Penn State loss to Pitt could end up costing Michigan

Submitted by rdlwolverine on

WIth Penn State's win over OSU on Saturday, there could be a three-way tie for the division title if Penn State runs the table and OSU beats (dare I say "upsets") Michigan in the game.  The conference rules for tiebreakers are here - http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-footbl/archive/081011aaa.html.

Bottom line - the fifth tiebreaker of overall winning percentage would knock out Penn State and it would then revert to the Michigan-Ohio State head-to-head winner.  If Penn State had defeated Pitt, then it would have fallen to the final tie breaker - a random draw.  The random draw was news to me, I expected it to be based on rankings.

#beatOhioState

y2mh

October 24th, 2016 at 12:09 PM ^

 But imagine being some porta-cooler Buckeye,... They HAVE to root for us to win and go undefeated until THE GAME!

 If we lose, then a win for them in THE GAME is worthless because PSU wins the division. 

However, we root against OSU, because another buckeye loss and we winthe  division winning out to THE GAME. We own the PSU tiebreaker.

reddogrjw

October 24th, 2016 at 11:09 AM ^

after the Wisconsin game I was convinced the "Game" would be no worse than a toss-up

 

after losing to a team we slammed by 39, we should be favored

 

assign Peppers to attack Barret and we should be good

 

not a fan of the draw - only gives you one chance in three

 

point differential amongst the 3 games that delivered the 1-1 hth tie should be next - something with points to keep from ever getting to a draw

I Like Burgers

October 24th, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^

He's saying that in the scenario where Michigan lost to Ohio State.  Clearly, if Michigan wins they go to the Big Ten Championship game -- no one needs to be reminded of that.

However, if Penn State had beaten Pitt and wins out in the Big Ten, and Ohio State wins out in the Big Ten, and Michigan wins out in the Big Ten except for the OSU game, it would result in a three-way tie.  And the tiebraker would go down to a random draw with a 33% chance of winning -- which would be better than the current scenario where Michigan has a 0% chance of going to the Big Ten championship game if they lose to Ohio State.

cGOBLUEm

October 24th, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^

I gues I'm confused why we even talk about this. Michigan needs to beat OSU at the end of the year. That's what it comes down to. Enough overanalyzing. 

michgoblue

October 24th, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^

In that situation, what would cost us would be losing to Ohio State.  If we win the game, we are on the the Big Ten Championship Game, and probably going in at the #1 ranked team in the country. 

saveferris

October 24th, 2016 at 11:53 AM ^

Technically, Michigan has beaten two ranked teams, although Colorado wasn't ranked at the time we played them.

Still, Bama is the clear #1 team in the country until somebody knocks them off.

Michigan needs to handle their schedule and if things go right, we'll get out chance to match up with the Tide.

bhughes81

October 24th, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^

Depends on if you are referring to current rankings or not. According to current rankings today, Alabama has defeated 2 top 25 teams and Michigan has defeated 3 top 25 teams.

Alabama has defeated #9 Texas A&M and # 18 Tennessee

Michigan has defeated # 11 Wisconsin, # 23 Colorado, and # 24 Penn State.

GoBlueMAGNUS

October 24th, 2016 at 10:59 AM ^

Why does everyone assume we lose to OSU, I know the OP didn't come out and say it but have some confidence. We dominated Wisconsin (not scoring wise) and destroyed Penn State we sure as hell can beat the buckeyes




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twohooks

October 24th, 2016 at 11:05 AM ^

PSU beating OSU. So I guess this is telling us a lot can still happen. Why the scenario of Ohio St will have 2 losses and Michigan will be undefeated when comes time to play "The Game". Let's chat about that scenario for awhile.

Brendan71388

October 24th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^

It really doesn't matter. If they hadn't changed it and it was the the highest-ranked CFP team, OSU would still obviously get it over us with a head-to-head win. We just need to win.




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