In my opinion The players play harder . These players aren ' t being paid , and are either playing for the love of the game and for school pride , or trying to earn that NFL draft pick . A lot of these guys know their not going to the NFL or CFL , so this is the biggest stage for them . Thrill of victory and agony of defeatRivalries Rivalries are the best thing about college football . Sure the NFL has rivalries , but they don ' t even come close to college football . When you factor in that a lot of NFL players are friends , the hate and animosity you see in college football isn ' t there . With really hostile rivalries like MichiganOhio State , The Iron Bowl , The Holy War , and the Red River Shootout , you can just tell these teams and fanbases just fucking HATE each other . Also , rivalries just feel like they mean way more . I ' m a Dolphins fan , and if they lose to one of their rivals I just feel meh , maybe next time . But if BYU loses to Utah I ' m literally seething in rage for a good couple weeks afterwards . When it ' s the other way around and the Dolphins win , I ' m just like ok cool , that ' s awesome but if BYU beats Utah I am truly on cloud nine for weeks afterwards . Every game matters A team in the NFL could theoretically make the playoffs and win the Super Bowl with a . 500 or losing record . In college football you can only afford to lose one , MAYBE two games to have any shot at the National title . The stakes are much higher every game . Less commercial breaks Yes , college football has commercials , but nowhere near the insufferable level of the NFL . The NFL has become so commercial centred , and slow paced it ' s almost unwatchable sometimes . More teamseasier to get invested in more games In the NFL , I only care about 3 teams , and could not give less of a shit what goes on around the rest of the league . With college football I follow at least 56 teams religiously throughout the season , and have at least 910 other teams I enjoy watching and will pay attention to . Saturdays feel like I can just watch football all day and never be bored , while Sundays I can maybe watch 12 games but be completely apethetic to all of the others .