The Front Row: The hot seat

Too hot to sit down: Lloyd Carr better find a pair of pants with extra insulation.

After Saturday’s soon-to-be-legendary upset loss to Appalachian State in front of 109,000 Michigan Wolverine fanatics, no coach in America sits on a hotter seat than Carr.

With three consecutive losses dating back to last season, the Wolverines plummeted from No. 5 to an unfamiliar spot for Michigan football—unranked in the Top 25.

Michigan fans are already calling for Carr’s head, which is a far cry from the national title chatter they were enjoying just two weeks ago.

This loss to the 1-AA power, coupled with his recent struggles against Ohio State (1-5 in their last six meetings) and in bowl games (1-4 over the past five seasons), could see Carr ousted this season, despite his 113-37 career coaching record.

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Warming up: Philip Fulmer has an entire conference breathing down his neck.

Football fans from the Deep South believe there are two types of college football: SEC football, and everything else.

But after No. 12 California dismantled No. 15 Tennessee’s defense on Saturday, the Golden Bears served the SEC a nice piece of humble pie.

Before the season, LSU head coach Les Miles made some incendiary comments regarding the SEC’s superiority, especially compared to the Pac-10.

But Cal took some revenge for last year’s beating in Rocky Top and proved that the SEC and Pac-10 are closer than originally thought.

Fulmer had his share of detractors in Tennessee before the 45-31 loss. Since winning the national title in 1998, the Volunteers haven’t won an SEC title and even finished under .500 in 2005.

If Erik Ainge can’t turn into the next great Tennessee quarterback, Fulmer’s seat might get uncomfortably warm.

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Duran coming to DDC: On the heels of last week’s phenomenal bout between Luis “Yory Boy” Campas and Norberto “Nito” Bravo, the highlights continue to come for Southern Arizona boxing fans.

On Friday, legendary lightweight Roberto Duran will be making an appearance to watch highly touted bantamweight prospect Abner Mares fight at the Desert Diamond Casino.

Duran (103-16, 70 KOs) is one of the most popular and relentless boxers in history. He’s been in no fewer than five all-time classic bouts, including his infamous fights against Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Ray Lampkin, Iran Barkley and his phenomenal trilogy against Esteban De Jesus.

Duran is boxing royalty. His “always coming forward” style won him fans around the world and established himself as arguably the best lightweight pugilist in the history of the division.