Orange Bowl

Orange Bowl, American college postseason football game played on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day in Miami. It is one of six bowls that take turns hosting the semifinals of the College Football Playoff that determines the national champion of Division I college football (the others are the Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Sugar Bowl).

(Read Walter Camp’s 1903 Britannica essay on inventing American football.)

The bowl game was first played in 1933 to attract winter tourists to Florida a month before their usual arrival. Embraced by local businessmen, it also benefited the struggling young University of Miami, which played in the early games; by 1936, however, the team’s participation was no longer automatic. Thereafter, at least one of the participating teams came from the South, until the mid-1950s, when the bowl was opened to high-ranking teams nationwide. The champion of the Big 8 Conference (now the Big 12) was one of the participants in 38 of the 42 games from 1954 through 1995. In 1998 the Orange Bowl joined the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), and in 2014 it became part of the College Football Playoff semifinal rotation. Now the game has a tie-in with the Atlantic Coast Conference and generally features its champion unless the team or the bowl is participating in a national championship semifinal.

The event was originally called the Palm Festival, but its present name was adopted in 1935. The game was moved in 1938 to the newly constructed Orange Bowl stadium, where it remained until it relocated to Joe Robbie Stadium (now called Sun Life Stadium) in 1995. The Orange Bowl Festival features, in addition to the football game, a parade, a tennis tournament, a basketball tournament, a fireworks display, and a sailboat regatta.

A list of Orange Bowl results is provided in the table.

Orange Bowl1
season result
1Part of Bowl Championship Series (BCS) from 1998–99 until 2013–14; part of College Football Playoff (CFP) from 2014–15.
2The first two games were part of the Miami Palm Festival.
3BCS national championship game.
4CFP semifinal.
1932–332 Miami (Fla.) 7 Manhattan 0
1933–342 Duquesne 33 Miami (Fla.) 7
1934–35 Bucknell 26 Miami (Fla.) 0
1935–36 Catholic 20 Mississippi 19
1936–37 Duquesne 13 Mississippi State 12
1937–38 Auburn 6 Michigan State 0
1938–39 Tennessee 17 Oklahoma 0
1939–40 Georgia Tech 21 Missouri 7
1940–41 Mississippi State 14 Georgetown 7
1941–42 Georgia 40 Texas Christian 26
1942–43 Alabama 37 Boston College 21
1943–44 Louisiana State 19 Texas A&M 14
1944–45 Tulsa 26 Georgia Tech 12
1945–46 Miami (Fla.) 13 Holy Cross 6
1946–47 Rice 8 Tennessee 0
1947–48 Georgia Tech 20 Kansas 14
1948–49 Texas 41 Georgia 28
1949–50 Santa Clara 21 Kentucky 13
1950–51 Clemson 15 Miami (Fla.) 14
1951–52 Georgia Tech 17 Baylor 14
1952–53 Alabama 61 Syracuse 6
1953–54 Oklahoma 7 Maryland 0
1954–55 Duke 34 Nebraska 7
1955–56 Oklahoma 20 Maryland 6
1956–57 Colorado 27 Clemson 21
1957–58 Oklahoma 48 Duke 21
1958–59 Oklahoma 21 Syracuse 6
1959–60 Georgia 14 Missouri 0
1960–61 Missouri 21 Navy 14
1961–62 Louisiana State 25 Colorado 7
1962–63 Alabama 17 Oklahoma 0
1963–64 Nebraska 13 Auburn 7
1964–65 Texas 21 Alabama 17
1965–66 Alabama 39 Nebraska 28
1966–67 Florida 27 Georgia Tech 12
1967–68 Oklahoma 26 Tennessee 24
1968–69 Penn State 15 Kansas 14
1969–70 Penn State 10 Missouri 3
1970–71 Nebraska 17 Louisiana State 12
1971–72 Nebraska 38 Alabama 6
1972–73 Nebraska 40 Notre Dame 6
1973–74 Penn State 16 Louisiana State 9
1974–75 Notre Dame 13 Alabama 11
1975–76 Oklahoma 14 Michigan 6
1976–77 Ohio State 27 Colorado 10
1977–78 Arkansas 31 Oklahoma 6
1978–79 Oklahoma 31 Nebraska 24
1979–80 Oklahoma 24 Florida State 7
1980–81 Oklahoma 18 Florida State 17
1981–82 Clemson 22 Nebraska 15
1982–83 Nebraska 21 Louisiana State 20
1983–84 Miami (Fla.) 31 Nebraska 30
1984–85 Washington 28 Oklahoma 17
1985–86 Oklahoma 25 Penn State 10
1986–87 Oklahoma 42 Arkansas 8
1987–88 Miami (Fla.) 20 Oklahoma 14
1988–89 Miami (Fla.) 23 Nebraska 3
1989–90 Notre Dame 21 Colorado 6
1990–91 Colorado 10 Notre Dame 9
1991–92 Miami (Fla.) 22 Nebraska 0
1992–93 Florida State 27 Nebraska 14
1993–94 Florida State 18 Nebraska 16
1994–95 Nebraska 24 Miami (Fla.) 17
1995–96 Florida State 31 Notre Dame 26
1996–97 Nebraska 41 Virginia Tech 21
1997–98 Nebraska 42 Tennessee 17
1998–99 Florida 31 Syracuse 10
1999–2000 Michigan 35 Alabama 34
2000–013 Oklahoma 13 Florida State 2
2001–02 Florida 56 Maryland 23
2002–03 Southern California 38 Iowa 17
2003–04 Miami (Fla.) 16 Florida State 14
2004–053 Southern California 55 Oklahoma 19
2005–06 Penn State 26 Florida State 23
2006–07 Louisville 24 Wake Forest 13
2007–08 Kansas 24 Virginia Tech 21
2008–09 Virginia Tech 20 Cincinnati 7
2009–10 Iowa 24 Georgia Tech 14
2010–11 Stanford 40 Virginia Tech 12
2011–12 West Virginia 70 Clemson 33
2012–13 Florida State 31 Northern Illinois 10
2013–14 Clemson 40 Ohio State 35
2014–15 Georgia Tech 49 Mississippi State 34
2015–164 Clemson 37 Oklahoma 17
2016–17 Florida State 33 Michigan 32
2017–18 Wisconsin 34 Miami (Fla.) 24
2018–194 Alabama 45 Oklahoma 34
2019–20 Florida 36 Virginia 28
2020–21 Texas A&M 41 North Carolina 27
2021–224 Georgia 34 Michigan 11
2022–23 Tennessee 31 Clemson 14
2023–24 Georgia 63 Florida State 3
This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
Citation Information
Article Title: Orange Bowl
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 24 March 2023
URL: https://www.britannica.comhttps://www.britannica.com/sports/Orange-Bowl
Access Date: November 21, 2024