After nearly three weeks of serving up the Murray States, Akrons and Indiana States like so much baby shrimp and meatballs at a cocktail party, college football finally gets serious Saturday with a pair of epic games with huge national significance: Tennessee-Florida and Penn State-Miami.

So here's what you need to know.

A strong case can be made that in the 1990s the Tennessee-Florida matchup has emerged as the game's most white-hot rivalry thanks to the success of both programs (six SEC and two national titles combined in the decade), the contrast of coaches (Gators slender, evil genius Steve Spurrier vs. worried, pudgy counterpart Phillip Fulmer) and the fans sheer hatred for each other.

Those Florida fans have taken Tennessee's surprise 1998 national title harder than anybody. Five consecutive wins over the Vols before last year's overtime loss had the Gator Nation believing Tennessee would be their dupe for eternity -- or at least as long as Spurrier stayed in Gainesville.

Florida fans and players used the word lucky so often to dismiss the Vols' success that they developed some selective amnesia with regard to their own good fortune en route to the 1996 national title (that bogus rematch with No. 1 Florida State in the Sugar Bowl, No. 2 Arizona State losing in the final seconds of the Rose Bowl, etc.)

Then again, Vols fans are no better considering the absurd venom they continually heap on the ever-chatty-but-never-dull Spurrier, a Johnson City, Tenn., native who no doubt would have been hailed as the second coming of General Neyland had he ever coached in Knoxville.

As for the game, Tennessee has the better team. It should come as no surprise if the resourceful Vols snap a six-game losing skid in The Swamp. The Vols' talented defense is superior to the Gators' young unit and everything else is about equal.

But Fulmer has two big problems -- turnovers and a shaky pass defense. The Vols have suffered nine turnovers in their last three games (four on fumbles by running backs Jamal Lewis and Travis Henry), and turnovers played a huge role in the Vols' recent losses to Florida. Spurrier's pass attack always baffles the Vols' secondary (1,181 yards, 15 TDs allowed in the last four games.)

Tennessee thinks it has the horses up front to open holes for Lewis and Henry to pound Florida as they did last year when they outrushed the Gators 171 yards to minus-13. That could keep the crowd of 85,000 in check.

But the Gators' 55-2 home mark this decade is just too imposing. Florida is favored by a scant point. In a fun game to watch, Florida, 30-26. However, we've picked this game wrong four times in the last five years.

As for Penn State-Miami, let's just say we love the fact that this game features Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno, 70, playing in the aging but historic 62-year-old facility known as the Orange Bowl. Both Paterno and the O-Bowl harken back to a simpler time in college football before TV, money, greed and computers made the sport resemble a twisted version of "Wheel of Fortune."

We're still trying to figure out what to make of the Lions' close call with pesky Pittsburgh Saturday. Did they win because of All-America linebacker Lavar Arrington (key sack, blocked potential game-tying field goal with 20 seconds left) or in spite of him (stupid personal foul that should have been an ejection for excessively giving the Panthers' punter the business; dropped sure interception for TD)?

In any event, championship teams must win those kind of games. And Arrington and his mates on defense will be the difference Saturday.

While Butch Davis has done a terrific job restoring the fire and pride in the Hurricanes' program, there's lingering suspicion about UM's defense. Remember this is essentially the same bunch that gave up 66 points to Syracuse, 45 points to UCLA and 34 points to West Virginia last year.

Go with the better coach and defense. Penn State, 24-15.

Enjoy.

(John Lindsay writes for Scripps Howard News Service.)