Thursday, October 3, 2013

Hunter Norris takes top spot in local college football pick 'em contest

As hard as it is to believe, the regular season is half way over for our two local high school varsity teams. Hillcrest is 2-3 overall, and Sparta is 1-4, but both teams are still in good shape when it comes to their playoff chances. Hillcrest’s three losses have come against three of the best teams in the state – Washington County, UMS-Wright and Andalusia – and Sparta’s dropped two hard-fought road games and another to undefeated Pickens Academy. If both teams stay on track, continue to play hard and eliminate the mistakes and penalties, they should both make the playoffs.

----- 0 -----

The fifth week of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em contest came to a close on Saturday night and as a result we had another reshuffling of the standings of our local contest.

Hunter Norris moved into the No. 1 spot from second place, and I went from first to second. Aaron Albritton moved up from fourth place to third place.

Ricky Taylor and Jeremy Matheny were tied for fourth place. Taylor was in fifth place last week, and Matheny was in third place last week. Mike Dailey moved up to sixth place from seventh place.

Preston Albritton and Joey Matheny were tied for seventh place. Last week, Preston was in eighth place, and Joey was in sixth place. Mark Peacock and Sharon Peacock remained in ninth and tenth place, respectively.

Only 21 points separated the person in the No. 1 spot from the person in the No. 10 spot and you can bet that there will be some more changes in the Top 10 by this time next week. The contest is only a third of the way through, so who knows who will be at the top 10 weeks from now. Only time will tell.

----- 0 -----

In the SEC this weekend, there will be six head-to-head match ups between conference teams. Those games include Arkansas at Florida, Georgia at Tennessee, Kentucky at South Carolina, LSU at Mississippi State, Missouri at Vanderbilt and Ole Miss at Auburn. The only team that’s playing an non-conference opponent is Alabama, who is playing Georgia State for homecoming. Texas A&M has an open week this week.

For what it’s worth, here are my picks for those seven games. I like Alabama over Georgia State (duh), Ole Miss over Auburn, Florida over Arkansas, Georgia over Tennessee, South Carolina over Kentucky, Vanderbilt over Missouri and LSU over Mississippi State. Last week: 8-0. So far this season: 44-6.

----- 0 -----

Week Five of the NFL regular season kicks off tonight (Thursday) with a game between the 2-2 Buffalo Bills and the Cleveland Browns. That game will kick off at 7:25 p.m. at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland. Twelve games will follow on Sunday, and the Monday night game will feature the New York Jets and the Atlanta Falcons. Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Washington do not play this week.

Tonight, I look for Cleveland to beat Buffalo. On Sunday, I like Cincinnati over New England, Green Bay over Detroit, Seattle over Indianapolis, Baltimore over Miami, New Orleans over Chicago, the New York Giants over Philadelphia, Kansas City over Tennessee, St. Louis over Jacksonville, Carolina over Arizona, Denver over Dallas, San Diego over Oakland and San Francisco over Houston. On Monday night, I look for Atlanta to beat the New York Jets. Last week: 10-5. So far this season: 47-16.

No comments:

Post a Comment