There is an almost eerie calm surrounding Monday night's college football national championship game between the Oregon Ducks and the Ohio State Buckeyes at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
There is no controversy, no arguments about who should be playing, very little fanfare, and yet it is expected that most of the nation will watch and that ratings records will be set that could rival those of the Super Bowl.
One of the players said last week this is a business meeting, and he's right. This game has so much money attached to it that it could be played on Wall Street.
ESPN paid $610 million to televise the three-game playoffs and is selling commercials at a rate that also rivals those for the Super Bowl.
The college football championship, the culmination of college football's first playoff, is corporate America.
Sure, the bands and cheerleaders will be there, and so will some fans, but none of them will be in a private suite sipping champagne.
Also, expect many long commercials and a superb game.
Oregon has a high-flying offense that averages more than 47 points a game, and Ohio State is as well-coached as any team has ever been. Giving Urban Meyer and his staff 10 days to prepare for this game is almost as good as the month he was given to get ready for Alabama.
And, boy, were they ready for Alabama. It was almost as if the Buckeyes defense was in the Crimson Tide's huddles.
Some of the inspired effort against the No. 1 seed Alabama was because Meyer pointed out to his team that Wisconsin, which his team beat 59-0 in the Big Ten Championship, defeated Auburn earlier in the day. That was a brilliant comparison.
The Ducks, though, have the Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback. Nothing seems to faze Marcus Mariota, who can beat you with his arm or his legs.
If there is one distraction in this showdown, it belongs to Oregon. Wide receiver Darren Carrington and backup running back Ayele Forde did not make the trip because they reportedly tested positive on a drug test.
That is letting an entire team down. Forde saw limited playing time this season, but Carrington, a redshirt freshman, has more than 700 yards receiving and four touchdowns.
Of course, Carrington isn't the Ducks' only weapon. Even though he had 7 catches for 165 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Rose Bowl victory over Florida State, there will be someone ready for the challenge of replacing him.
Oregon is favored by 5 1/2 points, mainly because it resembles a relay team in shoulder pads, but this game isn't being played by the odds makers in Las Vegas.
The game is in the home stadium of the Dallas Cowboys, and that is simply the finest football facility in the world.
That's exactly where the college's football's biggest game should be played, and it is a shame the title game will rotate to lesser venues starting next season.
From start to finish -- a safe estimate is the game will take about four hours -- this could be a classic game. The defense that gets a stop or two may set the victory in motion.
It will have been a grand production that poured dollars into college football no matter which team has the most points when the game ends.
Colleges will make money, ESPN will make buckets of long green, and lots of bonuses will be written for everyone but the kids who will be playing their 15th game of the season, which is the stumbling block to expanding the playoff field to the appropriate eight teams.
Yes, it needs to be eight teams and, yes, that would mean one more game and millions more to be distributed among the schools that are already making a fortune off their football programs.
And the players deserve a stipend.
College football has modeled itself after the NFL in every fiscal aspect except paying players, and the ratings and advertising Monday night will prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Sports on 01/11/2015