When the powers that be looked to replace the Bowl Championship Series with the College Football Playoff, the unofficial formation of the New Year’s Six came into being. The bowl games consisted of the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Peach, and Fiesta, with the semifinal games of the College Football Playoff rotating between the six top-tier games.
In the history of the College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six, 22 FBS programs have participated in multiple games in the eight-year history of the format.
The Alabama Crimson Tide have led the way in New Year’s Six games because of their incredible run in the College Football Playoff. Since its inception, Alabama has played 13 games in the CFP, compiling a 9-4 record, with three national championships. While they’ve played in the most games, the Ohio State Buckeyes have the most consecutive years in the New Year’s Six at eight. Alabama missed out in 2019 when LSU had their dominant run, and the Crimson Tide also lost to Auburn, giving them the rare two-loss regular season.
Like Alabama, the Clemson Tigers have been all or nothing, appearing in the College Football Playoff six times but not in a non-playoff New Year’s Six bowl game since the playoff was instituted back in 2014.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hold the distinction of the most New Year’s Six appearances without a win, going 0-4.
Below are each of the 22 schools who have participated in a New Year’s Six bowl game since 2014, ranked by games played with ties going to schools with the better record and the more recent win in one of the upper-tier bowl games.