Steve Stacey continues to lead local College Football Pick 'Em contest

The second weekend of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em Contest came to a close on Saturday night, and Steve Stacey held on to his lead in the contest for the second straight week. Eric Byrd moved up from third place into second place, and Drew Skipper moved from fourth place and into third place.

Travis Presley went from seventh place to fourth place, and Sharon Peacock remained in fifth place. Courant Publisher Robert Bozeman and Nick Watson were tied for sixth place.

I dropped from seventh place to eighth place. Justin Chandler and Eric Talbot were tied for the tenth place spot.

If you’re playing in this contest and didn’t make this week’s Top 10, don’t sweat it. We’ve got 12 more weeks to go, and it’s a marathon, not a sprint. The Top 10 will change a lot over the next three months, so keep playing.

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Taking a look at this week’s SEC football schedule, there are four games featuring head-to-head match-ups between SEC teams. Alabama will play Ole Miss in Oxford at 2:30 p.m. (CBS), Texas A&M will play Auburn in Auburn at 6 p.m., Mississippi State will play LSU in Baton Rouge at 6 p.m., and Georgia will play Missouri in Columbia at 6:30 p.m. (SECN).

In addition to those games, there are six other games featuring SEC teams. Ohio will play Tennessee in Knoxville at 11 a.m. (SECN), Vanderbilt will play Georgia Tech in Atlanta at 11:30 a.m. (ESPN3), Eastern Carolina will play South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. at 3 p.m. (SECN), New Mexico State will play Kentucky in Lexington at 3 p.m. (SECN), Texas State will play Arkansas in Fayetteville at 6:30 p.m. (SECN) and North Texas will play Florida in Gainesville at 6:30 p.m. (ESNPU).

Here are my predictions as to how those games will turn out. I like Alabama over Ole Miss, Auburn over Texas A&M, Georgia over Missouri, LSU over Mississippi State, Florida over North Texas, Kentucky over New Mexico State, South Carolina over Eastern Carolina, Tennessee over Ohio, Georgia Tech over Vanderbilt and Arkansas over Texas State.

Last week: 10-2. So far this season: 20-5.

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With a little more than two weeks left in the regular season, the Atlanta Braves are still plugging along. It’s no secret that the Braves have struggled this year, but as of Monday they were .500 against division opponents. As of Monday morning, in games against the Nationals, Mets, Marlins and Phillies, the Braves were 25-25.

Overall, as of Monday morning, the Braves were 55-88 this season with just 19 games left to go on their regular season schedule. The Braves have been in last place in their division all season, so it would pretty much take a miracle for them to make the playoffs this season. On the upshot, there’s always next year, and the Braves have a decent crop of new talent coming up through the minors.

Braves fans should take note that Atlanta’s game against the Detroit Tigers on Sun., Oct. 2, will mark the Braves’ final game at Turner Field in Atlanta. Next season, the Braves will move into their new home stadium, SunTrust Park, which is located in Cobb County, Ga., northwest of Atlanta.