Tuesday, September 04, 2007

BlogPoll Roundtable #2

The roundtable is hosted this week by Hey Jenny Slater. My responses:

1. By the end of the season, some previously unheralded teams' bandwagons will be so full they'll be having to bump passengers and offer them free vouchers and first-class upgrades; others will have emptied out in a big way. On whose bandwagon are you already scrambling to save a seat? Conversely, which team's bandwagon is being driven by Toonces the Driving Cat, prompting you to leap off now before it careens over a cliff to its fiery death below?

Save me a seat on the bandwagons of Boston College, Cal and Miami. I think that Miami will bounce back in a big way, BC should contend for an ACC title and this could be the year Cal finally breaks through.

I'm staying away from Florida, who I think is in for a wild ride this season.

2. What do you think was opening weekend's biggest mirage -- either a "big win" over a team that isn't really as good as everyone thinks, or an embarrassing loss (or embarrassingly close win) that won't seem quite as embarrassing by season's end?

I think that by the end of the season, Syracuse will be less embarrassed about getting blown out by Washington then they are right now. Despite a schedule that could have been designed by Alberto Gonzalez (and his loose definition of torture) I think that Washington is going to be darn good this year.

3. Compared to how you felt Friday night, how do you feel now about your team's chances this season? I'm not just talking about your impressions of your own team -- also take into account their prospects relative to this year's opponents, whom you've also gotten a little more acquainted with after this past weekend's action.

It's tough to project much about the Aggies from a grinding, sometimes sloppy, win over a I-AA opponent. Looking ahead at the schedule, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Texas all looked very beatable and that gives some reason for optimism. On the other hand, Miami, Texas Tech, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma all looked very strong. Overall I think the schedule looks tougher than it did a week ago. At this point, I'd be quite happy with another 9 win regular season.

4. Looking at how those future opponents performed this past weekend, which developments are you most excited about? Which of your opponents' performances have you a little worried?

I was very enthused to see the Texas offense struggle. Oklahoma seems to have a quarterback though, and that's a bummer.

5. There are now 32 bowls in D-IA football, meaning 64 bowl teams, meaning any given team now stands a better-then-50-percent chance of going to a bowl. To get that number under 50 percent, we'd have to eliminate three bowls. Which ones would you get rid of?

1. Motor City Bowl - The MAC champion deserves better and how much fun can it be for two midwestern teams to get to go all the way to Detroit in December?

2. GMAC Bowl - It's way too late in the year (Jan. 6th), in Mobile, and features exclusively mid-majors.

3. The PapaJohns.com Bowl - Was it really necessary to name this after the website? Couldn't it just be the Papa John's Bowl? Or the "This-isn't-actually-a-bowl-because-we-didn't-need-another-bowl Bowl"?

6. And finally, in 50 words or less, how happy are you that it's finally football season again?

Well, I'm a Michigan alum. I was under the impression that we have almost 12 months until football season starts. Is this not the case? Just in case somebody decides to play this season, I've got the HDTV installed and the ESPNHD flowing. It's going to be a fun year.

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