lipped demurely into the den on New Year’s Day to sneak-watch some of the Ohio State vs. Alabama semifinal football game. In the other room, between dinner and desert, family and friends were gathered around the dining room table discussing the upcoming season of Downton Abbey. They wouldn’t miss me for a little bit. I clicked the television remote and turned down the volume. I was just trying to get the score and watch a few plays.

“Is that the Super Bowl?” I heard behind me.

I was caught. My nine-year-old daughter, Lola, eyed me suspiciously.

“No. It’s college football, but the winner advances to the college version of the Super Bowl,” I said.

“But you didn’t go to either one of those colleges, did you?” she asked.

“No, but it’s an important game,” I said. “This is the first year they’ve ever had a playoff in college.”

“Who are you rooting for?”

“Ohio State.”

“Then I’m rooting for the other team.”

“That’d be Alabama,” I said. “Next week we can watch the championship game together.”

“No thanks,” she said. “Can you change the channel?”

Okay, I get it. My daughter wasn’t particularly interested in the new College Football Playoff format—although it turns out a lot of other people are. This year’s Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, home of the semifinal rounds on ESPN, were the #1 and #2 most watched shows in the entire history of cable television, with about 28 million viewers each. On Monday night, that record will almost certainly fall as the Ohio State Buckeyes kick off against the University of Oregon Ducks (8:30 p.m. on ESPN) for the first ever true national championship game.

Maybe you don’t care all that much about college football either, but the truth is we’re on the verge of having a second Super Bowl in this country. And even if you’re not the biggest sports fan, there are some good reasons to tune in. Here are 9 1/2 of them.

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