Fans jostled through the entrances at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins. Nearly 92,000 strong, they suffered through interminable TV timeouts and, after a hard-fought game, agreed that both teams looked forward to their bye week.

Yes, college football is back.

College football?

When the University of Southern California edged Virginia Tech, 24-13, at FedEx Field to kick off another college football season, the parallels were clear: the college game has transmogrified into Mini-Me to the National Football League’s Dr. Evil.

Need proof? The Big Ten is introducing instant replay this year; Florida State was scheduled to play Miami on a Monday night (Hurricane Frances pushed it back to a Friday night); the BCS is improving revenue sharing, an NFL staple; TV rights are going through the roof, exemplified by the Rose Bowl’s $30 million-a-year pact with ABC; former NFL coaches such as Bill Callahan at Nebraska are taking over college programs; and even minor rule changes — players who have committed penalties are identified by referees this year, via their number — mimic the the professional league.

"The trend towards the NFL game in the college game is disturbing," said Russell Levine, author of the "Confessions of a Football Junkie" column for footballoutsiders.com.

Levine is particularly distressed by the BCS's attempt to create a Super Bowl atmosphere around its title game.

"From celebrity anthem singers (Jessica Simpson at last year's Sugar Bowl) to introducing the starting lineups and having the players take the field individually, the BCS title game has attempted to mimic the NFL," he said. "Anyone who has ever been to a big college football game knows that the best moment is sometimes when the team swarms the field as one."

Used to be the professional football would copy college. Way back in 1920, when NFL legend George Halas decided upon uniform colors for the Decatur Staleys (known soonafter as the Chicago Bears), he duplicated the orange and blue outfit of the University of Illinois. Goalposts, once hovering above the goal line in the NFL, were moved to the back of the end zone in the 1970s. The two-point conversion, long championed in college football, was adopted in 1994 by the NFL.

The football is bouncing the other way today. Why? Money. Love of the buck in any sport is nothing new -- and as a private enterprise, the NFL should be searching for a profit -- but the scale has exploded in the land of amateurism. At various Techs and States, money rules.

Once, the NCAA spoke of academics in holy terms; today, the BCS has added a fifth bowl game and the ACC has unveiled a title game, meaning an extra week of practice rather than studying the classics for hundreds of players. Once, conferences were more-or-less intact; today, Boston College and others bolt long-term alliances for huge paydays. Once, college football games were played on Saturday afternoons; today, turn on the television most weekday nights during the fall, and you’ll find student-athletes far removed from the library.

Perhaps the most unfortunate resemblance between college and the pros is soaring ticket prices. Similar to the idea of the NFL’s personal-seat licenses, special donations are increasingly required to buy college tickets. Schools from the University of Michigan to the University of Tennessee are demanding contributions from ticket holder to generate millions in revenue.

Though there’s no doubt college football remains unique in many ways — no leprechaun mascots charge out onto NFL fields; marching bands belting out fight songs still beat whatever’s on the Minnesota Vikings’ soundtrack — the trend toward the NFL is still disconcerting.

One thing is clear: If John Madden appears on TV to analyze the Bulldogs' mascot's potty breaks with his telestrator during University of Georgia contests, the college game as we know it will cease to exist.

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