Starting today, there is live football on TV for 27 consecutive days

We’re a bit less than two months from Christmas, the supposed “most wonderful time of the year.” We say “supposed” because, hey, the most wonderful time of the year begins tonight.

That’s because for the next 27 days, there is live football on TV every night.

Yes, you read that right: Live football on TV, beginning tonight, for 27 consecutive days.

We’ll pause here for a minute so you can gather your thoughts — and put together some explanations (OK, excuses) you can use on your significant others, family members and business associates as to why you’re going to be sort of busy for 27 consecutive days.

Here are the highlights of 27 consecutive days of football:

+ It all starts tonight with … well, to be honest, the games tonight are eminently skippable. But, hey, why not dive in and swim to the end? Anyway, USF is at East Carolina and Troy is at Coastal Carolina in tonight’s games.

+ Saturday is highlighted by Michigan at Michigan State, which is one of the most important games of the season not only in the Big Ten but in the College Football Playoff picture, as well. And remember that the first CFP rankings come out next Tuesday — on the same night as three MAC games. There is nothing like Tuesday night MACtion, folks.

+ In fact, each of the next three Tuesdays — November 2, 9 and 16 — have three MAC games; there are two MAC games on November 23, the last night of this football bacchanal. Each of the next three Wednesdays has at least two MAC games, and after tonight, the next three Thursdays have one college game each. And there are at least two and as many as five Friday night games each week, as well, during this stretch.

+ Among the high-level games that occur in the next 27 days: Auburn-Texas A&M and Iowa State-Texas on November 6; Baylor-Oklahoma, NC State-Wake Forest and Ole Miss-Texas A&M on November 13; and Arizona State-Oregon State, Cincinnati-SMU, Iowa State-Oklahoma, Michigan State-Ohio State and Oregon-Utah on November 20.

+ And we haven’t even touched on the NFL. The first four Monday night games in November aren’t exactly must-watch matchups, but the Chiefs, Steelers, Rams and Bucs will be on; they just don’t play each other. The next four Sunday night games, though, are good ones: Cowboys-Vikings this week, followed by Rams-Titans on November 7, Chiefs-Raiders on November 14 and Chargers-Steelers on November 21.

As mentioned earlier, this glorious 27-day run ends Tuesday, November 23. But weep not: While there is no live football on the 24^th, Thanksgiving is the 25^th and that is the start of five consecutive days of football. And the Saturday after that (December 4) is “Championship Saturday,” when all the conference title games are played.

The most wonderful time of the year, indeed.