College Football Playoff Announces Dates, Times, Full Schedule for 2025-26 Bowl Games

The quarterfinals for next year's College Football Playoff will kick off with the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31.

The CFP announced the full schedule for the final three rounds. Hard Rock Stadium in Miami will host the title game on Jan. 19.

The biggest news from Tuesday is that the Rose Bowl got moved up one hour from its usual start time of 5 p.m. ET.

Beyond coveting a New Year's Day slot, officials for the event prioritized a specific kickoff time so that sunset in Pasadena, California, closely aligns with the break in between the third and fourth quarters.

Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate. More often than not, though, the Rose Bowl delivers some of the most striking visuals in college football.

A 5 p.m. start wasn't great for television partners and fans attending the last of the four quarterfinals. Before it was rescheduled, the Sugar Bowl was originally slated to get underway at 8:45 p.m. Nobody wants a major bowl game going much past midnight on the East Coast.

"All three bowls shifting their start times allows us to place each game in an ideal window on New Year's Day and provide the optimal viewing experience," CFP executive director Rich Clark said. "New Year's Day and college football are synonymous with each other, and these changes only strengthen that relationship."

A lot of college football comes down to celebrating small traditions that would be silly in a different context. The Rose Bowl sunset certainly falls into that category.

For "The Granddaddy of Them All" to remain part of the playoff structure, some give and take was required in this case.