Saturdays Are for College Football

Call this a friendly dispute between passionate advocates for their sports. No guns, no knives, just words and maybe some bare knuckles if we're feeling feisty.

My FanHouse colleague Sportz Assassin wants to believe that Saturday's upcoming slate of college basketball games shows the sport can have a day filled with great games. It's a sane enough point, with national powers Michigan State, Texas, Xavier, Duke, UConn and Gonzaga among others all involved. Frankly, that's just about as good of a day as you will ever find in college basketball outside of the NCAA Tournament.

And that's the problem. College basketball's big days are few and far between in the regular season.

I'll admit college football's opening Saturday of bowl games isn't particularly earth-shattering, but there are reasons why it will be better entertainment.

First on the scene is the brand new EagleBank Bowl, in Washington D.C. Don't get caught up in hating the silly bowl names or the fact there are nearly as many bowl games as college football teams. Its a sign of the game's surging popularity and broad appeal that there are so many bowl games. They require all kinds of interests and dollars to get off the ground, so its not child's play no matter the name nor the matchup.

Getting back to the game, it will be a rare bowl rematch between Wake Forest and Navy. Navy stunned Wake Forest in forcing four interceptions, so Wake will be out for revenge. What's interesting about this game is that both teams feature unique run offenses. Navy will bring its triple option while Wake has a funky misdirection attack which is breathtaking at times when executed properly. Assuming Wake Forest plays more conservatively with quarterback Riley Skinner, this will likely be an old school smashmouth football contest.

Meanwhile, although college basketball teams all run various offenses, it's still college basketball and you can count on every team jacking up a bunch of threes. How is that basketball? The beauty of the game is in its athleticism, but when you allow for zone defense and recruit for shooting prowess over ball skills, the game gets neutered, which has been college basketball's problem for years. They've moved the three-point line back a little but its still the same three-fest it always was.

Duke is still Duke with all their athletes. Same with Texas. Same with UConn. Problem is they're all playing virtually the same narrow version of a game that used to be much more athletic and interesting.

Elsewhere, Colorado State makes a rare national TV appearance in the New Mexico Bowl against Fresno State. I haven't seen Colorado State yet this year, which is one of the perks of a bowl game in that some lesser-watched teams get the stage to themselves. Fresno State's been on television a few times this year, but they're always fun to watch, with a physical defense and balanced offense with an NFL quarterback and slashing run game.

Later, the MagicJack St. Petersburg Bowl breaks ground with Memphis playing South Florida. USF will have several NFL players to keep an eye on like defensive end George Selvie as well as vein-popping coach Jim Leavitt.

Finally the headliner is the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl. BYU will be making its fourth straight appearance, this time against Arizona, which is in its first bowl game since 1998. This game has become an embarrassment of sorts for the Pac-10, which has gone down in flames several times against lesser foes. This year that may change, however, as Arizona is hungry while BYU may be bored of the setting. The psychological factors could be huge here. Then again, Arizona might get distracted by the bright lights in a way we hunch BYU won't be so easily unfocused. Both teams feature fun offenses that can run and pass. However, both defenses need work so this could be a wild one.

If that doesn't intrigue, there's always David Hasselhoff singing the national anthem or playing the "which player was up too late at the tables last night?" game.

This isn't the best slate of bowl games you'll find, but it does provide intrigue and a gradual start to bowl season. ESPN does a great job televising bowl games and making them interesting. The teams will be playing hard, as this is it for the next eight months and maybe their college careers. There is no similar urgency in those college basketball games, as individual defeats matter so much less for a bunch of teams mostly guaranteed a tournament appearance. They'll play hard but it's not the same, as the games won't take on anywhere near the tension of a tournament game or a late-season battle to keep one's tournament hopes alive.