CROSSVILLE — It's that time of year when the avid football fan is watching their favorite team end its regular season, seeing said-team is going to a bowl, and watching the coaching shuffle begin.

The bowl tie-ins will be determined after this weekend's contests, as there are six conference championship games — Mid-American (Ohio vs. Northern Illinois), PAC-12 (UCLA vs. Oregon), Conference USA (Houston vs. Southern Mississippi), SEC (LSU vs. Georgia), ACC (Virginia Tech vs. Clemson), and Big Ten (Wisconsin vs. Michigan State).

There are other games to determine conference titles and for bowl tie-ins— Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State (Big 12), Cincinnati vs. UConn (Big East), West Virginia and South Florida (Big East) and Pittsburgh vs. Syracuse (Big East). There are tiebreakers in place to determine the Big East champion.

The SEC has these  bowl tie-ins — Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl, AutoZone Liberty Bowl, Chick-fil-A Bowl, Outback Bowl, Capital One Bowl, Gator Bowl, AT&T Cotton Bowl and BBVA Compass Bowl, plus the BCS national championship game, which is projected to have L.S.U. vs. Alabama.

The Sugar Bowl could get an SEC team, depending on the SEC title game.

The remaining bowl eligible teams are Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Arkansas. Their respective bowls slots will be determined by the outcome of the LSU-Georgia game Saturday.

Vanderbilt and Mississippi State have been projected to go to the Liberty and Music City bowls or vice versa.

Bowl season begins Dec. 17 with three games and extends to Jan. 9 with the BCS championship game. Bowl-bound teams must have six wins.

USC is ineligible for the post-season.

The coaching shuffle has begun, as former Florida coach Urban Meyer has been named as Ohio State's coach. There are openings at UCLA, Penn State, Memphis and Kansas.

Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach was hired as the new coach at Washington State, while former Michigan and West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriquez was hired at Arizona.

Will Tennessee Coach Derek Dooley make some changes in his coaching staff, as recruiting gets hot and heavy for next season?

After a 6-6 record in his first season at Vanderbilt, there is talk of extending Coach James Franklin's contract. The 'Dores should be contenders for the SEC East title next year.

Will someday Peyton Manning show up on the Tennessee sideline as an assistant coach when his playing career is over with the Colts?

Kudos goes to Tennessee Tech Coach Watson Brown for taking the Golden Eagles into the playoffs, after winning the OVC title.

Coach Russ Huesman's UTC Mocs finished the season at 5-6, which included three 28-27 losses, but the third-year coach loses three-year starting quarterback B.J.Coleman and wide receiver Joel Bradford to graduation this spring.

Redshirt freshman Terrell Robinson and sophomore Graham Nichols will be two of the candidates to start at quarterback next season for the Mocs. He started some games while Coleman was out with an injury.

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Locally, the Blue Cross Bowl for the TSSAA state championships is under way at Tennessee Tech. The DII-A (USJ vs. St. George's) and DII-AA (Baylor vs. Ensworth) were played Thursday night.

Three games are scheduled Friday — 1A (Wayne County vs. South Pittsburgh), 3A (CAK vs. Milan), and 5A (Powell vs. Henry County); and three games on Saturday — 2A (Friendship vs. Dresden), 4A (Greeneville vs. Maplewood), and 6A (Maryville vs. Whitehaven).

The currrent four-year alignment period ends following the 2012-'13 school year. Figures for the fall 2012 enrollment will determine the classifications for the next four-year cycle (2013-'17). If a school has a 20 percent change in enrollment, it can request to move up or down after two years in that particular cycle.

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Basketball is under way on the high school and college level. CCHS and SMHS are off to good starts, and will be busy during December. CCHS has no home games, and will play at SMHS on Dec. 9.

Both CCHS teams and the SMHS Lady Panthers will be playing in the Sun Drop Romp Dec. 19-23 in McMinnville.

CCHS will be playing in the White County Tournament after Christmas, while the Panthers will be in the Super 16 at Bearden. Both schools tipoff district play in January.

Both wrestling teams have a full slate of matches during December.

Go out and support your favorite teams.

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Congratulations to T.D. Schlafer (correct spelling) for being named to the AAC All-Academic Soccer team. He is a senior at Tennessee Wesleyan College.

(Ed Greif is the Chronicle sports editor and his column appears regularly.)