Standings shake up in local ESPN College Football Pick 'Em contest

According to this week’s SEC football schedule, there are six head-to-head games between SEC teams this Saturday. Alabama will play LSU in Baton Rouge at 7 p.m. (CBS), and Auburn will play Vanderbilt in Auburn at 11 a.m. Texas A&M will play Mississippi State in Starkville at 11 a.m., and Florida will play Arkansas in Fayetteville at 2:30 p.m. (CBS). Missouri will play South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. at 3 p.m. (SECN), and Georgia will play Kentucky in Lexington at 6:30 p.m. (SECN).

In other games involving SEC teams this week, Ole Miss will play Georgia Southern in Oxford at 11 a.m. (ESPU), and Tennessee will play Tennessee Tech in Knoxville at 3 p.m. (SECN)

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

Last week: 4-2. So far this season: 62-14.

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The ninth weekend of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em Contest closed out on Saturday night, and there was more shake-up in the standings this week.

I held on to first place for the fifth week in a row, and Drew Skipper remained in second place for the fourth straight week. Steve Stacey remained in third place for the third week in a row.

Justin Chandler and Hunter Norris were tied for the fourth-place spot. Last week, Chandler was in sixth place, and Norris was in fifth place. Rod Sims dropped from fourth place to sixth place.

Casey Grant and Eric Byrd were tied for the No. 7 spot. Last week, Grant was in tenth place, and Byrd was in seventh place.

Ricky Taylor dropped from eighth place to ninth place, and Robert Bozeman got back in the Top 10, finishing the weekend in the No. 10 spot.

If you’re playing in the contest and didn’t finish in the Top 10 this week, don’t sweat it. We’ve got five more weeks left to go in the contest, and there’s a lot of football left to be played. The Top 10 changes a good bit every week, and you can bet that next week will probably be no different.

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As of Monday, the Cleveland Indians held a 3-2 lead in the World Series with Game 6 set to be played Tuesday night in Cleveland. If the Cubs won that game, then Game 7 was to be played yesterday (Wednesday) night in Cleveland. I’m still hoping that the Cubs managed to pull it out since they haven’t won a World Series since 1908 and haven’t played in one since 1945.

Cleveland is the only team with an Alabama player on the roster, that is, Corey Kluber, who is from Birmingham. Chicago doesn’t have any players from Alabama, but shortstop Addison Russell is from Pensacola, Fla. and centerfield Dexter Fowler was born in Atlanta.