Mike Banic makes big statement, scores Week 9 Armchair QB victory

The ninth week of the Tri-City Record’s annual Armchair Quarterback competition has been contested, as our pigskin diehards attempted to pick the winner of two local high school games, five collegiate games and three professional games that occurred. When all was said and done, our expert pickers finished with no less than two losses, with only four of our six diehards finishing above water with a winning record.

In our local high school football games, our two Tri-City teams were in action on the gridiron, looking for a victory in their final games of the regular season. Unfortunately, both teams were defeated and finished with similar 3-6 records. In Allegan, the Watervliet Panthers took on the host Tigers in a conference showdown and came home with a 36-16 loss. In Coloma, the Comets hosted the Decatur Raiders with a playoff opportunity on the line and were soundly defeated, 42-6.

In collegiate action, Michigan, Michigan State and Western Michigan continued their seasons last week, while Notre Dame had their ‘bye’ week. When the games were final, the results were mixed, with just one team winning, although two of our favorite local college teams played each other. In terms of final scores, #2 Michigan (8-0) traveled to Michigan State (2-5) for the annual battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy, and, despite all the uncertainty and black clouds surrounding the program, the Wolverines dominated the Spartans, to the tune of a 49-0 score. Meanwhile, Western Michigan (2-6) traveled to Ohio to take on the Bobcats in a MAC East / West showdown; despite playing one of their best games of the season on defense, the Broncos suffered a third straight loss, 20-17.

Finally, in professional action, we saw the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions play week seven of their seasons, and, well, we’ve become accustomed to the teams going in opposite directions, but not in the way they happened last week! In the ‘Windy City,’ the Bears (2-5) hosted the Las Vegas Raiders in an AFC West / NFC North matchup, looking to get back in the win column with a backup quarterback. The result was a 30-12 victory, Chicago’s second win in their last three games. Meanwhile, in Baltimore, the Lions (5-2) took their four-game winning streak into a showdown with the Ravens, but it wasn’t much of a game as Baltimore took apart the Detroit defense, bringing the Lions down to earth with a 38-6 drubbing.

For the first time this season, our newest Hartford ‘guru,’ Mike Banic, reigned victorious with a solid 8-2 overall and will take home the gold medal and the top step of the podium this week. He has been struggling a bit in his debut season, but he hit the right notes throughout the weekend, including scoring a perfect five-for-five in his college picks.

We usually have at least one tie that we have to break, and this week is no exception! That tie will be between two of our panelists that finished with a 7-3 record. Both Rodney Lynch and Greg Krell will have to battle it out for runner-up and third place honors. While both panelists failed on their high school picks, they were also wrong in one of their NFL picks, which left them a game back. Our tiebreaker matchup, which featured the Miami Dolphins at the Philadelphia Eagles, finished with a total of 48 points. Based on their highly educated guesses, both of our panelists were in the ballpark of the actual result. However, it was determined that Greg, thanks to his prediction of 51 total points, will take home runner-up honors this week and Rodney, who predicted 54 total points, will have to settle for the final step of the podium in third place.

Our current overall leader, RoxAnn Rodney-Isbrecht, had an off week by her lofty standards, as she was able to muster just a 6-4 record, but still was able to record a fourth-place finish. While some of her fellow gurus were able to score an undefeated mark at one level of football or another, she had losses at the high school (one), collegiate (one) and professional (two) levels. She will maintain the overall lead, albeit by a smaller margin.

Now that we have talked about our four panelists with winning records, we must also address the two panelists that finished with losing records. That starts with our fifth-place finisher, Bill Whitney. Our favorite fire chief only managed a 4-6 record this week, as he took a gamble on several of our matchups. Unfortunately, those gambles resulted in him landing on ‘bankrupt’ in his high school and professional picks, which derailed his hopes.

Unfortunately we must have a ‘cellar dweller’ who will take home a sixth-place finish. That ‘badge of honor’ this week will belong to Maureen Ovington, who found herself at the bottom of the standings with a 3-7 record in our ten-game slate. She has had impressive results this year, including a week where she was undefeated, but her losing gamble this week will be cause for her to pick up her game if she wants to win in the end.

In case you are new to our newspaper or need a refresher on how this competition works, let’s take a moment to bring you up-to-speed. Each fall, our newspaper enlists the assistance of six local football fanatics, who should be deemed ‘superfans’ really. Each week, the six-person panel is given a list of pre-selected games from the local high school, collegiate and professional ranks, and is given the daunting task of selecting the winners of each game.

Weekly records are kept from the beginning of the high school season through Super Bowl Sunday, with each week’s edition of the paper reporting on the progress of each participant. At the conclusion of the football season, the panelist who has the best overall record will earn the right to wear the 2023-24 Tri-City Record Armchair Quarterback hat and claim bragging rights until the next season begins.

In the event there are multiple AQBs that have the same weekly or season-long record, their place in the weekly or overall standings will be determined by a weekly ‘tiebreaker’ game. In addition to trying to pick the winners of each week’s slew of games, they will also predict a total score from a specially selected game, one that usually stands out on a local or national level. The quarterback that predicts closest to the actual number of points scored by both teams will receive the higher position in the standings.

In the season-long race for the hat, there have been weekly changes in overall positioning almost every week that this competition has been contested. That must mean that the streak must continue, right? If that was your bet, collect your money! This week, we had a shuffle amongst a few of our panelists, but our top two remain the same.

In terms of the overall classification, RoxAnn continues to keep a tight grasp on the lead in the race for top honors, with her overall record standing at 62-28 through our first 90 games. Rodney remains in the runner-up spot, gaining a game in the race for first place, as his overall record now stands at 59-31. Having been tied-for-third last week, Greg broke out of that draw this week, claiming third place on his own with his overall record standing at 58-32. The final three positions in the race feature Bill and Mike in a tie-for-fourth place, with both panelists having overall records of 55-35, while Maureen sits in sixth place, with an overall record of 53-37.

The season continues this week, with the pre-district round of the playoffs in high school football being contested across the state, along with week nine of the college football season and week eight of the professional football season. Be sure to check back each week as our panel of ardent, loyal pigskin pickers weave their way through the football season, in pursuit of their own ‘one shining moment’. Now, here are your week ten games that our qualified panelists were tasked with picking:

Berrien Springs at

South Haven (Fri)

Schoolcraft at Lawton (Fri)

Michigan State at Minnesota (Sat)

Oregon at Utah (Sat)

Pittsburgh at Notre Dame (Sat)

Troy at Texas State (Sat)

Western Michigan at

Eastern Michigan (Sat) *

Chicago Bears at

Los Angeles Chargers (Sun)

NY Jets at NY Giants (Sun)

Las Vegas Raiders at

Detroit Lions (Mon)

* tiebreaker