Get ready! It looks like there are 34 bowl games starting on December 20 and ending on January 8, 2009, so that means 68 college teams were invited to go bowling this year. Several 6-6 teams are going to bowl games.

There are five bowl games each on December 31 and January 1. Whoa. Overdose.

In the 10 team Bowl Championship Series (BCS) system, the team ranked number one (Oklahoma) and the team ranked number two (Florida) play each other. That is good. Number three (Texas) does not play number four (Alabama) and so on. That is not good. One would think we could at least see the format of one versus two, three versus four, etc. That’s not to say there won’t be great games, but it would be nice to see the top ten teams play each other. They don’t do this because the football conferences have sweet deals with certain bowl committees.

I know I have said this before, but wouldn’t it be great to see the top eight or 16 teams in the BCS standings play each other in a playoff like they do in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and the NAIA? If there were 16 teams, the two teams that meet in the final game would have played an extra four games ending the same week as the BCS National Championship game. If there were eight teams, the final two teams would play an extra three games.

We have the BCS system because of money it generates for the schools that make it into the BCS. There’s a $17 million payout per game for participating in one of the five BCS games. Just imagine if that much money was paid for every round of a playoff for the top eight or 16 teams who make the big show? I would imagine there would be many teams lining up for a playoff system because money talks.

Saturday was a great day to watch football. To heck with the chores and the errands, it was football all day! Many Montana football fans were torn between watching the Griz and the Saints play. Both played at the same time on Saturday and both teams came out with victories. My remote was working overtime.

The Saints

The Saints’ game was a nail biter. The Lindenwood Lions came from 21 points down and the game was not decided until there was about 38 seconds left when, after driving 99 yards for a touchdown, they went for two (and the win). Gutsy call. The ball hit a Carroll player in the back and bounced to the ground. It was probably a long flight back to Eastern Missouri for the Lions, but they played a heck of a game. The Saints (13-0) now play for the NAIA National Championship against the University of Sioux Falls (South Dakota) (13-0) Cougars on December 20 in Rome, Georgia. This is a rematch of last year’s title game, won by the Saints. The kickoff is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Montana time. We have an extra week to prepare for the Championship game!

The Griz

The Montana Grizzlies beat the Weber State Wildcats 24-13 in a quarterfinal game of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) on Saturday afternoon. The Griz started well and overall the team played one of their better games.

This Friday night the Griz play the James Madison Dukes in Harrisonburg, Virginia, at 6:00 pm Montana time (ESPN2). This is a semifinal game. In the other semifinal game, Richmond travels to Northern Iowa for a 2:00 pm (Montana time) Saturday game (ESPN).

It seems the Grizzlies received a bad deal here because they have to travel farther and play Friday night instead of Saturday. The schedulers for the NCAA FCS should have given the Griz the extra day and had Northern Iowa and Richmond play Friday night. But, if the Griz win they get an extra day off before the championship game on December 19.

Get the batteries for your remote changed because on Saturday there are some big games.

MONTANA

The #5 Montana Grizzlies (12-1) are hosting the #10 Weber State Wildcats (10-3) Saturday at noon in Missoula. This is the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) quarterfinals. The game will be televised. The Griz will need to come out ready to play.

In Helena, the #1 Carroll College Saints (12-0) will be hosting the #7 Lindenwood Lions (11-1) at noon Saturday. The winner goes to the NAIA National Championship. This game will also be televised. Will the forfeit the Saints received last week help or hurt them?

Major College Football

Before the Montana teams play, viewers can get ready by watching the first part of the Navy (7-4) vs. Army (3-8) game: You can throw out the records. The game starts around 10:00 am Montana time.

Probably the biggest game of the day is No. 1 Alabama (12-0) vs. No. 4 Florida (11-1) for the SEC Championship. The game starts at 2:00 p.m. Montana time, so us fans may have to click between three games. The winner probably gets to the National Championship game. Both beat LSU and Georgia. This will be a good one. Florida lost by one point to Mississippi. Florida has been down this road before, so will the nerves get to Bama? Forrest Gump may attend the game, I hear.

At 6:00 p.m. Montana time, the Missouri Tigers (9-3) and the Oklahoma Sooners (11-1) play in Kansas City for the Big 12 Championship. The Texas Longhorns need Missouri to beat Oklahoma to have a shot at the National Championship game. The Sooners have owned the Tigers for many years. Can Mizzou play the perfect game and send the BCS into another nightmare? Being a Mizzou fan, I’d like to see it, but the Tigers have not played too many perfect games this year. M-I-Z-Z-O-U

#5 USC (10-1) will play UCLA (4-7) at 2:30 Montana time. USC may run up the score to try and get into the BCS Championship game. A few things will need to fall into place for USC to have a chance at a National Championship game, but stranger things have happened!

That’s it. Better check those remotes!

The folks who run the NFL seem to always be thinking of new methods to draw people to their product. The NFL is far and above Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association in their marketing strategies. The attendance at games and viewers on TV show the NFL marketers are hitting on all cylinders.

Tonight it’s the inaugural 3D broadcast. Yes, 3D and in HD. The Oakland Raiders play the San Diego Chargers.

So if you live in Boston, Los Angeles or New York, you can watch the game in 3D. Better get your tickets, because the game will be shown in one theater in each city.

For regular viewers who have the channel, the game will also be telecast on the NFL Network.

Will 3D work for the NFL? Only time will tell. I think it would be great to see a live NFL game on a theater’s big screen.

It looks like Fox Sports will telecast the BCS Championship game to selected theaters in 3D, too.

Big 12

If you are a follower of Big 12 football, this season has been interesting. Last year, Missouri and Kansas from the Big 12 North fought it out finishing fourth and seventh in the final AP poll. Of course, Oklahoma and Texas were in the mix finishing eighth and tenth.

This was the year of the Big 12 South, with Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech all finishing 11-1. Texas beat Oklahoma. Texas Tech beat Texas. Oklahoma beat Texas Tech. Since they were tied, the tiebreaker was the BCS standings from Sunday and Oklahoma was the winner by .0128 and is therefore the Big 12 South champion. Oklahoma will play Missouri (Big 12 North Champion) for the Big 12 Championship on Saturday.

The Big 12 will probably have seven teams heading to a bowl game. The SEC, home of Alabama and Florida, will probably send eight of their 12 teams to a bowl game. These are the best two conferences in all of college football.

BCS

It’s a mess. It seems every year there’s a nightmare with major college football. The whole system is crying for a playoff. Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida and USC are the top five teams according to the BCS. Alabama and Florida play Saturday. The winner will undoubtedly go to the BCS national title game. If Oklahoma beats Missouri, they should be there, too (although they lost to Texas on a neutral field). I feel your pain Longhorn fans.

Two Montana Teams

Montana still has two teams still in the mix for a national championship, the Montana Grizzlies and the Carroll College Saints.

Carroll (12-0) will host the Lindenwood Lions (11-1) on Saturday in Helena. Lindenwood is located near St. Charles, Missouri, just a few miles from St. Louis. The winner of the game will advance to the NAIA Football Championship on Dec. 20 in Rome, Georgia.

After starting slowly, the Montana Grizzlies came from behind to beat Texas State 31-13 in Football Championship Subdivision playoffs Saturday. The Griz (12-1) will host the Weber State Wildcats (10-3) on Saturday in the quarterfinals. Weber State beat the Griz earlier this year 45-28. This should be a good game.

Pro Football

When your team has only won one game this year, every victory is sweet. The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Oakland Raiders on Sunday, 20-13 for victory number two on the year. YES!!

The Denver Broncos put a good game together to beat the New York Jets. We just never know which Broncos team will show up for a game. Next week the Broncos host my Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs beat the Broncos earlier this season in KC. The Chiefs have lost seven in a row in Denver, but the Broncos have lost three straight home games. The Chiefs defense is ranked 32 and the Broncos 28. We might have a shootout!

We are getting down to crunch time with only four games left before the playoffs. The Giants are a very good team and so are the Titans. The Steelers are putting it together. Tampa Bay and Carolina are looking good. Baltimore has a good team. The Chargers are done. Washington and Dallas are on the outside looking in at the playoffs. Dallas has a tough road as all their remaining games are against teams with winning records. The Colts have a pretty easy schedule for the remainder of the year with only one game left against a team with a winning record.

Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Seattle, and KC are officially out of the playoffs. CBS has a great website for the playoffs. You can see it here.