Sugar Bowl

Sugar Bowl, postseason American collegiate football game played on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day in New Orleans. The bowl hosts, in a rotation along with the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, and Rose bowls, a semifinal game of the College Football Playoff, which determines college football’s Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly known as Division I-A) national champion.

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

The first Sugar Bowl was played in 1935, eight years after it had been conceived by Col. James M. Thomson, publisher of the New Orleans Item, and by Fred J. Digby, a columnist for that newspaper. Supporters of the game raised $30,000 by subscription, and Tulane University allowed its stadium to be used at no charge (Tulane defeated Temple University 20–14 in the inaugural game). The Sugar Bowl moved from Tulane Stadium to the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans in 1976. At that time the champion team of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) became the host team of the Sugar Bowl. From 1999 to 2006, under the original format of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS; the precursor to the College Football Playoff), the Sugar Bowl took a turn being the national championship game every four years. (Under the system that was in place from 2007 to 2013, all the BCS bowls were played annually, with a rotating national championship game added). The Sugar Bowl still has tie-ins with the SEC and the Big 12 Conference, whose champions generally play there unless the teams or the bowl is participating in the national semifinals. Annual festivities leading up to the Sugar Bowl include a regatta on Lake Pontchartrain and a few unofficial Mardi Gras-style parades.

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

Sugar Bowl1
season result
1Part of Bowl Championship Series (BCS) from 1998–99 until 2013–14; part of College Football Playoff (CFP) from 2014–15.
2BCS national championship game.
3Win vacated because of rules violations committed by Ohio State during the 2010–11 season.
4CFP semifinal.
1934–35 Tulane 20 Temple 14
1935–36 Texas Christian 3 Louisiana State 2
1936–37 Santa Clara 21 Louisiana State 14
1937–38 Santa Clara 6 Louisiana State 0
1938–39 Texas Christian 15 Carnegie Tech 7
1939–40 Texas A&M 14 Tulane 13
1940–41 Boston College 19 Tennessee 13
1941–42 Fordham 2 Missouri 0
1942–43 Tennessee 14 Tulsa 7
1943–44 Georgia Tech 20 Tulsa 18
1944–45 Duke 29 Alabama 26
1945–46 Oklahoma A&M 33 St. Mary's 13
1946–47 Georgia 20 North Carolina 10
1947–48 Texas 27 Alabama 7
1948–49 Oklahoma 14 North Carolina 6
1949–50 Oklahoma 35 Louisiana State 0
1950–51 Kentucky 13 Oklahoma 7
1951–52 Maryland 28 Tennessee 13
1952–53 Georgia Tech 24 Mississippi 7
1953–54 Georgia Tech 42 West Virginia 19
1954–55 Navy 21 Mississippi 0
1955–56 Georgia Tech 7 Pittsburgh 0
1956–57 Baylor 13 Tennessee 7
1957–58 Mississippi 39 Texas 7
1958–59 Louisiana State 7 Clemson 0
1959–60 Mississippi 21 Louisiana State 0
1960–61 Mississippi 14 Rice 6
1961–62 Alabama 10 Arkansas 3
1962–63 Mississippi 17 Arkansas 13
1963–64 Alabama 12 Mississippi 7
1964–65 Louisiana State 13 Syracuse 10
1965–66 Missouri 20 Florida 18
1966–67 Alabama 34 Nebraska 7
1967–68 Louisiana State 20 Wyoming 13
1968–69 Arkansas 16 Georgia 2
1969–70 Mississippi 27 Arkansas 22
1970–71 Tennessee 34 Air Force 13
1971–72 Oklahoma 40 Auburn 22
1972–73 Oklahoma 14 Penn State 0
1973–74 Notre Dame 24 Alabama 23
1974–75 Nebraska 13 Florida 10
1975–76 Alabama 13 Penn State 6
1976–77 Pittsburgh 27 Georgia 3
1977–78 Alabama 35 Ohio State 6
1978–79 Alabama 14 Penn State 7
1979–80 Alabama 24 Arkansas 9
1980–81 Georgia 17 Notre Dame 10
1981–82 Pittsburgh 24 Georgia 20
1982–83 Penn State 27 Georgia 23
1983–84 Auburn 9 Michigan 7
1984–85 Nebraska 28 Louisiana State 10
1985–86 Tennessee 35 Miami (Fla.) 7
1986–87 Nebraska 30 Louisiana State 15
1987–88 Auburn 16 Syracuse 16
1988–89 Florida State 13 Auburn 7
1989–90 Miami (Fla.) 33 Alabama 25
1990–91 Tennessee 23 Virginia 22
1991–92 Notre Dame 39 Florida 28
1992–93 Alabama 34 Miami (Fla.) 13
1993–94 Florida 41 West Virginia 7
1994–95 Florida State 23 Florida 17
1995–96 Virginia Tech 28 Texas 10
1996–97 Florida 52 Florida State 20
1997–98 Florida State 31 Ohio State 14
1998–99 Ohio State 24 Texas A&M 14
1999–20002 Florida State 46 Virginia Tech 29
2000–01 Miami (Fla.) 37 Florida 20
2001–02 Louisiana State 47 Illinois 34
2002–03 Georgia 26 Florida State 13
2003–042 Louisiana State 21 Oklahoma 14
2004–05 Auburn 16 Virginia Tech 13
2005–06 West Virginia 38 Georgia 35
2006–07 Louisiana State 41 Notre Dame 14
2007–08 Georgia 41 Hawaii 10
2008–09 Utah 31 Alabama 17
2009–10 Florida 51 Cincinnati 24
2010–11 Ohio State3 31 Arkansas 26
2011–12 Michigan 23 Virginia Tech 20
2012–13 Louisville 33 Florida 23
2013–14 Oklahoma 45 Alabama 31
2014–154 Ohio State 42 Alabama 35
2015–16 Mississippi 48 Oklahoma State 20
2016–17 Oklahoma 35 Auburn 19
2017–184 Alabama 24 Clemson 6
2018–19 Texas 28 Georgia 21
2019–20 Georgia 26 Baylor 14
2020–214 Ohio State 49 Clemson 28
2021–22 Baylor 21 Mississippi 7
2022–23 Alabama 45 Kansas State 20
2023–244 Washington 37 Texas 31
This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
Citation Information
Article Title: Sugar Bowl
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 24 March 2023
URL: https://www.britannica.comhttps://www.britannica.com/sports/Sugar-Bowl
Access Date: November 21, 2024