Local ESPN College Football Pick 'Em contest heating up

Hillcrest High School and Sparta Academy will both celebrate their homecomings tomorrow (Friday) night, and I expect both teams to get wins. Hillcrest will face W.S. Neal, and Sparta will face Chambers Academy of LaFayette.

The only decent team that Neal has played this year was Straughn, and Straughn beat them by double-digits in East Brewton. Chambers’ only wins have come against winless Ashford Academy and Meadowview Christian.

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The fourth week of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em contest came to a close Saturday night and as a result we had another shake up in the standings of our local contest.

I remained in the No. 1 spot for the second straight week, and Hunter Norris moved up from third place to second place. Jeremy Matheny dropped from second place to third place, and Aaron Albritton remained in fourth place. Ricky Taylor went from sixth place to fifth place, and Joey Matheny moved from eighth place to sixth place.

Mike Dailey remained in seventh place, and Preston Albritton dropped from fifth place to eighth place. Mark Peacock remained in ninth place, and Sharon Peacock moved into the Top 10 and was in tenth place overall.

Only 29 points separated the No. 1 spot in the Top 10 from the person in the No. 10 spot, and it goes without saying that next week there’ll be more than a few changes in the Top 10. We’ve got 11 more weeks to go, so who knows who will be at the top when the season comes to an end.

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College football fans have four head-to-head SEC match-ups to look forward to this weekend, including Ole Miss at Alabama, Florida at Kentucky, LSU at Georgia and Texas A&M at Arkansas. In addition to those games, the other SEC teams will take on four non-conference foes.

Here are my picks for those eight games. I like Alabama over Ole Miss, Florida over Kentucky, Georgia over LSU, Missouri over Arkansas State, South Carolina over Central Florida, Tennessee over South Alabama, Vanderbilt over UAB and Texas A&M over Arkansas. Auburn and Mississippi State do not play this week. Last week: 8-1. So far this season: 36-6.

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Week Four of the NFL regular season kicks off tonight (Thursday) with a game between the 1-2 San Francisco 49ers and the 1-2 St. Louis Rams. That game will kick off at 7:25 p.m. at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. Thirteen games will follow on Sunday, and the Monday night game will feature the Miami Dolphins and the New Orleans Saints.

Tonight, I look for San Francisco to beat the Rams. On Sunday, I like Baltimore over Buffalo, Arizona over Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh over Minnesota, Kansas City over the New York Giants, Indianapolis over Jacksonville, Seattle over Houston, Cincinnati over Cleveland, Detroit over Chicago, Tennessee over the New York Jets, Washington over Oakland, Denver over Philadelphia, Dallas over San Diego and Atlanta over New England. On Monday night, I look for New Orleans to beat Miami. Last week: 11-5. So far this season: 37-11.