When the year winds down and we get into late November, it’s time to think of the holidays and family.  Oh yes, and there’s football.

This last week some of the things that caught my eye were the party crashers at the White House, a miraculous comeback by the Montana Griz, and the Carroll College Saints annual trek into the NAIA playoffs.  I also give my annual commentary about the college bowl system.  

Party Crashers
Having a vast amount of experience in my past with security issues, I feel the incident at the White House State Dinner (where the couple made it through security and into the dinner party) unacceptable.  Somebody will be fired over this incident and they should be.

Back in my days in the military, one of the first things we were taught was to check IDs of anyone attempting to come into our dorm.  They had to show an ID.  They had to be on the approved list.  Pretty simple.  Those attempting to get in tried several ways to get by the guard.  From yelling at us to embarrassing us, from fake IDs to kicking the door, to telling us that they would contact the General.  They tried.  They never got by me.  Those simple rules helped me in the later years of my career which included security of nuclear weapons and aircraft to protecting high-ranking government officials.

The Secret Service and the Obama Administration have a black eye over this incident.

Two Left
There are still two Montana teams playing football.  They get to play at least one more week as the Griz and the Saints both won on Saturday.  Here’s a look at their games.

Montana Griz
OK, I will admit that I was about to tweet, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over” when the Griz fell behind 41-14 in the 3rd Quarter in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.  The Griz won the game 61-48.  Playing like they were full of turkey and pumpkin pie, they totally sucked in the first half.  Receivers were running wrong routes (or the QBs were throwing it to the wrong location), fumbles and missed tackles filled the first half.

Is this the greatest comeback ever?  I don’t know.  I do know that other teams down the road will never feel comfortable with a lead of any amount when playing the Griz.

The player who got it going was senior Marc Mariani.  His 98-yard kickoff return in the third quarter ignited the Griz.  He finished with 12 catches for 171 yards and he had 218 yards on kickoff returns.

Mariani should get a close look from the NFL next year.  He’s 6-foot and 180 pounds, but he is the type of player that can help any team be better.

The Griz are 12-0 and they host Stephen F. Austin next Saturday in Missoula.

The Fighting Saints
Carroll College does not get as much publicity or respect here in Montana as the Griz or the Bobcats, but record-wise they are Montana’s best college team.  Quietly Saturday, they marched into the NAIA semifinals with a 34-13 victory over the Mid-America Nazarene Pioneers.  I watched the game on TV and flipped back and forth between the Griz and the Saints games.  It was a great defensive game in the first half between the Saints and the Pioneers.  The Saints led 5-3 at the half.  The Saints are 13-0 and host Lindenwood (MO) next Saturday in Helena.

Bowling
There are 34 College Football bowl games coming up starting on December 19 with the “New Mexico” bowl and ending January 7 with the “Citi BCS National Championship Game.”

To go to a bowl, the basic requirement is to get six wins.  The colleges get big money for appearing in a bowl game.  The more wins, the better the bowl and the more money.  As the bowl selection season goes into full swing, the teams that get to play on January 1 or later are in the “big money.”

I don’t like the bowl system.  I want to see playoffs for the top eight or 16 major college teams.  I’ve written about it several times.  You can read about my thoughts on the Bowls HERE.

To get prepared, you can see the full bowl schedule HERE.

That’s it for this week.  Time to get ready for some NFL football!  Follow me for updates on Twitter.