Lincoln's Dalauren Roberson, right, runs the ball against Milan in 2012.

Joseph Tobianski | AnnArbor.com file

I was wrapping up a chat with Lincoln football coach Chris Westfall last Thursday at his team's scrimmage when the topic of Game of the Week came up.

I mentioned how his team was once again running away with a likely Game of the Week win. That's when he threw down a warning.

"I'm just going to tell you, don't put us on the poll unless you want us to win," Westfall said. "Our people go nuts for that, as you can see."

They're bold words, but words that have so far been backed up. After sweeping its way to four Game of the Week wins last year, Lincoln is well on its way to winning the first AnnArbor.com/MLive.com Game of the Week poll of the 2013 season. With a day left in the voting, the Railsplitters' season-opener against Belleville Friday has nearly 4,000 votes, a full 3,000 more than the second-place game, Milan vs. Ypsilanti.

It would take a monumental -- but not impossible -- voting effort to make up a 3,000-vote deficit in a day. But we're only at the beginning of a long season of polls. And if any fan bases out there want to take Lincoln down from its perch, either this week or in a future poll, now they have some bulletin board material.

Speaking of poll choices, starting in Week 2 we will have only five games to choose from in our poll. To decide which games make the cut, we'll be taking nominations, starting on Wednesday. It's not too soon to start formulating your argument now as to why your team's Week 2 game deserves to be Game of the Week.

Game of the Week chat participation

A reminder that in order to participate in the Game of the Week chats this year, users will need to sing up for MLive.com user accounts. This is separate from your AnnArbor.com user account, so be sure to get on it.

• MLive.com account registration

Kyle Austin covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kyleaustin@annarbor.com or 734-623-2535. Follow him on Twitter @KAustin_AA.