Skipper, Cotten are tied for first place in local college football contest

The 11^th week of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em Contest wrapped up last Saturday, and the local standings reflect another big shuffle as we close in on the end of the season.

Once the dust settled after Saturday’s slate of games, we found Drew Skipper and Mark Cotten tied for the No. 1 spot in the local standings with 79 total points each. We also had a four-way tie for the third place with Brett Loftin, Clint Hyde, Blake Stringer and Casey Grant all holding down the No. 3 spot with 78 points each.

Jesse Jordan was in eighth place with 77 points, and someone named Doughboy36401 was in ninth place with 75 points. Justin Chandler was in the No. 9 hole with 74 points, while Austin Weaver and I were tied for tenth place with 73 points each.

As you can see, only six points separate the guys in first place from those of us in tenth place, so big changes could take place from week to week. We’ve got just four more weeks to go before the end of the contest, and you can rest assured that there will be more than a few changes.

Can the No. 1 guys hold on to their spot, or will someone come from behind to knock them off the top of the mountain? Only time will tell, but in the meantime we’ve got a lot of football left to enjoy as the contest sorts itself out.

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Of the football teams that I follow on a regular basis, Hillcrest High School’s varsity football team was the only one this past weekend who held up their part of the bargain when it comes to winning. Hillcrest defeated a pretty good Alabama Christian team, 28-21, in a good, close game at Brooks Memorial Stadium. Few fans left this one early because it could have gone either way right up to the very end. Hillcrest actually trailed with about three minutes left to go in the game, but showed a lot of fight as they marched down the field and punched it into the end zone to seal the deal.

Like a lot of Alabama fans, I was disappointed by their loss to LSU, but Alabama still remains alive for a spot in the playoffs. LSU no doubt has a great team, but Alabama didn’t help themselves with all of the dropped passes and missed kicks on Saturday. The pressure’s on LSU now, and it remains to be seen if they’ll be able to hold up under the pressure of staying undefeated.

Alabama’s loss to LSU wasn’t nearly as bad as the New Orleans Saints implosion against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. Atlanta entered that game with a 1-7 record while the Saints were 7-1. New Orleans has looked great all season, but they came out very flat against Atlanta. It just goes to show how evenly matched the NFL teams are, and there’s a lot of truth to that cliché that any team can beat any other team on any given Sunday.