BLOGPOLL ROUNDTABLE #8

Thanks to ParadigmBlog for hosting this week’s BlogPoll Roundtable. From the sounds of things, I really wish I had the Prozac concession in Michigan these days. But, I digress.

1. We are now 1/3 of the way through the season and things are starting to shake out. With that in mind, who are your picks to win each of the BCS conferences, as well as your choice for an at-large berth from a non-BCS league (none is an option)?

ACC: Virginia Tech
Big East: Who cares? Notre Dame will get their BCS slot anyway
Big Ten: Ohio State
Big XII: Texas
PAC-10: U$C
SEC: Florida
Non-BCS at large: The only team with a slight shot is UTEP, and I ain’t that brave

2. What team currently out of the Top 10 (AP or Coach’s, doesn’t really matter), has the best chance of ending up in the title game?

If UCLA runs the table, and Oklahoma gets their season turned around (thereby giving UCLA a strength-of-schedule boost), I think they could have a shot. I don’t see any Big Ten teams going undefeated this year. There’s too much top-to-bottom strength. I’m not buying Alabama or Virginia as teams that could finish undefeated, and I think it will take an 11-0 record to get to the title game this year. So that pretty much exhausts the possibilities. It’s UCLA, or it’s somebody in the top 10 right now.

3. When you’re watching a game, what type of fan can you absolutely not tolerate being around?

The fan who can’t enjoy a game unless his team is winning easily. Just go home, set Madden 2006 to ‘rookie,’ and stop producing words. Also, the fan who has no idea what’s happening in college football right now, but thinks it’s still 1992 (”You’ve really got to watch out for Nebraska”). Also, the fan who yaps incessantly through every play, and then demands you tell him or her what just happened. I can’t stand being around recruitniks during a game, but that’s mostly because I can’t stand being around them at any time. All recruitniks should stop watching college footbal and just sign up for fantasy baseball teams, since they’re basically sports actuaries at heart. (Apologies to any actuaries reading this.)

Bonus: A sizable portion of Michigan fandom is in full meltdown mode (myself especially). Some have chosen to sequester themselves for this weekend’s game against MSU to avoid scaring children, causing long-term psychological damage to those in the near vicinity, and most especially to avoid jail (I’m not saying this is me per se). Anyways, we need some help. Give us some ideas for replacements for LLLyd Carr (3 L’s for the number of losses per year, and no O this year either). Assistant coaches, head coaches elsewhere, etc. Please, give us something to look forward to.

Oh, three losses and you’re standing on the ledge waiting for the fire department to show up? Here’s what you can look forward to: 3-8, 1-10, 3-8. That was Hayden Fry’s last year and Kirk Ferentz’s first two. Until you’ve lived through a cycle like that and still love your team, you don’t know if you’re a fan or that big old Jeep–you know, the Band Wagoneer. It is as hard to feel sorry for you, Michigan Fan, as it is to feel sorry for all the Nebraska fans who thought Frank Solich had to go. Anybody feel sorry for the Huskers these days? If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with the West Coast offense.

Having said that, one of these days, some school is going to throw a great big pile of money at South Florida’s Jim Leavitt, and it will be a good investment.