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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Three years into this shindig and we’re still not producing football-shaped macaroni for the occasion? I’m sorry; I thought this was AMERICA.

The 2012 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl is just hours away. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help. You might also be hungry, which unfortunately we cannot help you with. Maybe try Kraft. (For an X’s and O’s breakdown, click through to Matt Dollinger’s game preview.)

• What’s all this, then? The 11th edition of That Bowl That’s Played in San Francisco, which began life in 2002 as the San Francisco Bowl and then spent a few years as the Emerald Bowl before acquiring its Kraft sponsorship (and hunger-fightin’ powers) in 2010.

• Where will this game be played? AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif., home of your reigning World Series champion San Francisco Giants. That’s not a football team. No, it is not. So this game is held in a baseball stadium? Yup, with the south end zone along the first base line and both teams gathered on the same sideline. There’s a barrier separating them at the 50, presumably to prevent any signal-stealing, intersquad “I’m not touching you” battles or other unsportsmanlike conduct. Why are both these baseball-based football games occupying a single midday timeslot? So even when ESPN is on commercial break, you can see linebackers churning up basepaths on ESPN2? Seriously, we got nothing.

• When is it on television? Coverage begins at 4 p.m. ET. Dave Pasch and Brian Griese will be in the booth, with Jenn Brown on the sideline, presumably the one occupied by people.

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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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Eyes on the prize, Colby Cameron. (AP)

Our weekly highlight show of lesser FBS luminaries. Non-AQs and independents, be welcome.

• Broncos and Bulldogs and bustin’. If you follow our pre- and midseason Crystal Ball projections, you know how hilariously bad we are at predicting which teams will land in which bowl games. But after a second loss, even Boise State’s new-money brand-name recognition won’t keep the Broncos afloat in the polls. So what does this mean for our early-season busting favorites, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs? Quoth our designated postseason prognosticator, Stewart Mandel: “Louisiana Tech, No. 20 in the standings this week, may be that group’s lone hope, but the Bulldogs need to beat 8-2 Utah State in two weeks, climb at least four spots and hope BCS No. 16 Nebraska loses so that Tech finishes ahead of an AQ champ.” Same as it ever was when it comes to non-AQs with aspirations of crashing the party: Win big, and hope bigger. A perfect run through November won’t be easy for LaTech. Texas State should pose no problem in Week 11, but neither Utah State nor San Jose State are any kind of pushover.

Sonny Dykes, as ever, prefers to marvel at where he’s gotten this team once he gets there, and only then: “If we go and do not play well Saturday, Texas State will beat us and that will end all of the discussion. We have to worry about playing well this week, and like I said, when it is all over with, we will kind of look up and say, ‘Wow, here we are.’”

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Illinois players, coaches and staff helped prepare and distribute meals for the needy Friday in San Francisco. (AP)

The 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger 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 Stewart Mandel’s game preview.)

• What’s all this, then? Welcome, one and all, to the 10th annual Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl!

• Can they even say that when the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl is exactly one year old? They can, apparently. The former Emerald Bowl turned over title sponsorship in 2010.

• Any particular reason I should feel bad for making fun of this bowl’s clunky name? There is, actually!

Once again, Kraft Foods is working with Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief organization, to fight hunger but the 2011 goal is to help donate 25 million meals. Ultimately, this donation will help the more than 50 million Americans who live in food insecure households.

• Totally fine to be petrified of its mascots, though, right? Absolutely. Don’t stand with your back to any ballroom during bowl week activities, lest the Kool-Aid man and a bipedal Oreo creep up on you.

• Where will this game be played? San Francisco’s AT&T Park, permanent home of the baseball Giants and temporary home of Cal football during stadium renovations.

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