Last year's game served as a CFP semifinal, but this year will return to hosting the top non-playoff ACC teamGETTY IMAGES
The Orange Bowl has been played in the evening every year since '65, and that "won't change this year," as the game's organizers announced that the Capital One Orange Bowl is "heading back" to primetime, according to David Wilson of the MIAMI HERALD. After "originally being scheduled for a daytime start on New Year’s Day," the game is moving up to Monday, Dec. 30, with an 8:00pm ET start at Hard Rock Stadium. The '18 Orange Bowl was held on Dec. 29 as a CFP semifinal, but in '19, the game will go back to hosting the ACC's "top non-CFP team" (MIAMI HERALD, 5/14). In Ft. Lauderdale, Christy Cabrera Chirinos notes the change "means the Orange Bowl will be the only major football game played that night on national television." There is also no NFL game that night, as the "MNF" schedule wraps up Dec. 23. The move back to primetime will "extend the Orange Bowl’s streak of having each of its games either start or finish at night" (South Florida SUN SENTINEL, 5/14).
