Dec 7, 2013; Charlotte, NC, USA; Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston (5) scores a touchdown as Duke Blue Devils cornerback Bryon Fields (14) and linebacker David Helton (47) and defensive end Kenny Anunike (84) and safety Dwayne Norman (40) defend in the third quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

As we’ll all be reminded in countless ESPN advertisements over the next few weeks “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!”

In addition to plenty of egg nog and whatever else is involved in your annual holiday celebrations, it also means that there’s plenty of college football coming up as this year’s 35 college bowls kick off this Saturday with four games on the slate.

If you’re looking for a fun, new way to watch the bowls and show off your college football knowledge or you wish you had something to cheer for in some of the less prominent bowls that feature not-so-popular teams, join us for a great season of Bowl Mania. It’s completely free to play and all you need to create your entry is an ESPN username (also totally free).

Bowl Mania is ESPN’s simple but tricky Bowl picking game that gives you something to cheer for in every single bowl from the kickoff on Saturday of the New Mexico Bowl all the way to the National Championship on  January 6th.

The tricky element to the game is that not only do you have to pick the winner of ever bowl, but you have to rank your picks in order of confidence. If you’ve played College Pick’Em, you know how this works. The more confidence points you put on the game the more points you win if you are correct. Choose carefully, though. If you think Ohio State is a lock to beat Clemson and put them at 35 and the Buckeyes choke, those are 35 points you’ll never be able to get.

ESPN has done a good job of putting all the info you need right in the game’s main picking screen with solid previews and plenty of links for you to do your research. There’s plenty of coverage and picks available on our main Fansided.com page as well to do as much research as you think will pay off before locking in your entry.

Here’s the invitation link: http://games.espn.go.com/college-bowl-mania/en/group?groupID=59810&invitesource=email&inviteuser=NTkzNDM0Nzc%3D&ex_cid=invite-email-bowlmania for our group or just search for the Fansided group where you can play against my picks and the picks of the other readers and bloggers across the network.

Feel free to invite all others, and let’s make this the biggest group in Fansided’s history!