Best and Worst of 2021 Bowl Game Swag Bags

In what has become a new tradition, college football bowls present "swag bags" to every player on the teams participating in the game, but some of these gifts are definitely better than others.

According to SportsBusinessJournal, Louisiana and Marshall are receiving a gift suite and a Fossil watch from the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.

For LSU fans, the TaxAct Texas Bowl went all in on their namesake. On top of the normal gift suite, the Tigers and Kansas State Wildcats players get a Nike backpack, a hat and drawstring bag, a belt buckle, a cowboy hat, and a bandana.

These are the three best bowl game swag bags in 2021.

PlayStation Fiesta Bowl

Notre Dame and Oklahoma State players will each receive a PlayStation 5 along with a game. With how hard PS5s have seemingly been to come across, this is probably my favorite swag bag this year. It works as a great Christmas gift from the Fiesta Bowl to players from each of the top teams. Oklahoma State posted a reaction video from the players when they heard that they'd each be getting the next-gen gaming console.

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl

This one surprised me, but the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl is giving Wake Forest and Texas A&M players a bundle of gifts in their swag bag. Players will receive Maui Jim sunglasses, a Fossil watch, a waterproof Bluetooth speaker, noise-canceling headphones, a powerbank, and a Tile Bluetooth wireless tracker. That has got to make the list just on bulk alone. The Gator Bowl stepped up with this package of presents for their players.

Valero Alamo Bowl

The Alamo Bowl, featuring Oklahoma and Oregon, has $490 Mastercard gift cards for each player, but that's not all. They also get an Ice Shaker bottle, a mini helmet, and a team panoramic photo. A few bowls give out generous Amazon gift cards, but the Alamo Bowl gives out a nice Mastercard gift card to players on the Ducks and Sooners, so I ultimately picked them to round out the top three swag bags.

Here are the three worst 2021 bowl game swag bags.

Frisco Football Classic and Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic

This may be cheating because the Cotton Bowl has a history of not announcing their gifts to teams. However, every other big bowl has their swag bags announced, so I'm not sure why the Cotton Bowl can't. Regardless, I'd hope that Alabama and Cincinnati players each get a nice prize for their participation in the playoff game. As for the Frisco Football Classic, their gift is announced as "not applicable," so I'm not even sure that North Texas and Miami (Ohio) players even received a swag bag.

Allstate Sugar Bowl

Baylor and Ole Miss players are receiving a gift suite, a Fossil watch, a New Era hat, and a hooded t-shirt. This isn't the worst package for the Big-12 and SEC squads, but it feels like a bowl game as big as the Sugar Bowl would have had a better bag of gifts for their teams. It's on the list because I figured there would be more here.

SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl

Wisconsin and Arizona State players are only receiving the gift suite for this bowl. The Las Vegas Bowl is not the only game to do this, but I figured there would be more creativity involved in a swag bag for a game in Las Vegas. It feels like a missed opportunity with this one, but a trip to Vegas is probably a fun enough experience for players on the Badgers and Sun Devils.

Which swag bags are your favorites? Which ones are disappointing? You can read the full list on SportsBusinessJournal.