Football New Year’s Day TV Schedule: What NFL & Bowl Games Are on Today?

Getty Georgia QB Jake Fromm and the Bulldogs take on Baylor in the Sugar Bowl.

New Year’s Day is full of college football bowl games, but there are no NFL contests until the playoffs begin on Saturday, January 4. There are plenty of marquee college football matchups including the Rose and Sugar Bowls.

Wisconsin takes on Oregon in the Rose Bowl with kickoff slated for 5 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Oregon is coming off a Pac-12 title victory where they upset Utah to secure a Rose Bowl trip. Wisconsin hung with Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship, but the Buckeyes were able to notch a comeback victory.

Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert will be playing his final college game before heading to the NFL. Herbert had an opportunity to enter the 2019 NFL draft, but opted to return to Oregon for his senior season. The Ducks quarterback noted that he is still pleased with his decision.

“This is everything that I ever hoped for,” Herbert told Yahoo Sports. “This is the experience that we wanted when a lot of us decided to come back, and this is the potential that I knew our team had. It’s just been so much fun, and it’s been such a great year, and it’s exactly the reason why I came back.”

Georgia Takes on Baylor in the Sugar Bowl

The Sugar Bowl is an interesting matchup as both Georgia and Baylor were in contention to make the College Football Playoff heading into their conference title game. Georgia needed a win against LSU in the SEC Championship, while Baylor was looking for a victory over Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart emphasized that the Bulldogs are motivated to play in the Sugar Bowl despite having their eyes on the College Football Playoff.

“It’s really not hard,” Smart said, per 247 Sports. “There’s only four teams that can be in the playoffs. If you don’t earn the right to get in there, then you deal with the cards you’ve dealt. We’re in a pretty good situation when you look at it and say you could win 11, 12 games every year, have an opportunity to play in a New Year’s Six bowl game every year, you’re doing something right. And our kids recognize that. That doesn’t take away from the disappointment of not making the playoff. But you can’t whine and cry over that, not for very long.”

Here is a look at the New Year’s Day bowl schedule as well as the NFL playoff slate for this weekend.

New Year’s Day: College Football TV Schedule

NFL Playoff Schedule 2019-20