Rejoice! We get a free College Football Saturday.

The bowl season typically consists of minor games during the last week of December, culminating with the big games on January 1st (or whatever nearby day the NFL bumps them to).  It's exciting, but it doesn't ever feel quite like a real college football Saturday.

But this year, we get the best of both worlds.  Today feels kind of like an honest to goodness college football Saturday.  Like perhaps a September non-conference Saturday with some great matchups.  We even have College Game Day on.

At noon, we have Penn State versus Ole Miss on ESPN.  I love college football because of these kinds of games, the matchup of dissimilar styles.  I will be especially interested to see how Penn State's defense looks against a "real" offense that scores in bunches.

At 2:00 PM, we have Maryland versus Auburn on ABC.  Again, a matchup of two very dissimilar styles.  Taulia scrambling and dropping dimes (or rusty pennies sometimes) against Auburn's unique QB-as-RB system that beat Alabama, er, should have beaten Alabama. 

Finally at 4:00 PM, we have Florida State versus Georgia on ESPN.  The "What If?" CFP matchup.  This game is all about narrative . . . snubbed FSU versus missed-it-by-that-much Georgia.  Unfortunately, FSU's team has mostly dropped out or is injured.  Meanwhile, Georgia looks to be at full strength.  It would have been much more interesting if it was the other way around. 

(BTW, hats off to Kirby Smart and Georgia to be able to get their team to stay intact and invested in the Orange Bowl.  I would have fully expected them to check out after the deflating loss to Alabama.  They were on the doorstep to history - pursuing a third straight National Championship.  Then in an instant it 's all gone with nothing to play for.  But they have showed up anyway.  I'm am predisposed to hate Kirby Smart and Georgia, but I never can do it.  In spite of myself, I respect what they do and how they do it.)