Perfect tiebreaker guess gives Rodney Lynch Week 6 Armchair QB honors

The sixth week of action in the Tri-City Record’s Armchair Quarterback contest has been played. Still, we continued our tradition of challenging our “superfans” over some daunting choices on the gridiron, as our knowledgeable diehards attempted to pick the winners in three local high school, five collegiate, and two professional football games that appeared on our week six calendar. Regarding the final records in our contest last week, all six of our accomplished scholars passed the weekly examination, marking two consecutive weeks of progress!

Looking back at games from week six, it was a successful week for several local teams, which piqued the interest of fans here at home. If you root for the Broncos, Comets, Fighting Irish, Huskies, Lions, or Wolverines, chances are you showed up at school or work with a great big smile, celebrating your successful outcomes. If you aren’t fans of those teams and were on the losing side of the scoreboard, we encourage you to stay the course. Even though we are settling into the football campaign, until you’re told otherwise, you’ll have your chance for victory soon.

When the final seconds counted down and the scores were verified, two of our armchair quarterbacks battled to matching 9-1 records, forcing us to utilize our tiebreaker to determine our top two finishers for this edition. The battle for first place this week pitted our current overall leader, Greg Krell, against our defending champion, Rodney Lynch. To illustrate how close this was, both panelists picked the same teams, which meant the tiebreaker number was crucial.

Because we had a tie in the weekly standings, we had to rely on our dreaded tiebreaker scenario, which was the total points scored in the Los Angeles Rams-San Francisco 49ers matchup, which concluded with a total of 49 points. Apparently, Rodney can envision the future, as he nailed the tiebreaker number exactly, claiming the top step of the podium this week, while Greg has to settle for the runner-up spot, despite his projection of 51 points being only two off.

While our top two placings have been settled, the final spot on the podium was also bound to a tiebreaker, as three of our football loyalists battled to matching 8-2 records. Squaring off in the battle for the following three spots were Coloma’s Maureen Ovington, alongside Hartford’s Mike Banic and RoxAnn Rodney-Isbrecht. All three were identical in picking the Rams in a losing effort, but what hindered them from a higher finish was one incorrect high school pick.

Because we had another tie in the weekly standings, we returned to our dreaded tiebreaker scenario, which, as mentioned earlier, concluded with a total of 49 points. Based on their highly educated guesses, RoxAnn’s projection of 48 points was just one off the final total, guaranteeing her the final spot on the podium in third place, followed by Maureen, who projected 43 points, in fourth place, and Mike, who projected 62 points, in fifth place.

Rounding out our weekly order of finish will be Bill Whitney in sixth place, finishing with a 6-4 record, and having seen the writing on the wall before the weekend even started. Like all of his fellow compatriots in the contest, he also selected the Los Angeles Rams to beat the San Francisco 49ers, but came up just a field goal short. Things took a turn for the worse in Friday night’s high school matchups, as he earned red checkmarks from this teacher next to each game.

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

Weekly records are kept from week one of the football season through Super Bowl Sunday, with each week’s edition of the newspaper reporting on the progress of each panelist. After the season concludes, the panelist who has the best overall record will earn the right to wear the 2025-26 Tri-City Record Armchair Quarterback hat, claiming bragging rights until next season comes around.

Each week, if there are multiple panelists with the same record, their place in the standings will be determined by a tiebreaker game. In addition to trying to pick the winners of each week’s slate of games, they will also predict a total score from a specially selected game, which typically stands out on a local or national level. The panelist who predicts closest to the actual number of points scored by both teams will receive the higher position in the standings.

Our season continues this week, as week seven of our contest is in the queue. This week’s game schedule includes all three local high school teams, all four local collegiate teams, and both local professional teams, with action set to be fierce from Friday through Monday. With just seven games separating first through sixth place in our contest, what wild swings will our next set of ten games bring us? Guess you’ll have to read about it next week!

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 seven games that our panel was tasked with picking:

Coloma at Lawton (Fri.)

Hartford at Centreville (Fri.)

Watervliet at Allegan (Fri.)

Ball State at

Western Michigan (Sat.)

Michigan at USC (Sat.)

North Carolina State at

Notre Dame (Sat.)

UCLA at Michigan State (Sat.)

Utah State at Hawaii (Sat.)

Detroit Lions at

Kansas City Chiefs (Sun.) *

Chicago Bears at

Washington Commanders (Mon.)

* tiebreaker