bowl (Phoenix, AZ) as it will be the new battleground for the Big Ten and the Big 12 Conferences.