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

The third weekend of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em Contest wrapped up on Saturday night, and Steve Stacey held on to his first-place lead in the contest for the third week in a row. Drew Skipper moved into second place from fourth place, and Travis Presley went from fourth place to third place.

Robert Bozeman went from sixth place to fourth place. Mark Peacock and Hunter Norris were tied for fifth place. Justin Chandler and I were tied for seventh place.

Nick Watson dropped from sixth place to eight place. Sharon Peacock and Eric Byrd were tied for ninth place. Ricky Taylor and Eric Talbot were tied for tenth place.

If you’re competing in this contest and didn’t make the Top 10 cut this week, don’t sweat it. We’ve got 11 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 five head-to-head match-ups between SEC teams. Florida will play Tennessee in Knoxville at 2:30 p.m., Georgia will play Ole Miss in Oxford at 11 a.m., South Carolina will play Kentucky in Lexington at 6:30 p.m., Arkansas will play Texas A&M in Arlington at 8 p.m. and LSU will play Auburn in Auburn at 5 p.m.

In addition to those games, there are four other games featuring SEC teams. Alabama will play Kent State in Tuscaloosa at 11 a.m., Delaware State will play Missouri in Columbia at 3 p.m., Vanderbilt will play Western Kentucky in Bowling Green at 3:30 p.m. and Mississippi State will play UMass in Foxborough, Mass at 2:30 p.m.

Here are my predictions as to how those games will turn out. I like Tennessee over Florida, Ole Miss over Georgia, Kentucky over South Carolina, Texas A&M over Arkansas, LSU over Auburn, Missouri over Delaware State, Western Kentucky over Vanderbilt, Alabama over Kent State and Mississippi State over UMass.

Last week: 9-1. So far this season: 29-6.

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Tomorrow (Friday) marks an important date in the history of high school football in Alabama. It was 89 years ago, on Sept. 23, 1927, that Cramton Bowl in Montgomery became the site of the very first football game played “under the lights” in the South with Cloverdale taking on Pike Road High School. An estimated crowd of 7,200 attended the game. This is pretty remarkable, especially when you consider that the first NFL game played at night under electric lights, was on Nov. 3, 1929 when Providence played the Cardinals in Providence, Rhode Island.

I’m not sure when the first night football game was played in Conecuh County, but I’m guessing it was some time in the 1930s. Prior to the construction of Brooks Memorial Stadium in Evergreen, Evergreen High School played its home games at Gantt Field, which was off Bruner Avenue. I don’t remember ever running across any information about Gantt Field being lighted, but it might have been. If anyone out there in the reading audience remembers, please contact me and let me know.