The bulk of the college football postseason now has a time, date and network in a nice May surprise for those looking to plan ahead.
ESPN announced on Wednesday afternoon their slate of coverage options and dates for 35 bowl games the network will televise in 2018, from the Celebration Bowl all the way through the College Football Playoff. Most notable? The festivities of bowl season start on December 15th and there are, sadly, no Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve games. The College Football Playoff semifinals are slated for Dec. 29th as previously announced and title game is set for January 7th.
From the release, the full set of games controlled by ESPN are as follows:
| Date | Time (ET) | Game | Network |
| Sat, Dec. 15 | Noon | Celebration Bowl | ABC |
| 2 p.m. | Gildan New Mexico Bowl | ESPN | |
| 3:30 p.m. | Las Vegas Bowl | ABC | |
| 5:30 p.m. | Raycom Media Camellia Bowl | ESPN | |
| 9 p.m. | R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl | ESPN | |
| Tue, Dec. 18 | 7 p.m. | Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl | ESPN |
| Wed, Dec. 19 | 8 p.m. | Frisco Bowl | ESPN |
| Thu, Dec. 20 | 8 p.m. | Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl | ESPN |
| Fri, Dec. 21 | 12:30 p.m. | Bahamas Bowl | ESPN |
| 4 p.m. | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | ESPN | |
| Sat, Dec. 22 | Noon | Birmingham Bowl | ESPN |
| 3:30 p.m. | Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl | ESPN | |
| 7 p.m. | Dollar General Bowl | ESPN | |
| 10:30 p.m. | Hawai’i Bowl | ESPN | |
| Wed, Dec. 26 | 1:30 p.m. | Heart of Dallas Bowl | ESPN |
| 5:15 p.m. | Quick Lane Bowl | ESPN | |
| 9 p.m. | Cactus Bowl | ESPN | |
| Thu, Dec. 27 | 1:30 p.m. | Walk-On’s Independence Bowl | ESPN |
| 5:15 p.m. | New Era Pinstripe Bowl | ESPN | |
| 9 p.m. | Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl | ESPN | |
| Fri, Dec. 28 | 1:30 p.m. | Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl | ESPN |
| 5:15 p.m. | Camping World Bowl | ESPN | |
| 9 p.m. | Valero Alamo Bowl | ESPN | |
| Sat, Dec. 29 | Noon | Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl | ESPN |
| Noon | Belk Bowl | ABC | |
| 4 or 8 p.m. | College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl | ESPN | |
| 4 or 8 p.m. | College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic | ESPN | |
| Mon, Dec. 31 | Noon | Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman | ESPN |
| 3:45 p.m. | AutoZone Liberty Bowl | ESPN | |
| 7:30 p.m. | TaxSlayer Gator Bowl | ESPN | |
| Tue, Jan 1 | Noon | Outback Bowl | ESPN2 |
| 1 p.m. | Citrus Bowl | ABC | |
| 1 p.m. | PlayStation Fiesta Bowl | ESPN | |
| 5 p.m. | Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual | ESPN | |
| 8:30 p.m. | Allstate Sugar Bowl | ESPN | |
| Mon, Jan. 7 | 8 p.m. | College Football Playoff National Championship Presented By AT&T | ESPN |
Note that this does not include a handful of other bowl games which are on other networks, such as the Sun Bowl that typically airs New Year’s Eve on CBS or the Foster Farms Bowl on one of the Fox networks.
Still, the above list does cover the bulk of games on the slate in one of the most joyous times of the college football season.
