The mother roads: one weekend, two highways--and more games than we know what to do with. (College Football).

Welcome to the dawn of civilization as the BCS knows it. As far as the Fiesta Bowl is concerned, Lake City, Fla., is Mesopotomia--the place where it all begins--or to paraphrase former Monday Night Football analyst Dennis Miller, the Tigris and Euphrates of this college football season. Here on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp, two asphalt arteries cross on their way to pumping life into the new season. Interstate 10 goes transcontinental--from the Atlantic Ocean in northeast Florida through the deep South, the heart of Texas, the arid Southwest and into Los Angeles on the way to the Pacific Ocean. Rolling to a start in Alligator Alley in Florida's Everglades, I-75 heads north to Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., on the Canadian border. A few teams dipped their toes into the 2002 season last weekend, but the first truly big splash comes this weekend for college football. Nearly half of the teams in the THE SPORTING NEWS Top 25 are playing so close to these highways, we could roll down our windows while driving these routes and smell what the tailgates are grilling. Breathe deep, because this is why opening weekend is so great. Turn off the highway and kick off the season with a variety of choices.

LOS ANGELES, MONDAY--AUBURN AT USC. NFL? We don't need no stinkin' NFL to see a Monday night football game in L.A. The last time they turned the lights on for a Monday night game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum we must set the way-back machine to October 28, 1985, when the Raiders (they were in L.A. then) played the Chargers. The Tigers cruise into town riding their Cadillac (RB Carnell Williams), but with a quarterback named Carson (Palmer), the Trojans are more than comfortable working late on a weeknight.

ANN ARBOR, MICH., SATURDAY--WASHINGTON AT MICHIGAN. The current bad boy of college football visits the winningest program in college football history. Coach Rick Neuheisel, who someday might formally add the word "Controversial" to his title, brings the Huskies into the Big House. How appropriate, considering the ...