Ingram continues to lead in football contest for third straight week

Jordan-Hare Stadium, site of this year's Iron Bowl.

The 12^th weekend of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em Contest came to a close on Saturday night, and Hillcrest High School assistant football coach Arthur Ingram III held on to the No. 1 spot in the local standings for the third straight week.

Ricky Taylor jumped from third place into second place, and past champion Hunter Norris jumped from fourth place to the No. 3 spot. Mike Dailey and I were tied for fourth place. Last week, Dailey was in second place, and I was in seventh place.

Casey Grant jumped from ninth place to sixth place, and defending champion Drew Skipper went from ninth place to seventh place. Phig Newton dropped from fifth place to eighth place, and Clint Hyde dropped from eight place to ninth place. “Murder Creek Man 78” rounded out the Top 10 this week.

With that said, we’re getting down to the short rows in this year’s contest. Many who have been following the contest will know that it’s 14 weeks long, and we’ve only got two weeks left to go. If you’re competing in the contest, now is the time to really bear down if you’ve got your eye on finishing No. 1 overall.

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This coming Saturday, there will be nine football games involving SEC teams, and five of those games will feature head-to-head matchups between SEC opponents. Here are my predictions in those games. I like Alabama over Auburn, Mississippi State over Ole Miss, Missouri over Arkansas, Louisville over Kentucky, FSU over Florida, Georgia over Georgia Tech, Tennessee over Vanderbilt, LSU over Texas A&M and Clemson over South Carolina.

Last week: 8-1. So far this year: 82-19.

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This year’s Iron Bowl, which is set to kick off Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on CBS, is shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory, and in my book it’s a toss-up.

As of Monday morning, Alabama was favored to win by four points, which is a sign that public opinion is mostly on their side. Alabama also enters the game with an unblemished record and ranked No. 1 in the country. They are also a little healthier than they’ve been in some time and more than a few of their younger players now have valuable playing experience.

Auburn will enjoy the home-field advantage, which is significant, and they have also improved quite a bit as the season has gone along. Auburn is also fighting for a Top 4 spot in the playoff rankings, which they’ll see slip away with a loss to Alabama.

In the end, I look for the game to be close with Alabama edging out Auburn in the end. If I had to predict a final score, I’d put it at 28-24.

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Before I close this thing out this week, I want to wish the Hillcrest Jaguars good luck in their state playoff game against American Christian on Friday night. Hillcrest’s football program has come a long way in recent years, and I’m as proud of them as anybody in town. Here’s hoping that they can get three more big wins and add the school’s first ever state football championship trophy to the trophy case in a few more weeks.