Here is Greg Blair, expressing his feelings about getting to play in or watch another excellent Belk Bowl. (Getty Images)

By Holly Anderson

While you were out living your human lives this weekend, we were licking our Internet thumbs and using them to pick up stray crumbs of tangentially football-related news for your Monday leisure reading. Enjoy?

1. Make a Belkful noise, my soul. In the most crucial offseason development in what has been an already newsy offseason, the 2013 date for America’s sweetheart of the postseason has been set. This year’s Belk Bowl will kick off at 3:20 p.m. on December 28. Start priming your punning engines now, brothers and sisters: We have a lot to live up to.

2. In second place only because we are sad Frosty no longer strolls among us. Legendary Pacific Lutheran football coach Frosty Westering, 85, passed away on Friday. Chuck Culpepper’s remembrance of Westering’s life is mandatory reading. Bonus Frosty D-I trivia: One of his granddaughters, former Kansas State basketball player Shalin Spani, is married to one Collin Klein, whom some of you may have heard of.

3. The Nick Saban, Creative Writing Lecturer Hoax. We would pay so much money to sit in on this class if it were a real thing, which, sadly, it is not. (Duh.)

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Former five-star recruit Davonte’ Neal is leaving Notre Dame to play for hometown team Arizona. (Simon Bruty/SI)

By Zac Ellis

Davonte’ Neal, a former five-star wide receiver from Arizona, is transferring from Notre Dame to his home-state Wildcats. Blue and Gold Illustrated is reporting that Neal is leaving the Irish to be closer to his girlfriend and two-month-old daughter in Arizona.

Neal was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in Arizona and the No. 1 overall athlete in his class before opting to sign with Notre Dame over the likes of Arizona and Arkansas last year. The Scottsdale, Ariz., native recorded 21 punt returns and one catch as a freshman for the Irish in 2012. Neal reportedly will apply for an NCAA hardship waiver so that he can play for Arizona this season.

Neal made headlines in 2012 after he delayed his commitment to Notre Dame until nearly two weeks after National Signing Day. He then didn’t show up for a special commitment press conference at his former elementary school, leaving hundreds of friends, family and teachers waiting. A family emergency delayed his announcement until hours after the originally scheduled ceremony.

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When no appealing photos present themselves to accompany daily top stories, we add our own. Today: Ralphie! (AP)

• “Plaintiffs in the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit claimed what their lawyer described as a significant victory today when a California federal judge denied the NCAA’s early attempt to prevent the case from becoming a class action.” This is not so much a victory in and of itself as it is one more sudden-death pitfall avoided. Think of this kind of action as playing Super Mario Bros. 2 as Toad, with no mushrooms in sight and only one extra life remaining. That’s where this case is at, in fancy legal terms.

• “And it’s highly questionable whether other college presidents would allow such a settlement when no other schools were afforded the same opportunity for a case involving recruiting violations.” Think the NCAA-ward howling from Miami and USC is bad now? Imagine the cacophony of victory and rage if the ‘Canes were able to cut a deal.

• “According to the report, when the officer asked the men for their tickets, Carey said, ‘Get the (expletive) out of my face! Don’t you know who I am? I am an All-American.’” Always wonder what the endgame is here, in the heads of anyone who tries this kind of thing. “My sincerest apologies, sir. Your NCAA rushing prowess affords you lordship over campus police. Carry on.”

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• You a Terp? Maryland has announced walk-on football tryouts for Wednesday, January 30. You must be a full-time, currently enrolled student to be eligible for consideration.

This is also your reminder that heading into Maryland’s last regular-season football game of 2012, this is what Maryland’s injury report looked like. So if you’re an aspiring quarterback, we’re honestly not sure whether to tell you to show up or stay away.

• Meanwhile, while the internet was caving in on itself …  Lost yesterday in the avalanche of news shocks was the announcement that the Mountain West has retaken San Diego State. (We’re choosing to picture this as a giant Risk board in action. The Big 12 is clearly Australia.) We have an MWC source who’s promised to tell us the second the conference poaches UCLA, and y’all will be the first to know after that.

• Coach-hirin’ follies! Go right on ahead and apply for Chip Kelly’s old job, and be sure and let us know how that works out … here is a magnificent lead followed by Rob Mullens’ insistence that he has no clubhouse leaders in mind for Kelly’s vacant seat … John-El lands at DII Fort Lewis College … Utah passing coordinator Aaron Roderick will take the OC slot at BYU [UPDATE: No he won't!] … Louisiana Tech won’t have to re-glaze any of its “I <3 OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR TONY” mugs … Tim Rosenbach joins the UNLV staff as OC.

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Johnny Football, tiptoeing to greatness with a thunder. (AP)

• Mack Brown offered the Manning Award as a safety. College football’s first freshman Heisman Trophy winner can add another accolade to his surely sagging trophy shelf: Johnny Manziel has won the Manning Award. Manziel entered the national lexicon with last year’s shirtless mugshot follies, won the starting job at Texas A&M as an underclassman, took home the Heisman, obliterated a former conference rival in the Cotton Bowl and will — football gods willing — continue to stay on his “hi, haters” message train throughout the forthcoming offseason. It is getting perilously close to impossible to hate Johnny Football, particularly if you don’t have a rooting interest in a defense that had to play him this year. Congrats, kiddo.

• Coach-firin’ follies. The silly season rolls on in the assistants derby: OUT goes Louisiana defensive coordinator Greg Stewart … IN comes Mario Cristobal at Miami in a most excellent personnel coup for the ‘Canes … and IN comes Ted Roof, back at Georgia Tech? (Related reading: “Has the internet desensitized us to the extraordinary?”)

• Gettin’ drafty. GONE: Tennessee’s three brightest offensive stars. BACK: Tajh Boyd, whose future presence, along with Aaron Murray’s, makes Clemson’s Week 1 date with Georgia an absolute must-watch game. GONE, TEARILY: Outland Trophy winner Luke Joeckel, whose letter to the faithful of Texas A&M you simply must read.

• Roster blotter. Burnt Orange Nation has the latest on the allegations against Case McCoy and Jordan Hicks … charges are expected against Arizona’s Ka’Deem Carey.

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Stefphon Jefferson has clearly just caught a look at the New Mexico Bowl scoreboard here. (AP)

• My god, it’s full of stats. Just for funsies, and maybe also because we’re football-free until Thursday, here is a list of NCAA bowl records broken by Nevada and Arizona in the 2012 New Mexico Bowl, via Wolf Pack sports info:

-Most plays (combined, both teams): Nevada-Arizona, 188 (Previous, 187, by Auburn-Northwestern in 2010 Outback Bowl).

-Most first downs: Nevada, 39 (Previous, 36—Oklahoma (48) vs. Virginia (14) (Gator, Dec. 29, 1991) (16 rush, 18 pass, 2 penalty); Marshall (64) vs. East Carolina (61) (2 ot) (GMAC, 2001) (9 rush, 25 pass, 2 penalty).

-Most first downs, both teams: Nevada-Arizona, 70 (Previous: 62—North Carolina St. (56) [34] vs. Kansas (26) [28] (Tangerine, 2003).

-Most first downs rushing: Nevada, 28 (Previous: 26—Oklahoma (40) vs. Auburn (22) (Sugar, Jan. 1, 1972); Navy (51) vs. Colorado St. (30) (Poinsettia, 2005).

-Most first downs rushing, both teams: Nevada-Arizona, 38 (Previous: 36—Colorado (47) [24] & Alabama (33) [12] (Liberty, 1969); Miami (FL) (46) [16] & Texas (3) [20] (Cotton, 1991).

An auspicious beginning to the postseason, no?

• Further bowltyme antics. In case you missed it last week, follow along with Stewart Mandel’s Bowl Pickoff right over here.

• Actual playoff happenings. Mount Union continues to do Mount Union things, gaining another D-III championship on Friday night … Valdosta State wrecked Winston-Salem State in the Division II title game … Sam Houston State and North Dakota State will face off for the FCS championship.

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One day in the postseason, as told through social media. Recap Arizona’s win over Nevada and Utah State’s rout of Toledo with Campus Union’s Snap Judgments.

DON WE NOW OUR BASIC APPAREL #NewMexicoBowl

— Holly Anderson (@SIHolly) December 15, 2012

@siholly Since I’m eating potatoes during the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, do I eat my sweatshirts during the Gildan New Mexico Bowl?

— Jacob Bounds (@QuivPonySwag) December 15, 2012

If you stare at the end zones of the New Mexico Bowl long enough, you will literally go blind: twitter.com/lukezim/status…

— Luke Zimmermann (@lukezim) December 15, 2012

I actually rushed home to see the New Mexico Bowl end zones. They did not disappoint. I’m using it to calibrate my TV. #ff0000

— Tom McGrath (@TCMcG) December 15, 2012

the gildan new mexico crystal bowl presented by mountain dew code red

— Martin Rickman (@martinrickman) December 15, 2012

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Do not adjust your monitors: That’s a defensive player (Marquis Flowers, No. 2 above) saving the day for Arizona. (AP)

Quick hits on the first Saturday of the 2012 college football bowl season. Recap the best Twitter action from today’s bowl games with the Campus Union Laff Riot.

• New Mexico Bowl: Arizona 49, Nevada 48: Just because this is almost exactly what we were expecting out of the New Mexico Bowl doesn’t mean it was any less satisfying to watch. Like the season proper, bowl season will contain all manner of football. There will be scoring barrages and slogs, footraces under the south Florida sun and grinding stops in the snow. But we can’t think of anything more proper to kick off the postseason than a fireworks show.

It took the Wolf Pack just more than two minutes to score their first touchdown, which seemed an appropriate length of time given Arizona’s defense. The manner of the scoring was also not unexpected, with Stefphon Jefferson motoring for a 16-yard rushing touchdown. What we did not expect to see was Arizona punting on the ensuing possession … and again on the Wildcats’ second possession. With a 17-yard scoring pass from Cody Fajardo to tight end Zach Sudfeld, Nevada went up 14-0, and the Wildcats gamely dug a deeper hole for themselves by fumbling the kickoff return. The Pack recovered, and on the very next play from scrimmage, Fajardo and Sudfeld teamed up again for a 28-yard score. (This all despite Sudfeld, according to the broadcast team, suffering from the lingering effects of stomach flu.) This being Nevada and Arizona, all this took place in the first 11 minutes of the ballgame.

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Who will succeed Steve Addazio in snuggling the New Mexico Bowl trophy? (AP)

The 2012 New Mexico Bowl is just hours away. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help. (For an X’s and O’s breakdown, click through to Zac Ellis’ game preview.)

• What’s all this, then? The New Mexico Bowl kicks off the 2012-2013 postseason. You are going to want to watch it, because for a mid-December bowl game, it features some fine pointy football. The nation’s top two rushers, Ka’Deem Carey of Arizona and Stefphon Jefferson of Nevada, are each averaging more than 140 yards per game on the ground.

• Where will this game be played? University Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, home of the Lobos and host to the bowl since its inception in 2006.

• Have the Lobos ever been in this game? Twice, actually, in the bowl’s first two years. New Mexico is 1-1 in the New Mexico Bowl.

• When is it on television? The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET; an 11 a.m. local kickoff. The action will be televised on ESPN (and in 3D, for some reason) and streamed on WatchESPN.

• Whom does it feature? The Mountain West versus the Pac-12.

• What about this year? The 7-5 Nevada Wolfpack accepted their bowl invitation before they’d even played their final Mountain West game. They’ll face 7-5 Arizona out of the Pac-12. This will mark the Pack’s second appearance in this particular postseason contest; they lost 23-0 to New Mexico in 2007.

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• With a Champoline, bien sûr. Shutdown Fullback welcomes the 2012 postseason by drinking on  trampoline and discussing (sort of) the impending New Mexico Bowl:

A felicitous bowl season to all.

• Oh, you wanted football. Bill Connelly breaks down this weekend’s bowl action in New Mexico and Potato previews that contain maths.

• “Actual division names TBD.” Time to dredge up all those Ro-Tel-infested, be-Barbasoled threads concerning the infinite list of possibilites that would have made better division names than Leaders and Legends, for redistricting time in the Big Ten is upon us. This will in no way end with heartbreak and nationwide derision, particularly not if they go with that Hunger Games-inspired “inner-outer” arrangement.

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