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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We’re taking this Nielsen research to its logically irrational extent and crowning the 2012 Belk Bowl the hit of the postseason. (AP)

Impressive science-doing by the folks at Nielsen, who’ve determined that the more people are talking about a television show, the more people might tend to be watching that show:

By analyzing Tweets about live TV, the study confirmed a relationship between Twitter and TV ratings. It also identified Twitter as one of three statistically significant variables (in addition to prior-year rating and advertising spend) to align with TV ratings.

Honestly, we could’ve told them as much by pointing them to our Twitter feed during the Belk Bowl:

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We did go back in the archives for a photo of the crystal football, but just look at what we found. Can you behold Bob Stoops’ 2004 hair without your breath catching in wonder? Just marvelous. (AP)

A Friday announcement out of the lair of the evolving BCS system brings news straight out of a sports-business Cinderella tale: All non-BCS bowls have been invited to “to consider whether they are interested in submitting a proposal to host the national semifinals and other bowl games”!

First, a reminder on how the postseason will work from the 2014-15 season on:

The Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl have already been chosen to host the first national semifinals of the playoff on January 1, 2015. The Orange Bowl and a yet-to-be named bowl will host the semifinals in the second year of the playoff. The two bowls that will host semifinals in the third year have yet to be named. Bids are being sought for the three to-be-named bowls.

If that sounds like a lot of very vague language, well, let’s consult our designated oracle on the matter:

BCS says 31 bowls may bid for right to host semifinals in playoff. Doesn't matter: 3 open spots will go to Fiesta, Cotton & Chick-fil-A—
Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) March 15, 2013

Righto. Will this stop us from creating Power Rankings of the bowl games we most wish to contend for host slots? It will not, because it is both March and Friday:

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The story of one postseason college football contest, as told through the magic social media.

Duke in a bowl game! It’s here! Duke in a bowl game!

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 27, 2012

“Hell yes it’s Duke Football.” Just felt like repeating it because we may never hear this again in our lifetimes.

— Amanda Rykoff (@amandarykoff) December 27, 2012

For saying “Duke football” and “hell yes” in the same sentence, we ride for David Cutcliffe this evening.

— Holly Anderson (@SIHolly) December 27, 2012

Phone autocorrects Cutcliffe to cut life, which he should get tatted across his stomach #CutLife

— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) December 27, 2012

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Is the creature on the left the elusive “Belk”? Probably, right?

The 2012 Belk 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 Mallory Rubin’s game preview.)

• What’s all this, then? The 2012 game will mark the second Belk Bowl, abandoning close to a decade of automotive-related title sponsors. And what is a Belk? A department store.

• Where will this game be played? Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

• When is it on television? Coverage begins on ESPN at 6:30 p.m. ET, with Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham and Jeannine Edwards bringing you the action.

• Whom does it feature? ACC versus Big East.

• What about this year? 9-3 Cincinnati versus 6-6 Duke. Duke’s goin’ bowling!! Please. The term is “Belking.”

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If this shot of a Belk interior doesn't get you excited for Tuesday's Louisville-NC State Belk Bowl clash, nothing will. (ZUMAPRESS.com)

The 2011 Belk Bowl is just a day away. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help. (For an Xs and Os breakdown, check out Bill Trocchi’s game preview.)

• What’s all this, then? The awkwardly monikered Meineke Car Care Bowl is no more. Meineke now sponsors the Texas Bowl, which is styled the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, as though there may someday be as many Meineke Bowls as there are states. This is the department store’s first year of title sponsorship.

• Where will this game be played? Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium, home to the Carolina Panthers and the ACC Championship Game.

• When is it on television? Kickoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, December 27. The game will be televised on ESPN.

• Whom does it feature? The ACC and Big East provide squads from somewhere in the middle of their conference standings.

• What about this year? Got a real barn-burner in the offing here, with the 7-5 stylings of NC State and Louisville.

• What sorts of football things do I have to look forward to from these teams? The Cardinals and Wolfpack boast, respectively, the 104th and 93rd-ranked offenses in the nation, with defenses that are statistically above average.

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