Another regular season over and another bowl season is set.  I like the matchups for the Big 12 this year.  Yes, no two teams are in BCS bowls but there is a chunky 8 teams going bowling.  I don’t want to hear the yipping from Missouri fans this year as their game against Iowa is way bigger than the game Nebraska has against Washington.  Kansas State’s in the first ever Pinstripe Bowl against Syracuse.  That should be a fun one too.  We have the Army vs Navy game and then the week after is all bowls.  Right now, it’s the Crib Sheet:

• Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon is your Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and Oklahoma defensive end Jeremy Beal is you Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.  I knew about Blackmon’s dominance but wasn’t so sure about Beal’s.  Congrats to both.
• I was ignoring it but, but now I can’t help but comment on the Miami coaching situation.  Randy Shannon was canned and a couple of candidates have cropped up.  That’s not exciting.  What IS exciting is that Donald Trump wrote a letter to Miami to hire Mike Leach.  The U might just become pirates.
• Beano Cook is the 2011 recipient of the 38th Bert McGrane Award, which I guess goes to football sports writers each year.  I listen to him on the ESPN College Football Podcast each week and has quickly become one of my favorite sports media personalities.  Congrats to him too.
• Cam Newton is cleared of any allegations by the NCAA.  Looks like his dad can’t hang around the program now, though.  It looks like the sabotage job by Mississippi State didn’t work too well.  I’m now pegging Auburn as the favorite to win the BCS title game.
• I didn’t pay attention to the RichRod situation at Michigan until now.  He’s crying again and this time it’s about how happy he is being the head coach for the Wolverines.  I ignored the talk before because I thought he was pretty much safe, but this latest crying makes me wonder if he’s in trouble.  He may be.
• It’s one thing when an undefeated non-AQ conference team doesn’t make a BCS Bowl, but it’s another when a 6-6 AQ conference team like Arizona State gets denied a bowl appearance.  I thought the slots were so abundant this year that there might have been a 5-7 team in a bowl?  Oh well, it looks like they needed one more game.
• The site for a new College Football Hall of Fame will be by Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia.  It will open around March of 2013.  Make plans now!
• Just in case you were wondering, the expansion search committee for the Big 10 that they will not actively engage in expansion for awhile.  Yeah, right.
• The Cincinnati Bearcat was citied for starting a snowball fight during the Pitt game last Saturday.  It’s a good thing they had a backup mascot ready for the rest of the game.
• The Bowls are set!  Here’s the Big 12 version.  I wonder how many Missouri Tigers fans will complain.  Oh I know Nebraska fans will, but they are gone after this game so their voice is a little quieter.
• Coaching changes are starting to fire up now that the regular season is over.  First off, outgoing Colorado hired from Washington Redskins assistant coach and alumni Jon Embree.  On the flip side, long time Texas offensive coordinator Greg Davis resigned due to the poor performance on the field that saw the Longhorns miss a bowl for the first time in forever.
• Rob Long of Syracuse has a benign brain tumor and will undergo surgery.  He will not play the Pinstripe Bowl.  As being someone who’s had someone close go through the same thing, all I can say is that my thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.
• I was wondering when this would happen:  two  men stole the mascot head of Lee Corso.  It’s now back and the dudes are in trouble.