If presented with the option to watch only one football game Thursday night, what will you choose? Will you watch No. 5 Auburn travel to No. 20 Kansas State, or will you watch the 0-2 Buccaneers face off against the 1-1 Atlanta Falcons? 

Clearly the answer is the college game, and this discussion isn’t even close. Though the calendar only reads September 18, this game will resemble a high-stakes November matchup. Teams ranked fifth in the nation usually do not play these huge, non-conference games this early in the season, let alone on a Thursday. 

Auburn is coming off of a berth in the national title game, and will face its first serious test, and first road game, as it attempts to defend its SEC title. K-State took a downturn last season after a Fiesta Bowl appearance. By all accounts, the Wildcats look better than last year’s 8-5 squad.

Tonight’s matchup also provides some history, as this will be the first time Kansas State has hosted a top-five opponent in 46 years, since No. 2 Penn State visited in 1969. It is also only the fourth meeting between the two, and Auburn emerged victorious in the previous three.

It’s still early in both seasons, but everyone knows that one loss carries a lot more weight for a college team than an NFL team. A win for Auburn boosts its playoff resume, should the Tigers remain unscathed in the brutal SEC West division. 

A win for Kansas State pushes the Wildcats near the top of the Big 12, ranked behind Oklahoma and Baylor. The Big 12 as a whole desperately needs this win to boost the conference’s national profile.

That last paragraph sounds pretty odd. The Big 12 is home to Oklahoma and Texas, two perennial powerhouses, and Baylor, an emerging program. Former-BCS buster TCU joined the conference a few years back and Oklahoma State always has a puncher’s chance to win the conference. But alas, such is the life for a conference that isn’t the SEC or the PAC-12, who dominate their competition and the college news cycles. 

The NFL has surely been dominating the news cycle the last week, but there is minimal excitement for tonight’s game. It is a divisional matchup, but the Buccaneers are just plain bad and Atlanta’s offense has no protection for Matt Ryan. Neither of these teams are serious Super Bowl contenders. 

Last week’s Steelers-Ravens matchup had a spike in viewership, which can be attributed to the ongoing Ray Rice storyline. Even without controversy, the NFL will have more viewers than the NCAA on Thursday night, simply because it’s the NFL.

It’s a shame though, because I do believe college games played on Thursdays are truly spectacular. Who can forget when No. 15 Rutgers upset No. 3 Louisville, and a sea of red swarmed the field? Or when Oregon State upset No. 1 USC in 2008?

These games become borderline insane when the regular season is nearing the end. Any upsets that occur on Thursdays set the tone for the rest of the weekend. 

College football is a wacky sport, and Thursday games serve as that reminder.

Erik is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @e_prada.