Big 12 clarifies tiebreakers

Submitted by Catholepistemiad on November 21st, 2023 at 1:07 PM

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/big12/2023/11/19/big-12-championship-game-2023-tiebreaker-rules/71646320007/

 

  • Texas is one game ahead
  • Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State are one game behind
  • Oklahoma State has beaten Oklahoma and Kansas State
  • Oklahoma and Kansas State didn't play each other
  • The original Big 12 rules contain the nonsensical line: 1. Head-to-head (best cumulative win percentage in games among the tied teams). If not, every tied team has played each other, go to step 2.
  • The Big 12 has "clarified" that if everyone wins out, Oklahoma State would go based on head-to-head.
  • That's probably the right call -- even if Oklahoma and Kansas State did play each other, the winner would still be worse in head-to-head than Oklahoma State.
  • Another bullet point is needed to point out how dumb it is to have the sentence "If not, every tied team has played each other, go to step 2." Millions of dollars are involved here, and that literally makes no sense.
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chatster

November 21st, 2023 at 1:21 PM ^

The Big 12 needs a proofreader for that "nonsensical line". That useless comma after "If not" changes the meaning of the sentence and gets flagged for "Word Crimes". 

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Catholepistemiad

November 21st, 2023 at 3:30 PM ^

I actually thought the line was supposed to be "If not, and every tied team has played each other" or maybe even "If not, then every tied team has played each other" (this one is dumb, but still, less dumb than what they have). But if it's supposed to be just "If not every tied team has played each other" then their "clarification" is absolutely changing the rule.

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Newton Gimmick

November 21st, 2023 at 1:55 PM ^

Knowing Yormark he will just decide the championship game based on TV ratings potential.  Every 'clarification' seemed to muddy things further.

This is helpful at least.  (We'll see if they stick to it)

Texas will make Big 12 Championship with:

  • Win over Texas Tech
  • Loss to Texas Tech plus Oklahoma State loss
  • Loss to Texas Tech plus Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas State wins

Oklahoma State will make Big 12 Championship with:

  • Win over BYU plus Texas win
  • Win over BYU plus Texas loss and Kansas State loss
  • Loss to BYU plus Texas win and Oklahoma loss
  • Loss to BYU plus Oklahoma loss and Kansas State loss

Oklahoma will make Big 12 Championship with:

  • Win over TCU plus Oklahoma State loss
  • Win over TCU plus Texas loss and Kansas State loss

Kansas State will make Big 12 Championship with:

  • Win over Iowa State plus Oklahoma State loss and Oklahoma loss
  • Win over Iowa State plus Texas loss

 

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NittanyFan

November 21st, 2023 at 2:06 PM ^

Enjoy this glimpse of the future (as regards conference tie-breaker rules).

It's really absurd that the Big XII only had 128 (2^7) possible combinations of results from this weekend to figure out, and it still took them damn near the entire week.  That's a managable number, it isn't into the tens of thousands.  It simply shouldn't be this messy.

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