When was the first college football bowl game

The Gator Bowl has since grown into one of the most popular non-championship bowl games. Curtis Sanford came up with the idea of a Texas bowl game and decided to finance the game himself.

Until , the Cotton Bowl Classic was played at its namesake stadium in Dallas, the Cotton Bowl, which first opened in The first Sun Bowl — which was also played on January 1, like the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl — was held as a fundraising event for an El Paso service club and was played between high school teams.

The following year, the Sun Bowl became a college bowl game. The Sun Bowl is the oldest postseason bowl game and is not played as a championship. For the next few years, Digby tried to garner support and finally in , New Orleans was ready to host the first Sugar Bowl. Since then, the Sugar Bowl has been held annually in New Orleans except for in when the game had to be moved to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia because of the extensive damage of Hurricane Katrina.

All three of these bowl games were first played on January 1, and are still around today. Technically, the Orange Bowl has been around since , but the first few games known as the Festival of Palms Bowl, are not recognized as official bowl games by the NCAA because one team was guaranteed a spot in the game regardless of record.

Aside from kicking, players were allowed to bat the ball with their hands, feet, heads and sides. Carrying or throwing the ball was not permitted.

Never forget your roots! Where did this historic game take place? As the college football season nears its end, talk of what teams will play in what bowl game has started. But where did the bowl games start? In , the Tournament of Roses Association sponsored the East-West football game pitting teams from opposite ends of the country in an end of season event.

The first game was played by Michigan and Stanford, a game that Michigan won, Beginning in , the game was played annually and was renamed the Rose Bowl in when the newly finished Rose Bowl stadium became the host. Other cities throughout the country began to see the promotional value of such games, promoting tourism and industry in their areas. Traditionally, bowl games were played in warm climates such as those in Southern California, Texas, Florida, and Louisiana.

When the bowls originated, commercial air travel was non-existent so enough time had to be given for fans and family to travel to the games.

Ohio State vs Clemson Fiesta Bowl. At the time, there were only eight games. Georgia winning its crown Monday didn't happen by accident. There's one thing Kirby Smart learned coaching under Saban that was more important than any schematic advantage: The most brilliant coach on the planet can't win a national title with good players.

You need great ones. That's why recruiting has been a priority at Georgia since Smart took over. He's never hauled in a group ranked lower than fourth in the five classes since. The depth of the Dawgs' talent was evident throughout the night as Georgia's defense flew all over the field and stopped an Alabama offense few teams could even slow.