History: Sugar Bowl

After the creation of the Rose and Orange Bowls, Fred Digby, the sports editor for the New Orleans Item, began calling for New Orleans to create a similar experience.

In 1935, enough support had been garnered to play the first Sugar Bowl. It has been held annually since.

The bowl has a lengthy relationship with the SEC. The SEC fielded one of the bowl's teams in each year but one between 1950-95.

Of course, as with much of college football, conference realignments and the rising of different groups staging national championships have changed a lot of things. However, with the creation of the College Football Playoff in 2015, the Sugar Bowl, unless it is hosting a playoff game, will host an SEC team and a Big 12 team.

Memorable moments

• In 1956, Pitt's Bobby Grier became the first African-American player in the Sugar Bowl. That same year, there was talk that Georgia Tech would not play because of Georgia governor Marvin Griffin's opposition to segregation. Georgia Tech played, and won 7-0.

• In 1968, in the midst of the Vietnam War, Pentagon officials refused to let Army accept an invitation to the Sugar Bowl, citing demands on players' time and that football was not the academy's primary mission.

• The 2006 game was played in the Georgia Dome because the Superdome had suffered so much damage from Hurricane Katrina.

• When Michigan and Virginia Tech met in the 2012 game, it was only the sixth time in bowl history that no SEC team played. Alabama and LSU played for the national title and BCS rules say conferences are allowed just two teams in BCS bowls.