The 13th week of our local ESPN College Football
Pick ‘Em Contest wrapped up on Saturday night, and once the dust settled after
Saturday’s slate of games, the standings showed that we had a two-way tie for
first place. Casey Grant and Brett Loftin are now tied for first place with 96
total points each. Earlier this season, Casey led in the standings for about
one week straight, and Brett was in sole possession of first place last week.
Clint Hyde, Drew Skipper and Mark Cotten were tied for third
place with 95 points each. Jesse Jordan and Blake Stringer were tied for sixth
place with 94 points each. Justin Chandler was in eighth place with 91 total
points. Austin Weaver was in ninth place with 90 points, and I rounded out the
Top 10 with 89 total points.
As you can see, only seven points separates first place from
tenth place, so there’s still a lot of room for change as the season draws to a
close. This weekend and next weekend will wrap up this year’s contest, so we’re
getting down to the short rows. Who will claim this year’s local pick ‘em
championship? Can those in first place fight the pressure to hold on to their
top spot in the rankings? Only time will tell, and we’ve still got a lot of
good football to look forward to.
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This year’s Iron Bowl is set for Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in
Auburn and will be televised on CBS. Alabama enters the game ranked No. 5 with
a 10-1 overall record. Auburn enters the game ranked No. 15 with an 8-3 overall
record. As of Monday, Alabama was favored by four points.
Alabama has a lot more to lose in this game when you consider
that they are still in the hunt for one of four playoff spots. If Alabama can
beat Auburn, they’ve still got a chance to claim a playoff spot, but if Alabama
loses, their chances of playing for another national title will probably have
to wait until next year. Auburn is usually very hard to beat on their home
field, so Alabama will have to bring their “A-game” to get by Auburn.
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The New Orleans Saints barely squeaked by the Carolina
Panthers on Sunday, winning 34-31 on a game-winning field goal with just a few
seconds left in the game. New Orleans dominated the game early, but Carolina
managed to battle back to tie it up with about two minutes left to go in the
game. It was a good, fun game to watch, but I wouldn’t be saying that if the
Saints had lost.
I hadn’t seen Carolina play all year, and I was particularly
impressed by quarterback Kyle Allen and running back Christian McCaffrey. After
their loss on Sunday, Carolina has a 5-6 overall record, but they looked a lot
better than that against New Orleans. For a few minutes, I thought New Orleans
was on the verge of suffering another lackluster loss like the one against the
Atlanta Falcons a few weeks ago.
Speaking of Atlanta, New Orleans will play a rematch against
the Falcons today (Thursday) in Atlanta. That Thanksgiving Day game is
scheduled to kick off at 7:20 p.m. and will be televised on NBC. As of Monday,
New Orleans was a six and a half point favorite over Atlanta.
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