Those brave souls in central Georgia sworn to call it the Peach Bowl until your dying breaths, clutch your Bill Pullman catechisms and pray for your brothers and sisters to the southwest. In a coup not dared even by the hardest hearts of the Poulan Weed-Eater cartel, the Independence Bowl has been absorbed entirely by its title sponsor of four years and will be known merely as the AdvoCare V100 Bowl from here on out.

We always had a weird fondness for the Independence Bowl, based entirely on an incident a few years back involving our writing partner making fun of Shreveport’s waterways in an article, him being beset on all sides by raging Shreveport defenders pointing out with increasing cattiness that Kevin Costner owned a home there, and us taking that comment thread and making slam poetry out of it. (The course of building a career online never did run smoothly.) That fondness disappeared entirely the first time we set foot in Independence Stadium, but it’s still kind of sad to see any sense of place done away with entirely — even if that place once trapped us in a press box elevator with eight assistant coaches wearing tracksuits made of non-breathable fabrics.

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

Now that ULM has gone bowling, every team in the country minus the 4 that joined in 2012 has reached an FBS bowl game.

— Paul Myerberg (@PaulMyerberg) December 28, 2012

#MACtion on a midday afternoon, what a sweet, sweet sound.

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) December 28, 2012

Not sure how it looks on TV, but #ShreveKota has warmed up, and while it’s overcast, there’s no rain. All pluses for ULM.

— Steven Godfrey (@38Godfrey) December 28, 2012

I love that this bowl game is sponsored by a pyramid scheme.

— edsbs (@edsbs) December 28, 2012

@nastinchka The #IndyBowl just isn’t as fun when there’s not a subplot of whether or not a bird of prey has escaped into greater Shreveport.

— Paul B. Crk (@PaulBryantC) December 28, 2012

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Here is a photo of Ohio coach Frank Solich smiling. We have never seen its equal. (AP)

The 2012 Independence 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? You have to go to Shreveport to go to this game, and we’re not about to do that. The last time we set foot in Shreveport, the elevator to the Independence Stadium press box broke and we were trapped inside with eight assistant coaches wearing track suits constructed of non-breathable fabrics. BUT: The town is known for its drive-thru daiquiri joints, if that sways you. It very nearly sways us. Anyway. This is the Independence Bowl. It is no longer sponsored by a brand of weed killer.

• When is this game on television? Coverage begins at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN, featuring the voices of Dave Lamont, Kelly Stouffer and Cara Capuano. The game will also be streamed on WatchESPN.

• Whom does it feature? Currently, SEC versus ACC.

• What about this year? A treat! Two of our favorite Profiterole programs, the Ohio Bobcats and Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks, will dance in Shreveport this night.

• Does the bowl have a social media presence? Technically, yes, although as of Thursday night it had sent out precisely four tweets in the space of a week leading up to the game. That’s just its INDEPENDENT spirit. Don’t box in the Independence Bowl. Nobody likes a smartass, dear reader.

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• Oh, NOW you don’t like the BCS. Not before. Just now. Northern Illinois is bound for the Orange Bowl as the first team from the MAC to earn a BCS bowl bid. We, as you might imagine, are delighted. Others are not. In other words, it’s just like every other BCS selection reaction ever.

Herbstreit calls NIU’s BCS berth “A sad state of college football.”

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 3, 2012

Herbstreit on #BCS selection show: “To put Northern Illinois in the BCS is a joke.” — Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) December 3, 2012

Say what you will about NIU, its bid was automatic, just like Wisconsin’s and Louisville’s. NIU ranks ahead of both in every poll. — Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) December 3, 2012

“I can’t believe they let NIU into the sacrosanct Orange Bowl.” <—someone who has never watched the Orange Bowl — edsbs (@edsbs) December 2, 2012

Rule that got NIU in was established to help defend BCS from anti-trust lawsuit. ESPN acting like it’s a football decision — Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) December 3, 2012

Is there any other sport in America where people DESPISE the underdog? Any sport in the world? — Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 3, 2012

Again, according to every current human poll and a consensus of the BCS computers, NIU’s not even the worst BCS bowl team this year. — Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) December 3, 2012

To steal a @billsimmons metaphor, a lot of the NIU whining seems like people who are also mad the house doesn’t win more in blackjack.

— John Infante (@John_Infante) December 3, 2012

For takes longer than 140 characters, see Samuel Chi’s “Deal with it” and Matt Hinton’s “Blame the Big Ten and Big East.” The final regular-season BCS standings can be found here; the tell-all Coaches’ Poll results are here. For our full bowl schedule, click this way.

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Washington’s Kasen Williams provided one of Thursday’s only moments of offensive flash. (AP)

• Washington 17, No. 8 Stanford 13. Will this be one of those delightful years that sees every highly regarded team picked off, one by one? What, like you don’t want to see a Minnesota-Oregon State Rose Bowl? Cartoon beavers and gophers, clutching flower stems in their teeth! Don’t hate this beautiful inevitability.

We do not quite credit Stanford’s Trent Murphy with the elusive FAT GUY TOUCHDOWN, but he certainly is burly, and his interception return provided some of the only entertainment to be found in Thursday night’s matchup. Stewart Mandel, bless him, actually watched the whole thing and wrote some words about it. Honor him. [BOX | RECAP]

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All right, SEC, now you’re just showing off. But at what cost?

According to a Brett McMurphy report, the conference is adding a 10th bowl tie-in, shackling itself to Shreveport in the process: The Independence Bowl (né Poulan Weed-Eater Independence Bowl) will pit a lesser SEC squad against an ACC team in 2012 and 2013. Tangentially, conference partisans and mid-grade football aficionados have BYU to thank for setting off a small ripple of bowl realignments by inking a deal with the Poinsettia and Kraft Fight Hunger Bowls for those two seasons. (Pause for a moment, if you would, to applaud any team’s willingness to ever be associated with the Fight Hunger Bowl again after last season. Right charitable of the Cougars, it is.)

This invites the obvious question: Will further realignment shuffling ever place a Big Ten team in Shreveport for Christmas on a regular tie-in basis? This could be a fine opportunity to settle all that inter-conference snow game bickering:

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Many considered the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl between 6-7 UCLA and 6-6 Illinois a mockery. (They weren't wrong.) (Icon SMI)

A report by CBS’ Brett McMurphy on a fledgling movement among college football’s power brokers to restrict postseason eligibility to teams with winning records has touched off flights of fancy over which bowl games are most shrilly begging to be offed. Our pals at SB Nation have charted out the seven games ripest to be snuffed out in a world where 7-5 is the absolute floor for winter ball. And we say to you, titans of our industry: Stay your scything hands, and let the corrupt decadence of the postseason fester and flourish for what little time its current form has left.

George Mallory would watch the New Mexico Bowl

From the McMurphy report: “Fewer bowls would actually benefit the overall bowl system, a non-BCS bowl official said. ‘It would make the existing bowls more valuable and drive up the sponsorships and television ratings for the survivors,’ the official said.” We find the truth of this difficult to ascertain. So because the Mountain Dew Icy Shardblast Bowl on December 19 is now a thing of the past, we are, as consumers, expected to be more excited for the DO YOU GUYS KNOW HOW TO POST VIDEOS TO FACEBOOK Bowl (presented by Facebook) on the 20th?

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Missouri was passed over by all Big 12-affiliated bowls after electing to join the SEC. (AP)

The 2011 Independence Bowl is just hours away. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help. (For an Xs and Os breakdown, check out Mallory Rubin’s game preview.)

• Where will this game be played? Independence Stadium, Shreveport, Louisiana, which once served as the home field of a CFL team! (You read that right.)

• When is it on television? Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday, December 26. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

• Whom does it feature? Current agreements match up the Mountain West and ACC.

• What about this year? Change-up! The ACC sends 7-5 UNC while the Big 12 manages to thrust one of its eight bowl-eligible teams into a game, in the form of 7-5 Missouri.

• That sounds like a lot of work just to have to spend Christmas in Shreveport. The Tigers probably should have thought of that before losing to Arizona State.

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