Top 10 Reasons Why College Football Beats the Heck Out of Pro

10. Rivalries - Army vs. Navy. The Iron Bowl. Buckeyes and Wolverines. The Red River Shootout. When Rivalry Saturday rolls around, it's not just a season within a season. It's a season in itself. Your blood boils so much that you can barely even mention where the opposing team is from (read: that team from up north), let alone their name. A win in a rivalry game and we're sky-high. A loss ... well, let's not go there. It's just safer to say that the heated Dolphins-Texans game in week 6 of the NFL won't be the hot topic of discussion 3 days later.

9. Tradition - we all have the same rituals before a game. Eat at the same restaurant, watch the team take the same walk past the same famous landmark on their way to the stadium, and wear that same jersey with the number of a famous player who graduated 3 years before. Think you'll find those same things at the next level? There's no Touchdown Al Davis.

8. Cheerleaders - Pro cheerleaders may get the camera time as you're heading into a commercial, but what do they add besides showcasing the latest in plastic surgery? The ones in college are truly there to pump the crowd. Not only do they execute extremely complicated stunts and formations, but they are part of the game, complete with megaphones and crowd signs.

7. Bands - Precision marching, bright colors, twirling batons and ... oh, yeah; that glorious fight song. Your team can put up 70 and you still don't get tired of hearing it. Band members may get heckled in high school, but fans can hardly get enough of them in college. When 70,000 people are singing the alma mater along with you, you know something special is going on.

6. Legendary coaches - Heard that famous "Win one for the Belichick" speech? Neither have I. Coaches at the college level get streets, stadiums and babies named after them by putting up Ws. The only thing a pro coach gets is to fight with the team owner over who to draft in April.

5. Legendary games - Great games involve close scores, huge comebacks, last-second kicks and/or a little controversy. They are talked about for decades (Cal-Stanford comes to mind), enrage tens of thousands on the losing side (Colorado's fifth down) and, since college football fans are so emotional, you can feel the tide of the crowd rising and falling with the changing score as a game goes down to the wire. Pro games aren't known for that life-or-death feeling of importance.

4. College towns - If you think college football isn't a way of life, check out the way they live in Columbus, or Austin, or most any town in the Southeastern conference. You have restaurants that are known by nicknames, famous landmarks and pee-wee football teams that bear the name of the local university. The team, if the head coach should be fired, and the recruiting haul can turn into an hour-long chat at the gas pump.

3. Who's Number 1? - Most people will disagree with me here, and that's all right. But you have to admit ... part of the fun of college football is trash-talking your buddies about how your team should be the one who makes it to the championship. Tougher schedule. Bigger margin of victory. It's just as much how much you beat someone by as who you beat.

2. Identities - Let's be honest. Not many people outside of Texas claim their pro team as part of their identity. When was the last time you heard a Rams fan say they bleed blue and yellow? How many groom cakes feature Blitz the Seahawk as icing? It's the reason you'll see a Southern Cal or Florida State fan wearing their team jersey while lounging around the house in February. You cheer on your favorite team with your grandfather and dad. Once fan fever hits you at the college level, it sticks.

1. Underdogs - When David is involved, Goliath better watch out in college. It started with Appalachian State shocking the University of Michigan last year and ended with the number 2 team losing 7 times over the course of the season. College football gets you rooting for the little guy, the little engine that could. We have one of those inside all of us. College football lets you live it