It’s officially bowl season for college football, with conference championship week coming to a close and the College Football Playoff field being selected.
The Alabama Crimson Tide is heading to Norman, Oklahoma for a rematch against the Sooners next Friday — for the right to get to the Rose Bowl against the No. 1 ranked Indiana Hoosiers. In the meantime, there will be plenty of bowl game action right here in the Yellowhammer State.
Here are the three bowl games being held in the state of Alabama:
Salute to Veterans Bowl: Troy vs Jacksonville State
Fans in Montgomery will be treated to a massive in-state matchup between the Troy Trojans and Jacksonville State Gamecocks at the Cramton Bowl next week. The two in-state schools each had wonderful 8-4 seasons, which culminated in narrow defeats in their respective conference championship games. Now, they get to battle for state bragging rights in the capital.
The Salute to Veterans Bowl will be held next Tuesday, December 16 at 8:00 p.m. CST.
68 Ventures Bowl: Louisiana vs. Delaware
Perhaps the 68 Ventures Bowl at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile does not have quite as much juice, given the fact that it doesn’t have schools from Alabama. Regardless, this should be a tremendous matchup in the home stadium of the South Alabama Jaguars.
Each team went 6-6 this season and is going to be hungry to end the season with a victory. Mobile will host the day after the Salute to Veterans Bowl on Wednesday, December 17 at 7:30 p.m. CST.
Birmingham Bowl: Georgia Southern vs. Appalachian State
In terms of bowl prestige, there’s not a bigger game being played within the state of Alabama than the Birmingham Bowl. The result is two solid programs taking place. After Georgia Southern struggled to find an opponent following a rash of five win teams declining the invitation, they landed on the Mountaineers, who — despite their 5-7 record — will prove to be a formidable opponent.
These two teams know each other well, both coming from the Sun Belt Conference and facing off about a month ago in a thriller that Georgia Southern won 25-23. If the rematch lives up to the hype, the fans in Birmingham are going to be treated to a tremendous showdown.
The Birmingham Bowl will be held Monday, December 29 at 1:00 p.m. CST.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.

