6 NY6 bowl games, with the following tie-ins:

3 "contract" bowls:

Rose Bowl: PAC-12 Champ vs. Big Ten Champ
Sugar Bowl: SEC Champ vs. Big 12 Champ
Orange Bowl: ACC Champ vs. SEC #2/Big Ten #2/Notre Dame (highest ranked of the bunch, IIRC)

3 "access" bowls:

Fiesta Bowl: at-large vs. at-large
Cotton Bowl: at-large vs. at-large
Peach Bowl: at-large vs. at-large


Out of the 6 bowls, 2 of them will host the semifinals. This year it's the Rose and Sugar, then it's the Orange and Cotton, and then it's the Fiesta and Peach. If a contract bowl hosts a semifinal game and the team that has a contract with that bowl isn't in the playoffs, then that team will get an auto-bid into one of the access bowls, basically eating up an at-large slot. Also, if a contract bowl isn't hosting a semifinal game but it's auto-bid team makes the playoffs, then it takes the next best team from the conference it has a contract with.

Also, there is one at-large slot that is reserved for the highest ranked conference champion from the Group of 5 conferences (Sun Belt, MAC, CUSA, American, MWC).

So how many at-large bids are available each year? The answer is "it depends".

For this year, assuming that the PAC-12, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC champs all make the playoffs, there will be 5 at-large bids available. However, if none of those teams make the playoffs (highly unlikely), then there will only be 1 at-large bid available. I would imagine that the most likely scenario is 3-4 at-larges bid available.

When the Orange and Cotton are the semifinal games, then there are a maximum of 3 at-large bids and a minimum of 1 at-large bid. I would say that typically we'll see 2-3 at-large bids during these years.

When the Fiesta and Peach bowls host the semifinals, then there is 1 at-large bid (as the other 4 at-large bids are part of the playoff).

So basically, depending on the year we could see anywhere from 1 at-large bid to 3-4 at-large bids.

Why they didn't match up 1 contract bowl with 1 access bowl for each year to have a more consistane 2-3 at-large bids each season is beyond me. But that's the way it works.