The holiday season in the South means more than praise, presents and eggnog. December in the South means, if we are lucky, more college football.

Two of the state’s Big 3 — Mississippi State and Southern Miss — will be bowling. Ole Miss, which could not muster the necessary six wins despite a star quarterback and high expectations, will wait until next year at least.

Having Southern Miss in a bowl is nothing new. The Golden Eagles, who will be playing in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Dec. 21 have gone to nine bowl games for nine consecutive years and 13 in the last 14 seasons.

And while the Beef ‘O’ Brady Bowl does not carry the prestige of the Sugar or Cotton bowls, it still means an extra game, national TV exposure and a handsome payout.

Mississippi State’s run, though, is even more remarkable. The Bulldogs have a second-year coach, no All-Americans or even superstars. What the Bulldogs have, though, is a scrappy team that won eight games in the brutal Western Division of the Southeastern Conference.

Mississippi State likely is headed to the Chick-fil-A Bowl (Formerly the Peach Bowl) in Atlanta. The Bulldogs played in the Peach Bowl in 1992, ’93 and ’99 — the latter featuring former Warren Central standout Josh Morgan.

The Chick-fil-A Bowl, played each New Year’s Eve at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, has garnered national acclaim and is one of a handful of games on TV on New Year’s Eve.

Having all three of the Big 3 in postseason bowl games would truly be a holiday treat. Having two of three, though, is nothing short of fantastic. Consider Mississippi has 2.5 million residents, but has three Division I-playing football schools, seven small colleges playing football and 14 junior colleges. The talent pie is divided too many ways, yet our teams consistently find a way to be victorious on the football field.

In this state, the Egg Bowl should not be the last game of the year.

Thankfully, in 2010, it won’t be.