The Top 100 and ties will collect season prize money. The list will be updated weekly in this column. Full standings can be found at the Standings link.

New blood at the top

	The Road to 190

The blazing start by Phil Choler has already been erased as he was passed this week by Nick Mitrano.

You might remember that Choler's Week 4 total of 20 points was one of the fastest starts in pool history. But Mitrano had been steaming toward the lead and now owns it after averaging 5.0 in the last five weeks.

But the two aren't alone. There's a bunch at the top with eight players within four points of the lead. There's still a long way to go.

We tried to warn you

Despite warnings on all fronts including the Weather Channel, there were still 10 players who didn't heed the call and picked one of the cancelled games.

When the point spreads went up on Thursday, we posted on the home page, on Twitter and Facebook to be aware that games were being affected by Hurricane Matthew. With the high-profile LSU-Florida game being cancelled, 10 players were caught with a disqualified pick when they didn't replace the pick.

As is standard, we leave it up to players to be aware of those types of developments and respond accordingly. It may have cost a perfect week for one player who stayed with the cancelled game and won his other four games. The next item on this update is what we posted on Thursday. We'll leave it for another week for players to get familiar with the rule.

If your game gets cancelled

With Hurricane Matthew projected to hit the East Coast this weekend, there's a possibility that games could be cancelled or game times changed throughout the weekend. One game already has been postponed. One game also has been changed from Saturday to Friday.

There is a rule for what to do if you have made your picks and a game is cancelled. It is Rule 20 and here is what it says:

"In the unlikely event that a game chosen by a player is cancelled, the player can replace that pick with a game that has not yet begun. If an NCAA game is cancelled and a player is not aware of the cancellation until after all NCAA games have been completed, the player may choose an NFL game even if it results in failure to meet the requirement of 2 NCAA + 2 NFL + option. If a player does not replace the cancelled game before all the weekend games are completed, the pick becomes a loss and a disqualified pick. To submit a replacement pick, go to the Picks Page and select your replacement in one of the drop down menus. For the remaining selections select "No Pick" which is the first choice in each of the menus. If the Picks Page is unavailable to you, you may submit the replacement pick by email at poolmaster@pigskinmania.net, or by text or phone message at (520) 444-3883."

Rule 11 also comes into play as there may be instances where a game time is changed because of potential effects of the weather. This is Rule 11:

"Scheduled game times are listed with the point spreads. It remains the responsibility of the player to know the ACTUAL start time. In the event a game time changes, the actual time a game starts will determine whether it is eligible to be picked regardless of the time listed with the point spreads. Be advised there have been instances where weather or other considerations have caused game times to change to an earlier start, even as much as a day earlier. Likewise, if a game starts later than the time posted with the point spreads, it is eligible to be played up until the game actually begins. We will attempt to keep the listed game times current, but will not guarantee that the listed times are correct."

The rules are pretty self-explanatory. In the long-held belief that players should pay attention to the game, we will not announce which games are postponed or have starting times changed other than what has already been indicated on the  Official Point Spreads posted on Thursday. It is up to the player to be aware of developments as they relate to games being cancelled and respond accordingly.

Just sayin'

Not that anyone has ever made it an issue because, as we sometimes like to say, this is just your momma's little football pool.

But we thought we'd take this opportunity to let you know we don't run this pool just for the fun. We play. In fact, The Poolmaster is a past champion, taking the title in 1997.

This year, he is off to his worst start in history with a score of 7.0 after six weeks and is buried in 709th place.

 If anyone is wondering, The Poolmaster's picks are verified by other players involved in the pool in side bets. But if he ever gets in contention late in the season, which has been rare, we send picks to a neutral party in case someone wants to verify. If we ever get to that point, we'll let everyone know. But we don't think you have to worry about it this year.

This and that

• After a couple of pretty decent weeks in terms of errors in picks, they got a little messy this week. In addition to the 10 picks on a cancelled game, there were 10 other disqualified picks. Five were of the mind-boggling variety where players picked games that were played days before. In some cases, the players took the losing team. We just shake our heads sometimes. Two players took teams that weren't even playing.

• One of the players with a disqualified pick took a game that had already started and got her other four picks correct. That move may have cost her $60.

• The Arizona Wildcats are back home this week playing a 12:30 game local time. That means The Poolmaster will be busy tailgating and attending the game and picks won't be posted until sometime Saturday night if he's in condition to do so.

• Lost in the fanfare of Mike Feder's streak without a perfect week is that Emily Dewhirst has a respectable streak of 155 weeks. If Feder doesn't get to the record, Dewhirst won't be far behind.

• We added one more player this week to get to an even 740. Nick Duett, who we assume is related to Kyle Duett, joined the fray five weeks into the season. With a 3.5 in his first week, he's ahead of two players in the standings who have played all six weeks.