Either Colin Pedicini or David Whelan will take sole possession of the lead with a 10-0 prediction record in the Irish Trojan bowl pick ‘em contest, depending on the outcome of the Independence Bowl between Oklahoma State and Alabama, which is tied 7-7 at the beginning of the second quarter.

Pedicini picked Oklahoma State; Whelan picked Alabama. The two are currently tied for first place with 9-0 records after moving ahead of previous co-leaders Marty West (a.k.a. ironlionOROKU) and A.J. St. John when Florida State beat UCLA yesterday. West and St. John are now in a five-way tie at 8-1 with Joe McDade (Texasyank), Chris Healey and Bill Reising. 32 contestants, including defending champion Brian Dupuis (DUP), are tied at 7-2.

Whoever takes the lead after the Independence Bowl, it could be short-lived, depending on the outcome of the Holiday Bowl and Texas Bowl later tonight. Starting today, each bowl until New Year’s Day is worth 2 points, so the possibility now exists for contestants to leapfrog one another. If Texas A&M wins the Holiday Bowl, either Pedicini or Whelan will lead at the end of the day. But if Cal beats A&M, someone(s) else will lead, depending on the outcome of the Independence and Texas bowls. Here are the possible leaders:

If Oklahoma State & Rutgers win: Bill Reising
If Oklahoma State & Kansas State win: Bill Reising, Chris Healey (tied)
If Alabama & Kansas State win: Chris Healey
If Alabama & Rutgers win: Marty West, A.J. St. John (tied)

On the other hand, depending on which bowl ends earlier (both start at 8pm EST), a Texas A&M win in the Holiday Bowl or a Rutgers win in the Texas Bowl could push Pedicini or Whelan to 11-0, beating the record set last year by Mark Gardner, Darrin Bartley and Carl Lindecrantz, who started 10-0 before getting the season’s eleventh bowl game (Nebraska over Michigan in the Alamo Bowl) wrong.

P.S. The Independence Bowl is also important in the battle for intra-family supremacy in the Zak/Boeckler/Caplin/Hammerschmidt/Loy clan. Brendan Loy (a.k.a. me) tied Aaanold Terminatorschmidt (a.k.a. my brother-in-law Soren) at 7-2 when Florida State beat UCLA yesterday. (Yup, I actually picked the Seminoles. I had totally forgotten that until I looked at the spreadsheet just now. Heh.) But the tie won’t last long: I picked Oklahoma State, Soren picked Alabama.