2021-22 NCAA football bowl games

The 2021-22 NCAA football bowl games are a series of college football bowl games scheduled to complete the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The games will begin on December 17, 2021, and, aside from the all-star games scheduled to follow, will conclude with the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship played on January 10, 2022.

Schedule
The schedule for the 2021–22 bowl games is below. All times are EST (UTC−5). Note that Division II bowls and Division III bowls are not included here. The bowl schedule was released on May 27, 2021.

Conferences listed in the Affiliations column reflect agreements between bowl organizers and athletic conferences, often referred to as "tie-ins". These are subject to change, due to bowl eligibility and other considerations.

College Football Playoff and National Championship Game
The College Football Playoff system is used to determine a national championship of Division I FBS college football. A 13-member committee of experts will rank the top 25 teams in the nation after each of the last seven weeks of the regular season. The top four teams in the final ranking will be seeded in a single-elimination semifinal round, with the winners advancing to the National Championship game.

The semifinal games for the 2021 season are the Cotton Bowl Classic and the Orange Bowl. Both are scheduled for December 31, 2021, as part of a yearly rotation of three pairs of two bowls, commonly referred to as the New Year's Six bowl games. The winners will advance to the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship, scheduled for January 10, 2022.

Non CFP bowl games
Two bowls, which had originally planned to debut during the 2020–21 bowl season but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are due to debut during the 2021–22 bowl season; the Fenway Bowl (Boston, Massachusetts) and the LA Bowl (Inglewood, California). The Montgomery Bowl, played as a substitute for the Fenway Bowl, is not due to return. The San Francisco Bowl, formerly the Redbox Bowl, was cancelled for a second straight season when organizers could not come to terms with all parties involved with the game.

FCS Bowl game
The Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) has one bowl game. The FCS also has a postseason bracket tournament that culminates in the 2022 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game.

All-star games
Each of these games features college seniors, or players whose college football eligibility is ending, who are individually invited by game organizers. These games are scheduled to follow the team-competitive bowls, to allow players selected from bowl teams to participate. The all-star games may include some players from non-FBS programs.

A new all-star game, the HBCU Legacy Bowl, was announced in March 2021.

Team selections
Generally, a team must have at least six wins to be considered bowl eligible, with at least five of those wins being against FBS opponents. The College Football Playoff semi-final games are determined based on the top four seeds in the playoff committee's final rankings. The remainder of the bowl eligible teams are selected by each respective bowl based on conference tie-ins, order of selection, match-up considerations, and other factors.

Bowl-eligible teams

 * ACC (10): Boston College, Clemson, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
 * American (7): Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, SMU, UCF, Tulsa
 * Big Ten (9): Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
 * Big 12 (7): Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, West Virginia
 * C-USA (8): Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, UAB, UTEP, UTSA, Western Kentucky
 * MAC (8): Ball State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (OH), Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan
 * Mountain West (7): Air Force, Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State, Wyoming
 * Pac-12 (6): Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, Utah, Washington State
 * SEC (13): Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M
 * Sun Belt (4): Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Louisiana
 * Independent (4): Army, BYU, Liberty, Notre Dame

Number of bowl berths available: 82

Number of bowl-eligible teams: 83

Bowl-eligible team that did not receive a berth
As there were more bowl-eligible teams than there were bowl berths available, one team that was bowl-eligible (North Texas, 6-6) did not receive an invitation.

Bowl-ineligble teams

 * ACC (4): Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Syracuse
 * American (4): Navy, South Florida, Temple, Tulane
 * Big Ten (5): Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Northwestern, Rutgers
 * Big 12 (3): Kansas, TCU, Texas
 * C-USA (6): Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, FIU, Louisiana Tech, Rice, Southern Miss
 * MAC (4): Akron, Buffalo, Bowling Green, Ohio
 * Mountain West (5): Colorado State, Hawaii, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV
 * Pac-12 (6): Arizona, California, Colorado, Stanford, USC, Washington
 * SEC (1): Vanderbilt
 * Sun Belt (6): Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy
 * Independent (3): New Mexico State, UConn, UMass

Number of bowl-ineligible teams: 47