Finally, a game worth a look

This week’s “NFL Game of the Year,” which is the first “NFL Game of the Year” SoCal viewers will be able to see over-the-air live because the Chargers, thankfully, are playing three hours earlier and the Raiders, thankfully, have been confined to local radio . . .

New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts (Sunday, 1:15 p.m., Channel 2): Some are calling this the “Midseason Super Bowl,” but that designation was better suited to last month’s New England-Dallas game. In that overrated mismatch, the pre-game hype was ludicrously over-the-top and the AFC team beat the NFC team by 21 points. Exactly like the Super Bowl!

New England-Indianapolis is entirely different. The Patriots are 8-0 and rolling up scores of 48-27, 49-28 and 52-7 because Coach Bill Belichick was called a cheater for using a “spycam” to pick up an opponent’s sideline signals and has some anger-management issues the rest of the league has to deal with. The Patriots lost to the Colts in last season’s AFC title game.

Meanwhile, the Colts are 7-0 and reigning Super Bowl winners. During a midweek conference call, CBS’ Jim Nantz assessed the Colts this way:

“You win 12 games in a row, including beating New England in the AFC title game. You win the Super Bowl. You’re undefeated this year. The last two weeks you have been pressed to go on the road in a six-day stretch, both against teams with winning records, and you blow them out on both occasions. Now you get to come home to your own building and you’re a four-point underdog. You want somebody to give you a chip on the shoulder? Well, there it is.”

This is also a fascinating matchup of coaching personalities, Belichick and the Colts’ Tony Dungy. During the same conference call, CBS analyst Bill Cowher, who coached many games against both men, said, “These are two guys that have great respect for the game, a great knowledge of the game, and you can just tell by looking at them that the players respond to them. Tony is probably a guy that you will see a little bit more animated on the sideline than Bill.”

Which marks the first time in pro football history that Dungy’s sideline behavior has been described as “animated.”

The much-awaited, much-anticipated “Pac-10 Football Game of the Year,” which, as we suspected all along, will be played without any involvement from USC, UCLA or Cal . . .

Arizona State at Oregon (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., FSNW): SoCal fans will get to watch this one too, although not on ESPN, which owns national rights to the game. In Arizona and California, the game will be aired on FSNW -- with Fox Sports Arizona broadcasters Trey Bender handling play-by-play and former Arizona State All-America Juan Roque serving as analyst.

And if that sounds confusing, consider that Arizona State is ranked No. 4 in the BCS standings, Oregon is No. 5, and nobody is arguing that these are not the two best teams in the Pac-10.

Incredibly, these are the only games involving teams ranked higher in the BCS standings than Arizona State and Oregon . . .

Wisconsin at Ohio State (Saturday, 9 a.m., Big Ten Network) and Florida State at Boston College (Saturday, 5 p.m., Game Plan) and Louisiana State at Alabama (Saturday, 2 p.m., Channel 2): Ohio State and Boston College are ranked 1-2 because a) they so far have survived the Great Upset Panic of ’07 and b) they are located east of Tucson. Louisiana State is No. 3 with a coach, Les Miles, infamous for denigrating college football played west of Tucson.

Marking time until O.J. Mayo makes his debut . . .

Oregon State at USC (Saturday, 5 p.m., Channel 7): Trying to focus on the positive here, Oregon State has won the last two College World Series championships and USC has a very promising freshman point guard set to play his first game this month. So, in this match-up of baseball and basketball schools, the Beavers and the Trojans will play to decide fourth place in the Pac-10 football standings.

Marking time until Kevin Love makes his debut . . .

UCLA at Arizona (Saturday, 12:30 p.m., Channel 7): This will be an important game on the Pac-10 basketball schedule. So mark it on your calendars: March 2, 2008. As for Nov. 3, 2007, UCLA’s Karl Dorrell and Arizona’s Mike Stoops can discuss how it’s been coaching in the shadows of Pete Carroll and Bob Stoops.

Marking time until Kobe Bryant is traded . . .

Lakers at Phoenix Suns (tonight, 7:30, Channel 9, ESPN) and Utah Jazz at Lakers (Sunday, 6:30 p.m., FSNW): Sunday, however, Norm Nixon makes his debut as FSNW’s “Lakers Live” analyst, which suggests a couple things: Jack Haley has been replaced, and somebody believes the Lakers are still alive.

And once the Suns are done with the Lakers . . .

Cleveland Cavaliers at Phoenix Suns (Sunday, 5 p.m., NBA TV): Subtitled: “Two Teams That Would Pay Huge Sums to Get the San Antonio Spurs to Move to the Italian League.”

Are we not fans? We have TiVo . . .

San Diego Chargers at Minnesota Vikings (Sunday, 10 a.m., Channel 2) and Green Bay Packers at Kansas City Chiefs (Sunday, 10 a.m., Channel 11): Not a bad warmup act for Patriots-Colts on CBS -- LaDainian Tomlinson against Adrian Peterson. At the same time, the Packers and the Chiefs attempt to re-create the first Super Bowl, only with Damon Huard somewhat miscast in the role of Len Dawson.

Pucks . . .

Kings at San Jose Sharks (tonight, 7:30, FSNW) and Ducks at Phoenix Coyotes (Saturday, 7 p.m., Channel 56): FSNW has narrowed the contenders in its Ducks-Kings “Name the Rivalry” contest to a final four: Freezeway Series, Ice-5 Series, Freeway Face-Off and Crosstown Showdown.

I prefer one of the also-rans: Not Until They Play in the Playoffs. Then It’s a Rivalry!

Punt . . .

Seattle SuperSonics at Clippers (Sunday, 12:30 p.m., Channel 5): Anyone choosing to watch this instead of Patriots-Colts needs a therapist or TiVo or, if they can afford it, both.

christine.daniels@latimes.com