Tiebreaker question
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?
October 31st, 2016 at 9:13 AM ^
Highest ranked team advances, I think.
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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?
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…
October 31st, 2016 at 11:11 AM ^
Thanks!
October 31st, 2016 at 9:14 AM ^
I believe the team that is ranked the highest by the playoff committee would go to the B1G Championship.
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October 31st, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^
Well you believe wrong
October 31st, 2016 at 9:14 AM ^
Unfortunately Ohio state. Penn state gets eliminated for losing a non conference game.
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.
October 31st, 2016 at 10:18 AM ^
Yes, there have been several articles concerning this in Michigan papers.
If anyone wants to read further you can do so here: Ohio State loss likely doesn't change trajectory for Michigan football
(Apologize in advance, it's a Freep link, but it was the first I could find.)
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.
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.
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:
(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.
October 31st, 2016 at 9:23 AM ^
I really hope "random draw" never comes into play.
October 31st, 2016 at 9:41 AM ^
There would be an unholy riot if that ever came to pass.
October 31st, 2016 at 10:03 AM ^
Worst part is it doesn't seem too far fetched considering the other tie breakers.
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.
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.
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.
October 31st, 2016 at 11:30 AM ^
And more importantly, you'd know what you need to do going into the last weekend. e.g. we need to get 3 more first downs than PSU does this weekend to get to the B1G championship game."
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.
October 31st, 2016 at 12:27 PM ^
Hardly. Those 6-8 pts (well, net 4 pts if Dantonio is coaching) and extra TD will help you in other categories which would be higher on the list. I cant imagine a player makes an in-game decision for something so fluctuating as total net first downs.
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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:
(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.
October 31st, 2016 at 9:28 AM ^
...don't worry about tiebreakers... but if Ohio State loses along the way...you can breath a little easier and are allowed to smile.
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.
October 31st, 2016 at 9:40 AM ^
Inevitably the first responses every time are blind guesses. The right answer is easy enough to find anyway.
October 31st, 2016 at 10:09 AM ^
Tis what the internet is for; easy searches for answers to questions we one may have.
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.
October 31st, 2016 at 9:36 AM ^
i'd be ok with playing colorado in the rose bowl if it came to that. just want to win won of those, and happens to be 3 miles from my house
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October 31st, 2016 at 10:11 AM ^
would have to drop one more, because they're still ahead of Wisconsin by one game.
October 31st, 2016 at 12:54 PM ^
It is more likely we'd play Wisconsin if OSU beats Nebraska. Right now, Nebraska has the nod over Wisky to the B1G CG because of a better conference record. If Nebraska and Wisky tie, then Wisky goes by virture of head to head tie-breaker. So, Wisky needs Nebraska to lose.
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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October 31st, 2016 at 9:51 AM ^
OSU can't just win out, they need Michigan not to lose before the last game. If they do, then it's Penn St and OSU with one loss each, and Penn State beat OSU head to head
October 31st, 2016 at 10:50 AM ^
Wrong. If OSU wins out, they go regardless of what Michigan or penn state does. Ohio state controls their own destiny.
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October 31st, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^
If Ohio State wins out, they are 8-1. If Penn State wins out, they are 8-1. If Michigan loses another game in addition to the Ohio State game, they are 7-2.
Penn State would advance by virtue of their head-to-head win over Ohio State (#1 tiebreaker).
October 31st, 2016 at 10:54 AM ^
Fair. However I was more countering a lot of milk. Michigan losing actually hurts OSU chances.
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October 31st, 2016 at 10:54 AM ^
Fuck....reading comprehension. Jeebus it's Monday. FML
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October 31st, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^
To clarify,I just totally missed the "not" in a lot of milk statement. Whaddyagonnado? Oh well. I understand the tiebreaker and jaws assuming Michigan wins out until the game. I get that saying OSU controls it's destiny is technically wrong, but was making assumptions.
Ah well. Onward.
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October 31st, 2016 at 10:00 AM ^
and Just Win Baby! Only one way to the BTCG as it stands:
Win The Game!
October 31st, 2016 at 9:38 AM ^
Question:
If Nebraska wins out, do they win the West or does Wisconsin, with no losses in the division, win?
October 31st, 2016 at 9:43 AM ^
Nebraska wins the west in that scenario since they would only have 1 overall conference loss (to Wisco) to Wisconsin's 2 conference losses (to Michigan and osu).
October 31st, 2016 at 9:45 AM ^
Conference record first. Division record is one of the tiebreakers.
October 31st, 2016 at 9:50 AM ^
What is this "if we were to lose to OSU" BULLSHIT?
Way to ruin my mood for hte morning.
October 31st, 2016 at 10:40 AM ^
Yeah... was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
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?
October 31st, 2016 at 10:40 AM ^
If he doesn't win, they aren't going to a bowl. However, if they lose another game before then.....
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October 31st, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^
As much as I'd love OSU losing to Sparty, I don't think the outcome will depnd on whether Dantonio wants to win or lose that game.
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.
October 31st, 2016 at 10:21 AM ^
We won't lose to this Ohio state team. I guarantee it.
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October 31st, 2016 at 10:24 AM ^
I reject your premise. Michigan WILL. NOT. LOSE.
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October 31st, 2016 at 10:40 AM ^
and add in additional tie-breakers like point differential in common games or something like that
anything to never have a draw