Count this corner among the traditionalists who agree with Joe Paterno: college football should be played on Saturday afternoons.

No other sport has such a storied history associated with a specific day of the week. One could argue that the NFL and Sundays go hand-in-hand, but long before pro football was barely more than a blip, college football teams were making autumn afternoons part of America's culture.

But -- oh, this hurts -- even tradition must once in a while take a back seat to common sense. In a day and age when money and exposure are the engines that run Division I sports, tradition can indeed be trumped.

That's why it's hard to argue with agreements such as the one recently reached by Colorado and Colorado State to move their season opener next fall to Sunday, Aug. 31.

The decision by the two schools is a sound one for a variety of reasons, beginning with the fact that it will give Denver's emergency and security forces an extra day to breathe after the completion of the Democratic National Convention. The convention ends Aug. 28, and will no doubt greatly tax all available city personnel.

Certainly, one more day for them to recover can only help.

But it makes even more sense -- for both schools -- in terms of television exposure, television money and ticket sales.

For starters, there was no guarantee of a television deal for a Saturday game. FSN had shown a casual interest, but with a full schedule of games on the opening day of the college football season, even a televised game would have been only one of as many as 10 televised games that day.The list of televised games that day already includes the Washington-Oregon and Alabama-Clemson contests, and such tilts as Missouri-Illinois, USC-Virginia and Michigan State-Cal are almost certain to be picked up.

Simply, a CU-CSU game would have likely been lost in the national shuffle.

Sunday, however, is a different story. There are currently only two other college football games on Aug. 31 -- Hampton vs. Jackson State at noon and Kentucky vs. Louisville at 1:30 p.m. -- and the NFL doesn't start its regular season until a week later.

Thus, the Buffs and Rams will have the football airwaves to themselves for the 5:30 p.m. kickoff. That will almost guarantee a better-than-average television audience, particularly for a nation used to having its Sunday afternoon football fix.

"With as many alums as we have around the country, we need to engage them as often as possible," said CU athletic director Mike Bohn. "One of the best ways to do that is to have our games on national television. This is one of those deals that made too much sense not to do."

Another plus for the two schools is that it's the Sunday afternoon of Labor Day weekend. There won't be issues of it being a school night, and folks who headed out of town for a couple of days will still have plenty of time to get home and catch an early evening game in Denver.

It could mean a larger television audience than normal, plus a few more tickets sold -- positives for both programs.

Then there's this: CU's season opener will also be the debut of one of the most touted recruits in the nation last winter, running back Darrell Scott.

What better platform for Scott to earn a little national cred immediately than the one that will be presented?

The switch also means that two of CU's first three games next fall will be televised. The home opener the following week (Sept. 6 vs. Eastern Washington) won't be on TV, but that will be followed by a Sept. 18 ESPN game at Folsom Field vs. West Virginia. That's a Thursday night tilt that again should offer some terrific national exposure for Dan Hawkins' Buffs.

As for folks looking ahead to 2009, CU currently has just five games scheduled at Folsom, with the CSU game site still to be determined.

While Colorado could play the game in Folsom -- CU has the option to play the game in Boulder in 2009 -- the fact that a game in Denver means about an extra $500,000 for CU is a factor that will almost certainly come into play.

"We'll hopefully come to a decision sometime early next fall," Bohn said. "That's something we're still studying."