What will become of all those dreary preseason games?

Would two per year be enough?

Should projected starters get the majority of snaps, or might most of preseason be used to make decisions on the rest of the roster?

All of these questions are sitting front and center on the desk of Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner — not to mention being debated by individual teams and the league’s powerful players union.

Something has to be done, finally, about the existence of four exhibition games that do little more than fleece paying customers (especially season-ticket holders) out of their hard-earned money.

It’s an issue with legitimate talking points on each side, as proven by the Chicago Bears — as Coach Matt Nagy chose to keep his offensive starters out of action throughout all four exhibitions to prevent injury, then watched them play like sleepwalkers in a 10-3 opening loss to Green Bay.

While that discussion about NFL preseason affairs rumbles on, the matter also applies pretty dramatically to the college game.

The difference in NCAA football comes down merely to scheduling, since technically there aren’t any games that don’t count.

WAZZU’S Mike Leach likely would tell you he was glad to play two “preseason” games before getting to work on the meaningful part of the season.

The Cougs get serious tonight with a road challenge against Houston (6:15 p.m., ESPN).

Now think about the difference in how the Northwest’s college power programs have started their seasons.

WSU has played twice at Martin Stadium against what are affectionately known as cupcakes — New Mexico State (close to the dungeon of the FBS) and Northern Colorado (an FCS team picked by the media to finish last in the 13-team Big Sky).

It was no big surprise that the Cougs flogged both by a combined score of 117-24.

Meanwhile, the Cougs’ two Northwest rivals — both ranked above them in every preseason poll — did NOT have a pair of easy games to make roster evaluations and iron out early-season errors.

U-Dub got in one “fun game” and waxed Eastern Washington (one of the better FCS teams), but then had to turn right around and face a truly premier defense thrown at them by California — a gang that upended the Huskies a year ago down in Berkeley.

We all saw what happened there, as QB Jacob Eason was seriously hassled for the first time running the Washington offense — and Cal won 20-19 on a last-second field goal.

Oregon, a trendy pick to explode on the national playoff scene, got no live-fire work at all, then faced off against a very stout Auburn bunch down in Texas — and watched an early lead disappear in that disappointing 27-21 loss.

It’s worth noting that Oregon, with a game under its belt, rebounded to thrash Nevada 77-6. The Wolfpack aren’t a collection of stiffs, either, having opened a week earlier with a 34-31 win over Purdue.

With its “preseason” finished, Wazzu gets down to serious football tonight in Houston.

One of Leach’s former players (and current disciple) Dana Holgorsen is in his first-year coaching Houston.

Holgorsen has a couple things that could cause headaches for WSU.

He knows absolutely everything about the Air Raid, and he can unleash dynamic quarterback D’Eriq King in an offense that routinely ran up monstrous totals in the AAC a year ago.

THERE’S no question — none at all — that Leach is glad he had two soft games to break in new QB Anthony Gordon, since the Air Raid is a notoriously complex offense to run.

Leach also needed to see how his slightly retooled defense would perform.

Gordon and the offense looked just swell, which was the more predictable of the two main questions.

The senior quarterback threw for 884 yards over the two games, with nine TD throws against one pick.

The defense, on the other end, truly needed some batting practice before this trip to Houston — and then for the rest of a pretty rugged schedule.

Northern Colorado, which was dead last in the Big Sky running the ball last season (3.1 yards per carry and just 13 TDs), simply gashed Wazzu on the ground — 216 yards and two scores on 54 rushing attempts.

THE COUGS missed a bucket full of assignments and tackled as though they were trying to be polite.

Or slow-dancing at the senior prom.

The only things missing were some lovely corsages pinned on their dates.

Coaches and players alike insisted that one major problem was defenders often straying from their primary responsibilities, thinking they should cover for somebody else.

That’s the cardinal sin of defense, and while you might survive it against a very ordinary FCS team, that flood of blown assignments and wandering out of position won’t cut it tonight against Houston or in the Pac-12.

Bottom line: While the NFL debates what to do about preseason games, I think it’s pretty obvious how to handle the situation with a good college team.

You really, really need two cupcakes to start.

Dive right in against big-time programs and you’re liable to get rolled.

Just ask Washington and Oregon.

Steve Cameron’s Cheap Seats columns appear in The Press on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. He also writes “Zags Tracker” about Gonzaga basketball, monthly in the offseason and then weekly once the Zags’ season opens.

E-mail: scameron@cdapress.com