Now this is college football.

Say what you want about Ohio State-Michigan, Texas-Oklahoma, USC-Notre Dame, when it comes to rivalries, give me Indiana (Pa.) University-Slippery Rock University.

Obviously, it's on a much smaller scale, but look at the point of interest built into this game:

• The schools are located less than 90 minutes from each other.

• SRU coach George Mihalik enters Saturday's 7 p.m. kickoff vs. IUP sporting a 144-86-4 career record, fifth on the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference's all-time wins list and 13th among all active NCAA Division II football coaches.

Yet IUP has been Mihalik's personal hell. His Rock teams are only 4-18 against the Crimson Hawks and have dropped 10 of the 11 games played between the teams in SRU's N. Kerr Thompson Stadium.

• Mihalik is known in Indiana as "Dr. Evil." Don't ask me why. The guy is one of the finest gentlemen I've met in sports. But it does add some spice to the rivalry.

• Mihalik broke SRU's all-time football victory record at IUP, posting a 21-17 win in 2006 when IUP threw an incomplete pass from the Rock 2-yard line on the game's final play.

• Mihalik hails from Ebensburg, a neighboring town of Indiana, and plucked quarterback Randy McKavish from there. McKavish became the central figure in Rock wins over IUP in 1997, 1998 and 1999.

• The last three games between the teams have come down to the final play. After being thwarted from the 2-yard line in 2006, IUP kicked a field goal on the game's final play for a 34-31 win at SRU in 2007. Last year, the Crimson Hawks posted a 23-16 win in Indiana in double overtime.

• The Rock waltzed into IUP in 1999 and handed Indiana a 52-14 loss, one of the worst home defeats in the school's history. IUP returned the favor in the first round of the Division II playoffs that same season in Slippery Rock, posting a 27-20 overtime win.

D.J. Flick, a Rock receiver-return specialist at the time, recently called that game "the worst loss of my life." SRU was ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation and had national title aspirations vanquished by the defeat.

• Simply put, these two programs just don't like each other. There's been pushing and shoving during pre-game warmups. There was a near-brawl at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium when IUP players stormed the symbolic Rock after a victory.

The series is filled with controversy and contrast. IUP has a history of bringing in Division I transfers to maintain a winning tradition while SRU has the image of staying squeaky-clean by recruiting high-character young men and developing them.

Each program despises the other's image.

No matter which side you're on, it's great theater.

Other college football rivalries in all divisions have history and memorable games.

But for intensity, wild endings, proximity and dislike?

Good luck topping this one.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle.