Eight games in five days. Never has the Big 12 Conference had so many football teams playing in such a tight postseason time span.

With so many games being played so close together, you may have a tough time keeping track. Remember, there are three games today, two Friday, one Saturday, none Sunday and two Monday.

Here’s a capsule look at today’s games:

Independence Bowl – Thanks in large part to that amazing second-half comeback against Kansas, Oklahoma State became bowl-eligible and earned a trip to Shreveport, La., a popular destination city for lovers of land-locked ports. The Cowboys will face an Alabama team eager to prove it can win without Bear Bryant.

Texas Bowl – Kansas State battles Rutgers in classic duel of rural and urban cultures. Silo Tech boasts one of the best freshman quarterbacks in the country in Josh Freeman, but Rutgers aka New Jersey U. is avowed favorite of James Gandolfini aka Tony Soprano and, ah well, fuh-ged-about-it.

Holiday Bowl – Texas A&M, another team that came from behind to beat Kansas, tangles with California in San Diego, as delightful a bowl site as there is. The Aggies have a 900-pound tailback, but otherwise are pretty lackluster, as usual. The Golden Bears have something in common with Kansas. No one has ever seen a real golden bear or a live jayhawk.

Now for a look at Friday’s two games:

Sun Bowl – Oregon State will chase Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel, but the Beavers probably won’t catch the Tigers’ talented quarterback. How this loaded Mizzou team lost four games is beyond me, but tradition may have had something to do with it. MU players have battled a flu bug while in El Paso, or maybe it was something they ate across the river in Juarez.

Insight Bowl – Texas Tech’s Bob Knight will go for his : oops, sorry : Mike Leach is the Red Raiders’ football coach, and he runs the ball about as often as Knight throws a chair. On the flip side, Minnesota’s Glen Mason believes three bad things can happen when you throw – an incompletion, an interception and a wasted rushing attempt.

Here’s a look at Saturday’s game:

Alamo Bowl – Texas heads across the road to San Antonio, where Iowa figures to become the city’s most famous victim since Davy Crockett. The Longhorns are favored by only nine points, but should romp in this one if Colt McCoy and Limas Sweed (don’t you just love that name) are on the same paragraph.

Finally, the two Monday contests:

Cotton Bowl – They say tickets for the Nebraska-Auburn tussle are going for as little as $10, a factor no doubt fueled by a 10:30 a.m. kickoff – barely enough time to suck down a Whataburger breakfast taquito – a relic of a stadium and a matchup made to stir the cockles of your big toe.

Fiesta Bowl – First the Sooners lost quarterback Rhett Bomar, then running back Adrian Peterson went down. What did they do? Just win, boomer. But can Oklahoma muster enough want-to to knock off a Boise State team that felt slighted by the BCS and wants to anoint itself as the nation’s only unbeaten NCAA Division I-A team?