Thursday, October 24, 2013

Jeremy Matheny takes top spot in local college football contest

If nothing out of the ordinary happens, it looks like both of our local high school varsity football teams will make the playoffs this year. Both teams making it into postseason play in the same season doesn’t happen all the time, in fact, some would say it’s kind of rare.

Looking back, it’s been 11 years since Hillcrest High School and Sparta Academy both made the playoffs in the same season. That was in 2002, when both teams went 6-5 and suffered first round losses. Other years that they both made the playoffs include 2000, 1995 and 1991.

Good luck to both our teams this week as they shore up their chances for a postseason bid and make the big push to wrap up their regular season schedules with big wins. The playoffs are just around the corner, and everyone here at The Courant is hoping that both of our local teams will make a strong showing in the playoffs.

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The eighth week of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em contest is in the books and here’s how the standings looked after the close of football business on Saturday night. Jeremy Matheny went from second place to first place, unseating front-runner Hunter Norris. Jeremy’s brother, Joey Matheny, went from fifth place to second place, and Norris went from first to third.

Mark Peacock went from sixth place to fourth place, and Ricky Taylor went from sixth place to fifth place. Mike Dailey dropped from fourth place to sixth place.

Aaron Albritton dropped from sixth place to seventh place. Someone named “Pman1980” is in eighth place. I dropped from second place to ninth place. (Thanks Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Ole Miss!). Sharon Peacock dropped from ninth to tenth place.

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In the SEC this weekend, there will be four head-to-head match ups between conference teams. Those games will include Kentucky at Mississippi State, South Carolina at Missouri, Tennessee at Alabama and Vanderbilt at Texas A&M. Other games involving SEC schools this week will include Florida Atlantic at Auburn, Furman at LSU and Idaho at Ole Miss. Florida, Georgia and Arkansas don’t play this week.

For what they’re worth, here are my picks for that slate of games. I like Alabama over Tennessee, Auburn over Florida Atlantic, Mississippi State over Kentucky, South Carolina over Missouri, Texas A&M over Vanderbilt, LSU over Furman and Ole Miss over Idaho. Last week: 1-5. So far this season: 56-14.

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Week Eight of the NFL regular season kicks off tonight (Thursday) with a game between the 3-3 Carolina Panthers and the 0-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That game will kick off at 7:25 p.m. at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Eleven games will follow on Sunday, and the Monday night game will feature the Seattle Seahawks and the St. Louis Rams. Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, Indianapolis, San Diego and Tennessee do not play this week.

Tonight, I look for Carolina to beat Tampa Bay. On Sunday, I like San Francisco over Jacksonville, Dallas over Detroit, Philadelphia over the New York Giants, Kansas City over Cleveland, New Orleans over Buffalo, New England over Miami, Cincinnati over the New York Jets, Pittsburgh over Oakland, Denver over Washington, Arizona over Atlanta and Green Bay over Minnesota. On Monday night, I look for Seattle to beat Seattle. Last week: 9-6. So far this season: 74-33.

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