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sports nut: The stadium scene.

The Lunatic's Guide to College FootballCrawling fan message boards for trash talk, insider knowledge, and photos of Darren McFadden's car.

By Justin Peters
Posted Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007, at 4:24 PM ET

(Continued from page 1)

West Virginia
With Steve Slaton and Pat White in the backfield, Mountaineer Nation thinks that the Big East is ripe for the taking. That's not all that's ripe for the taking: Likely defensive starters Ellis Lankster and J.T. Thomas were caught stealing electronics equipment from a house party and have been suspended indefinitely.

What to watch for: While opposing defenses are busy game-planning for Slaton and White, West Virginia fans are already salivating over the next generation of Mountaineer runners. The lightning-quick Noel Devine and the "thick as a brick" Jock Sanders, says one poster, will be WVU's version of Reggie Bush and LenDale White.

Wishful thinking: The Mountaineer defense will miss Lankster and Thomas, but one man's thunderstorm is another man's drinking water: "If anyone is too disgusted to use their … tix, please let me know before I pay a premium at stubhub."

Bizarre fixation: Of all the message-board communities, the West Virginia clan is the most supportive. Posters regularly profess their love for coach Rich Rodriguez, former radio announcer Jack Fleming, the pre- and postgame rituals at home games ("make sure you stay after for John Denver"), and the team in general: "I Love all Mountaineer players, even if they aren't skilled." Here's to killing the opposition with kindness!

Louisville
The Cardinals have the consensus best quarterback in the game (Brian Brohm), a hotshot new coach (Steve Kragthorpe), and national title aspirations. The message-board banter is split among predicting a championship (one poll: "So the question is do u think this team is a Great Team or The Greatest Team Ever?"), moaning about getting no respect, and ragging on Kentucky.

What to watch for: Although most wags feel that the Cardinals' defensive secondary is terrible, some posters maintain that sleeper cornerback Rod Council—who was injured last year but is completely healthy now—is a "lockdown guy" who can dominate the field.

Wishful thinking: Even if Louisville goes 12-0, Cardinals fans fear they'll get shut out of the national championship game by a higher-profile school with one loss. The answer here is clear: "Let's root for ALL THE TOP CONTENDERS TO LOSE TWICE! Then, there'd be no doubt." Not content to leave this topic in the realm of the abstract, the same intrepid poster then lists just how each top 25 team could lose twice.

Bizarre fixation: Louisville's first game comes against Division I-AA Murray State. Because nothing screams "champion" like running up the score on an overmatched opponent, some fans are calling for the Cardinals to pound the Racers mercilessly. After all, "These guys beat us 105-0 in 1932! We have to avenge that loss."

Florida
The Gators won the national championship last year and hope to do it again behind battering ram QB Tim Tebow—after all, they can't let Joakim Noah and company steal their thunder: "I would assume that the basketball team has challenged the football team to do what they did. I won't back off what I said several months ago and that is that we go undefeated and meet USC in the title game. I also said we win back to back national championships."

What to watch for: Media types love to predict which players will start, but smart fans know that the fourth quarter's when games are won and lost. Florida fans feel that their deep defensive line will serve them well when the starters are gassed and there's 30 seconds left to play.

Wishful thinking: Even though Tebow has never started a game and likes to run more than any NFL hopeful should, some die-hards are still aggrieved that Colt McCoy and Hunter Cantwell are projected to go before him in the 2009 NFL draft. Now hear this, Mel Kiper Jr.: "Tebow is the best HS QB I've ever seen play in person."

Bizarre fixation: Pray for the poor misguided soul who wrote that Ron Zook is his favorite Gator of all time.

Notre Dame
Now that Brady Quinn is gone, everyone in South Bend is wondering who will take his place (19-year-old superprospect Jimmy Clausen seemed to have the inside track until he got arrested for "transporting alcohol"). Head coach Charlie Weis has made up his mind, but he's not telling. With the QB still a mystery and their team excluded from most national rankings, Irish fans are alternately gloomy about their team's prospects and angry at USC 's unbroken reign of prosperity.

What to watch for: Quinn's departure means that the Irish will be forced to focus on the running game. That's not as bad as it sounds—although starter Travis Thomas doesn't have much experience, he's got a bunch of backups who can share the load, and he'll be running behind what posters feel is the most talented Irish offensive line in years.

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Justin Peters is a writer in New York, and the editor of Polite.
Photograph of Pete Carroll by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images. Photograph of George W. Bush giving "Hook 'Em Horns" sign on Slate's home page by Paul Buck/AFP/Getty.
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Remarks from the Fray:

Alabama definitely has some crazy message board fans. They alternate between praising new coaches as the second coming of Bear Bryant, then crucifying the same guy a few years later if he doesn't meet alumni expectations.

Bama message board are also the hatching places of plots- one time I saw a man lay out a rather intricate plan to destroy a part of a rival's campus that has historic meaning. He gained a few followers before he was given the message board equivalent of a good ol' boy beatdown by some of the old guard, who, while crazy about Alabama, manage to maintain a sense of honor and respect.

Finally, small groups of Bama fans have even colonized the message boards of other schools without a strong athletic tradition, just so more reasonable people have a place to congregate. These are my favorite, because every two months or so there's a post from a confused fan of the non-football school, to the effect of "Who are all you people and why are you talking about Alabama on my Small Liberal Arts College's football team's message board?"

I'm a big Alabama fan myself, but I can't even begin to jump into the chaos of the message boards. I wouldn't have time for anything else!

--Cat804

(To reply, click here.)

If you were to check any reputable Notre Dame football blogs and message boards, you'd find optimism and excitement over this year because the chip has returned to the shoulders of players and coaches alike. No one ever expects much from the underdog.

Notre Dame QB-hopeful Jimmy Clausen was not arrested; rather he was cited outside a popular South Bend liquor store a stone's throw from campus because he was with legal-aged friends who were buying alcohol, a situation not a;; that rare for many college-aged people. He was indeed guilty of bad judgment and should have known better, especially with his new place in the public eye cemented more every day. But to give you an idea of the situation, if a father went into the store, bought a bottle of wine, and returned to his car where his children had been waiting, they all could have been cited. Gotta' love South Bend, where you can't even buy alcohol on Sundays.

GO IRISH!

--notretim

(To reply, click here.)

I just wanted to note that although most of the Nick Saban bashing is immature, for some LSU fans and others the root cause is more than just a "sour grapes" attitude. Around the time he left the Dolphins for a major LSU rival, the formerly beloved coach was recorded/quoted using an ethnic slur against "Cajuns" in the course of a disparaging anecdote. Faux pas! His excuse that the story was "off the record" didn't really mollify anyone. The man well and truly burned his bridges with a culture and fan base that had in the past embraced him.

--Bridgette Parker

(To reply, click here.)

(8/31)

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