The BCS has seen to it that the college football season no longer ends on its national holiday of January 1st. That’s the price we pay – the money involved means that the programming has to be spread over as much prime time coverage as possible, and the season drags out for another week.

Even with a couple of BCS games along the way that additional week between the New Year’s Day bowls and the BCS Championship has a lot of down time, and ESPN is helping minor bowls leapfrog the major bowls on the 1st to play on dates that are to the advantage of the bowls, the host cities, and – of course – the network.

At first it was bowls like the International and GMAC which few had heard of and even fewer watched. Last year the Liberty Bowl moved to January 2 and will remain there for another year.

Now the Alamo Bowl will join the January 2nd schedule. January 2, 2010, is a Saturday, and the press release notes that the 8 p.m. slot on ESPN will be “unopposed from any other college or NFL football games on network television.”

So far, that’s two bowls that will be on ESPN’s January 2nd college football schedule. The Cotton Bowl will also be played on January 2nd for the second straight year. Will others be tempted to move to the more convenient Saturday date?