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As Sean and I have covered in this space numerous times before, both of us watch "the Bachelor" and "the Bachelorette." At least on my end, it began begrudgingly (and remains so). But admittedly, I know what's going on week-to-week, probably more than I want to.
I'm also usually writing while the show's on (Pacific Time). So when Bachelorette JoJo Fletcher picked former Vanderbilt quarterback Jordan Rodgers last night, I started thinking about the other power conference schools that might've won "championships" over the years as well.
Ends up there's been several -- and even more have lost during the Bachelorette's 12-season history (we're not counting "the Bachelor" here).
Your full rundown of "championship games":
| Season | Winner | School | Runner-Up | School |
| 1 | Ryan Sutter | Colorado | Charlie Maher | University of Puget Sound |
| 2 | Ian McKee | Bowdoin (D3) | Matthew Hickl | Texas A&M |
| 3 | Jerry Ferris | N/A | John Paul Merritt | Oklahoma |
| 4 | Jesse Csincsak | N/A | Jason Mesnick | Washington |
| 5 | Ed Swiderski | Michigan State | Kiptyn Locke | UC-Santa Barbara |
| 6 | Roberto Martinez | Tampa (D2) | Chris Lambton | Providence |
| 7 | J.P. Rosenbaum | Michigan | Ben Flajnik | Arizona |
| 8 | Jef Holm | Utah Valley | Arie Luyendyk Jr. | N/A |
| 9 | Chris Siegfried | Portland | Drew Kenney | Arizona State |
| 10 | Josh Murray | Georgia | Nick Viall | UW-Milwaukee |
| 11 | Shawn Booth | Keene State College (D3) | Nick Viall | UW-Milwaukee |
| 12 | Jordan Rodgers | Vanderbilt | Robby Hayes | Florida State |
This year's runner-up, Robby, going to Florida State (and being an All-American swimmer there, actually) makes this at least a little more true to this blog's actual purpose, right? It made for the ACC's first appearance in the final two, while Vandy's win makes for two of the last three victories going to the SEC. You can hear the "S-E-C!" chants echoing around America's living rooms already...
Elsewhere, the Big Ten has two titles (Michigan and Michigan State), and the Pac-12 owns one (via Colorado, all the way back in season one). Every other victor didn't go to an FBS school, but several runner-ups did. From seasons two through four, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Washington were victims in a pretty solid string of ineptitude for FBS programs against D3 or worse competition. Both Arizona schools also racked up losses, as did UW-Milwaukee, which does not have a football team but is the only two-time loser here.
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So perhaps when the next season of "the Bachelor" or "the Bachelorette" rolls around, perhaps this is a good motivator to watch? Root for your conference and then claim group victory just like SEC fans (and we) have before.
Or go ahead and watch "Bachelor in Paradise," which (once again, for some reason) features Syracuse alumna Ashley Iaconetti and root for her (and Syracuse) to win that show's prize... of I'm pretty sure nothing.