The bowl lineups are complete, which creates a bunch of trivia for the casual fan.

The NCAA has approved 34 bowls this season, and that means 68 Bowl Championship Series teams will have the benefit of an extended season.

Coaches like the bowl season mostly because it allows them several weeks of additional practice time. There are 119 schools that compete in football in the BCS, leaving only 51 of those teams out in the cold.

The bowl games begin Saturday when Navy and Wake Forest face off in the Eagle Bank Bowl in Washington, D.C., followed by three more bowls that day.

With the exception of Dec. 22 and Christmas day, the bowls will continue uninterrupted through Jan. 3. Games will follow on Jan. 5 and 6, with the climax on Jan. 8 when Oklahoma and Florida play for the BCS National Championship.

Most know that the Southeastern Conference is sending eight teams to bowls this year. For the first time, the Atlantic Coast Conference qualified 10 teams for bowls.

However, the bowls the SEC teams are in have a total payout of $50.35 million, while the ACT teams are in bowls paying $30.875 million total. The Big 12 Conference leads in that category, with their seven bowl teams playing in bowls with a total payout of $51.55 million.

The Big 10 Conference trails the top two conferences with a $47.025 million payout. There is a total bowl payout this season of about $228 million.

All of the major conferences split the take-home pay among their members, which means Mississippi State will participate in the money.

I’m glad to see State has hired a new coach. I think he is a good hire.

Vanderbilt linebacker Patrick Benoist, who has deep Natchez roots, has been listed on the All-SEC second team. Tennessee’s Eric Berry, also with Natchez roots, was a unanimous choice for first-team All-SEC honors and was runner-up for the national best defensive back honor.

The SEC, along with the Big 12, Big 10, Pac 10 and ACC, has assigned officials to four bowl games this season. The SEC officials will work the GMAC Bowl, the Insight Bowl, the Meineke Bowl (in Charlotte) and the Rose Bowl.

Years ago, bowl allocations were made by the NCAA based on the number of teams a conference had playing in bowls. Assignments allowed a conference to send a half crew of officials to bowl games according to the number of teams that conference had playing in bowls.

Since neutral officials are now the rule, assigning officials is much more complicated and the old rule may or may not remain in effect. In any case, officials all over eagerly await the announcing of bowl assignments.

I well remember the thrill of my first bowl assignment. It was the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, the first bowl game for many SEC officials.

It did not matter who was playing — the thrill to be there was enough.

Later, my career ended after a couple of Fiesta Bowls, including the 1987 National Championship game between Penn State and Miami.

Mississippi SEC officials Stan Murray from Columbus, George Ranager from Meridian, and Brad Freemen from Oxford will be busy this bowl season.

Murray and Ranager have officiated a number of bowl games, but I know they are still excited about this year’s assignments.

And, That’s Official.

Al Graning writes a weekly column for The Democrat. Contact him at alanward39157@aol.com.