The story of one day in the college football postseason, as told through social media.

GAAAMMMMMMEEEEEDDDDDDAYYYYYYYYYY?

— The Solid Verbal (@SolidVerbal) December 29, 2012

It’s the last Saturday of the season. Except for next week’s Compass Bowl. So, last Saturday.

— Jason Kirk (@JasonKirkSBN) December 29, 2012

drunj RT @osmattmurschel: Wonder if the @russellathbowl has survived last nights hangover from the game?

— RussellAthleticBowl (@RussellAthBowl) December 29, 2012

Big flakes flying in Yankee Stadium for expected offensive show!! twitter.com/cbfowler/statu…

— Chris Fowler (@cbfowler) December 29, 2012

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Today it is Rice’s turn to try and catch Cody Getz. Have fun with that. (AP)

The 2012 Armed Forces 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 R.J. Rico’s game preview.)

• What’s all this, then? Not to be confused with the Military Bowl. This is the one sponsored by helicopters.

• Where will this game be played? After a two-year hiatus in SMU’s stadium, necessitated by renovations projects, the Armed Forces Bowl returns to Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, home of the TCU Horned Frogs.

• When is it on television? Coverage begins at the unfortunate hour of 11:45 a.m., making for a 10:45 local kickoff. The game will be televised on ESPN, featuring the vocal stylings of Beth Mowins, Joey Galloway and Lewis Johnson, and streamed on WatchESPN.

• Whom does it feature? A rotating cast of tie-ins, including Conference USA, the Mountain West, Army and Navy.

• What about this year? At least one Armed Force! The Air Force Falcons (6-6) will face Rice’s 6-6 Owls. This will be the Falcons’ fourth appearance in the Armed Forces Bowl. Does Air Force enjoy a natural advantage in a bowl sponsored by giant flying machines? Not so: The Falcons are 1-2 in this game.

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Jordan Lynch, pinballer of the year. (AP)

Our weekly highlight show of lesser FBS luminaries. Non-AQs and independents, be welcome. WE HAVE MUCH TO DISCUSS.

• On teams about to move themselves outside our purview. Like we said this morning, we had no sooner finished updating our magnificent work of college football realignment art than word came down we might need to add Middle Tennessee State to it. And right as we were wrapping up this here column, Florida Atlantic joins the fray, chasing FIU to Conference USA. Consider this another plea for a dead period in conference realignment, for the sake of everyone’s collective multitasking abilities, at least until the bowls are over. What on earth else are we going to talk about in February if we get all this conference-hopping sorted out before Christmas?

And what to do with some of these teams going forward? We have a while to figure it out, obviously, but how to cover this ballooning middle class created by the sinking of the Big East? Will the Blue Raiders graduate from Profiterole-dom as Temple did last year? We’ll probably dedicate way more thought to this than we should; but, again, best to save that for the offseason when we have nothing better to do.

• Conference races drawing to a close. Where we’re at heading into that weird hybrid weekend of regular and postseason games: Kent State and Northern Illinois meet Friday night in Detroit for the MAC title game. Tulsa hosts Central Florida this Saturday for the C-USA championship. The Mountain West remains deadlocked in that wacky three-way tie between San Diego State, Fresno State and Boise State, with only the Broncos’ Saturday date with Nevada standing any chance of breaking it. The top two teams in the Sun Belt, Arkansas State and Middle Tennessee, play a final regular-season game Saturday that may as well be the conference title game. Utah State has clinched the WAC title outright with last week’s victory over Idaho. And Army and Navy will meet a week from Saturday for the right to hoist the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, with Air Force out of the race entirely for the first time since 2005.

• Bowltyme! Stewart Mandel’s latest postseason projections can be found here, along with a freshly-updated chart listing every accepted bowl invitation. Profiteroles playing this holiday season include Nevada in the New Mexico Bowl, Utah State in the Potato, San Diego State and BYU in the Poinsettia, Louisiana in the New Orleans, SMU in the Hawaii, Air Force in the Armed Forces and Navy in the Fight Hunger.

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Armed Forces Bowl attendees really step it up in the face paint department. (Icon SMI)

The 2011 Armed Forces Bowl is just days away. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help. (For an Xs and Os breakdown, check out Matt Dollinger’s game preview.)

• What’s all this, then? OK, you know how there are two militaryish bowls on the postseason schedule? This is the older one, sponsored by Bell Helicopter, that didn’t used to carry the unfortunate monikers of “EagleBank Bowl” and “Congressional Bowl.”

• Where will this game be played? Gerald Ford Stadium, University Park, Texas, home to SMU. You might recall the Mustangs themselves played in this bowl game last season, and lost to Army, 16-14.

• When is it on television? Kickoff is scheduled for noon ET, Friday, December 30. The game will be televised on ESPN.

• Whom does it feature? Typically, some combination of Conference USA, Mountain West, Army and Navy.

• What about this year? This year, 9-3 BYU’s No. 16 defense will contend with 8-4 Tulsa’s No. 23 offense.

• Might Tulsa actually be good? We have this creeping suspicion that maybe it is; those four losses came at the hands of both Oklahomas, Boise State and Houston.

• What about BYU? Reply hazy; try again later.

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