Tiebreaker question

Submitted by Duval Wolverine on

Does anyone know the Big Ten tiebreaker rule or rules?  The reason why I am asking is because If we were to only lose to Ohio St, and Penn st and Ohio St win out, the three of us would end up 8-1 tie for the division.  In that scenario, which team would win the division and play in the Big ten Champ. game?

DCAlum

October 31st, 2016 at 10:31 AM ^

People keep saying this in these threads. Where did the idea come from? This isn't even one of the tiebreakers at all, let alone one that would trump overall record.

 

Not trying to be a dick, just curious about the origin of the idea. Is there a different set of tiebreakers with this in there somewhere?

Alton

October 31st, 2016 at 10:48 AM ^

Back in the good old days, in the days of a 12-team conference, when the Big Ten had a group of legendary leaders, they started using "BCS rating" as one of the tiebreakers.  I think they changed it this year so teams wouldn't have to wait for the Tuesday poll to figure out if they are going to be in the conference championship.

https://www.landof10.com/big-ten/big-ten-updates-tiebreaker-rules-to-ex…

 

pz

October 31st, 2016 at 9:18 AM ^

I read about this - in a 3 way tie, B1G Champ Game participant tiebreakers would fall to overall record, so PSU would be eliminated. Then we would lose to OSU on head-to-head and they go to the championship game.

Either we need to win The Game or OSU needs to lose another one before then - that's our path to the B1G championship game, assuming we take care of business the next few weeks.

slaunius

October 31st, 2016 at 9:19 AM ^

The tiebreakers are listed here.

Ohio State would go. Basically, the teams would tie every step listed until:

5.    The team with the best overall winning percentage [excluding exempted games] shall be the representative.

This would eliminate Penn St. The comparison would then revert to just Michigan vs. OSU, which OSU would win due to the head-to-head victory.

Red is Blue

October 31st, 2016 at 12:39 PM ^

Maybe I'm reading this too literally, but it says "the team with the best overall winning percentage shall be the representative".  It does NOT say the team with the worst overall winning percentage will be eliminated, nor does it say that if two teams are tied with the best overall winning percentage, the tiebreakers will be applied from the start for those two teams.  In the instant case, there would be no team with the best overall winning percentage to name as the representative.

Wettin 3's

October 31st, 2016 at 9:20 AM ^

From the Big Ten Conference Website:

The following procedure will determine the representative from each division in the event of a tie:

(a)    If two teams are tied, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be the representative.

(b)    If three or more teams are tied, steps 1 through 6 will be followed until a determination is made.  If only two teams remain tied after any step, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be the representative.
1.    The records of the three tied teams will be compared against each other.
2.    The records of the three tied teams will be compared within their division.
3.    The records of the three teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish (4, 5, 6, and 7).
4.    The records of the three teams will be compared against all common conference opponents.
5.    The team with the best overall winning percentage [excluding exempted games] shall be the representative.
6.    The representative will be chosen by random draw.

Alton

October 31st, 2016 at 10:49 AM ^

If there are 3 teams at 8-1 in conference and 11-1 overall, that would guarantee a random draw tiebreaker.  I'm curious about what sort of procedures they would use.

I kind of like the "odd man out" coin toss that Texas implemented to determine the playoff participants in Friday Night Lights.  In that situation, the 3 coaches involved in the 3-way tie flipped coins to select the 2 to advance to the state playoff:  there were 2 heads & 1 tail, so the 2 coaches who flipped "heads" had their teams advance.

Just about any other method (drawing envelopes, random number generator, etc) would have ridiculous conspiracy theories behind them, especially from Penn State fans.

Sione For Prez

October 31st, 2016 at 12:50 PM ^

The SEC has the exact Friday Night Lights tie breaker as the last step to determine division winner. But it will never get there because they have another step that involves overall conference records of the 2 crossover teams you play.

superstringer

October 31st, 2016 at 11:15 AM ^

"Random draw?"

The NFL has random draw at the bottom of its tie-breakers -- but smartly includes other tie breakers such as "best combined net points" and "most TDs".  See http://www.nfl.com/standings/tiebreakingprocedures

The B1G really needs to include things like that -- you could even have best net first downs (gained versus given up), best net time in the lead in all games played, etc.  Never end up with a coinflip.  While some of those stats would have an aura of randomness to them, at least they are within a team's control.

Alton

October 31st, 2016 at 11:34 AM ^

Wouldn't that lead to weird situations during that last game, like maybe a kickoff returner having a clean shot at the endzone but intentionally taking a knee at the 15 to get their team one more first down?  I would enjoy seeing that, for entertainment value, but it wouldn't be football.

Eat Your Wheatlies

October 31st, 2016 at 9:25 AM ^

Someone beat me to it...random draw=wtf

The following procedure will determine the representative from each division in the event of a tie:

(a)    If two teams are tied, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be the representative.

(b)    If three or more teams are tied, steps 1 through 6 will be followed until a determination is made.  If only two teams remain tied after any step, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be the representative.
1.    The records of the three tied teams will be compared against each other.
2.    The records of the three tied teams will be compared within their division.
3.    The records of the three teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish (4, 5, 6, and 7).
4.    The records of the three teams will be compared against all common conference opponents.
5.    The team with the best overall winning percentage [excluding exempted games] shall be the representative.
6.    The representative will be chosen by random draw.
 

Stay.Classy.An…

October 31st, 2016 at 9:30 AM ^

create a permanent thread for this, possibly place it under "Useful Stuff"? It's really annoying to have two threads a week discussing the tie-breaker scenarios. Normally, I don't ever comment on how silly threads are because, whatever. But, srsly!?!? Let's come up with a permanent tie-breaker link so it doesn't have to be discussed every week.

BornInAA

October 31st, 2016 at 9:34 AM ^

And either OSU or Michigan would end up playing Wisconsin again it looks to me. They have an easy schedule from now on.

Really mind blowing is if Washington wins out, that Colorado could be in Rose Bowl.

If OSU loses to Nebraska, but somehow beats us, we could play Wisconsin and Colorado again.

 

Contact Courage

October 31st, 2016 at 9:37 AM ^

If Michigan wins out.... Michigan.

If OSU wins out, OSU.

PSU has a non conference loss, so number 5 would exclude them. Then it goes back to head to head Michigan-OSU.

If PSU hadn't lost to Pitt, it could have been random draw and chaos would begin.




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Blue_42

October 31st, 2016 at 10:20 AM ^

The real question is would Mork intentionally "throw" the game against the buckeyes simply because if msu wins it would pretty much hand us the B10 title?  Certainly he can't have that much hatred in his heart.  Or can he?

Blue_42

October 31st, 2016 at 12:21 PM ^

I agree, but if they somehow found themselves in a game late in the fourth does he not call something that gives them a chance to win?  I guess basically I'm asking if there was a chance to win would he go all out to get the W or would he take an L simply as an F you to michigan?  I think he would.