Rodney Lynch gains overall lead in Armchair Quarterback contest

The sixteenth week of the Tri-City Record’s annual Armchair Quarterback competition has been contested, as our pigskin diehards attempted to pick the winner of one collegiate football game and nine professional football games that occurred during week sixteen. When all was said and done, our expert pickers were just glad to see the week of upset-after-upset end, as five of our quarterbacks finished with records that left them quite speechless. This late in the season, our contest remains up for grabs, with everyone still in contention for the overall crown – shocking, right?

The 124th annual Army – Navy game was played last Saturday, and like ten of the past fourteen meetings, the game came down to just a one possession game. In the end, the Black Knights (6-6) outlasted the Midshipmen (5-7), 17-11, to win the annual rivalry game for the second straight season and for the fifth time in the last seven years.

In professional action, the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions took the field last Sunday; actually, they were on the same field, as the two NFC North combatants collided at Soldier Field for their second meeting of the season. Chicago (5-8) was able to break through in the rivalry matchup, outscoring Detroit (9-4), 18-0, in the second half, turning a halftime deficit into a 28-13 victory, finishing the season series with a split.

When the final whistle blew and all the scores were verified in our contest, the best mark of the stretch stood at 6-4. Only one of our panelists was able to possess a winning record at the end of the festivities, with Rodney Lynch’s gambles paying off to give him top honors.

While Rodney celebrates his victory, the rest of our panelists had a week to forget. But we have two more places on the podium to award, and they will be decided in a tiebreaker between RoxAnn Rodney-Isbrecht and Mike Banic. Because we have a tie, that means we had to go to the tiebreaker to determine our weekly runner-up and third place finisher. Our tiebreaker matchup, which featured Army and Navy, was a low-scoring affair, and finished with a total of 28 points. Mike, who predicted 30 total points, will take home the silver medal as our runner-up, while RoxAnn (who predicted 31 total points) will finish as our bronze medalist, and will settle for a third place finish.

Our other three panelists: Greg Krell, Bill Whitney and Maureen Ovington will need to battle it out in a tiebreaker to determine our fourth through sixth place finishers. Because we have another tie in the weekly standings, that meant we had to go to the tiebreaker to determine our weekly fourth through sixth place finishers. Based on their highly educated guesses, Bill picked the number right to a ‘T’ – 28 – earning him fourth place honors, while Maureen (who predicted 38 total points) will have to settle for fifth place and Greg (who predicted 47 total points) will, unfortunately, have to settle for sixth place, earning our weekly ‘cellar-dweller’ status.

In the season-long race for the hat, there have been weekly changes in overall positioning virtually each week since this contest began. There is some breaking news on this front during week sixteen, as we have a new overall leader for the first time since time since week three. In fact, to show you how tight the race for the lead is – our top three panelists at the current time are separated by just three games.

In terms of the overall classification, Rodney jumped from a tie-for-second into the lead in the race for top honors, with his overall record sitting at 105-55 through our first 160 games. After leading the standings for thirteen straight weeks, RoxAnn fell one spot, to second place, with an overall record of 104-56, while Greg also slipped one spot, to third place, with an overall record of 102-58. The final three positions in our race feature Bill in fourth place, with an overall record of 97-63, Mike in fifth place, with an overall record of 96-64 and Maureen in sixth place, with an overall record of 94-66.

The season continues this week, with college football bowl season getting underway, along with games from week fifteen of the professional football season. So, our normal ten-game slate will feature five bowl games and five NFL games. 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 seventeen games that our qualified panelists were tasked with picking:

Boise State vs. UCLA

(Sat. - LA Bowl)

California vs. Texas Tech

(Sat. - Independence Bowl)

Fresno State vs. New Mexico State

(Sat. - New Mexico Bowl)

Georgia Southern vs. Ohio

(Sat. - Myrtle Beach Bowl)

Old Dominion vs.

Western Kentucky

(Mon. - Famous Toastery Bowl)

Los Angeles Chargers at

Las Vegas Raiders (Thu.)

Denver Broncos at

Detroit Lions (Sat.)

Pittsburgh Steelers at

Indianapolis Colts (Sat.)

Baltimore Ravens at

Jacksonville Jaguars (Sun.) *

Chicago Bears at

Cleveland Browns (Sun.)

* tiebreaker