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On Monday, August 26, 2024, the Big Ten conference finalized and announced it's new tie breaking procedures for the championship game. In the official document, the Big Ten explains the 6 steps for both a two-way tie and the process for a situation in which the tie involves three or more teams. Any other Big Ten teams that are not qualified for the postseason will not be counted in the tiebreaker decisions.
The new #B1GFootball tiebreaking procedures for the 2024 Discover #B1GFCG
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) August 26, 2024
More details here: https://t.co/dHmqU5gx2K pic.twitter.com/Mos3S2RFVe
Here is the procedure in the event that two teams tie for one spot (the steps will be taken in order until a difference is identified):
1. Head-to-head result
The two teams are compared based their own head-to-head matchup (if played) against each other during the regular season.
2. Record against conference opponents
If the two teams haven't played each other, their record against common confrence opponents will be compared.
3. Record against common opponents with the best conference record
The tied teams will be compared based on their record against common opponents with the best respective conference records and preceding through the common conference opponents based off order of finish.
4. Best cumulative conference winning percentage
The two teams will be compared based on the best cumulative conference winning percentage of all conference opponents.
5. Ranking on SportSource Analytics
The team that advances will be chosen based on the highest ranking by SportSource Analytics which is a team Rating Score metric. This will be based on the regular season.
6. Random Draw
The team will be chosen by random draw between the two teams. The draw will be conducted by either Commissioner Tony Petitti, or a designee.
Because the Big Ten has now expanded to 18 colleges and removed the East and West divisions in college football, a tie between three or more teams becomes more complicated. If three teams tie for the two championship spots, the first team to qualify automatically advances, and the two other teams start at the first step of the two-team tiebreaker procedures. If there are four teams that are tied, the No. 1 team will advance, and the other three teams will be compared using the three-team tie breaking procedures.
Here is the procedure for a tiebreaker that involves 3 or more teams:
If any tiebreaker step produces results with two teams tied for No. 1, both are selected for the championship game. To decide the seeding of the two teams, they will progress through the two-team tiebreaker procedures.
If a tiebreaker step produces results with one team being eliminated from proceeding to the next step in the tiebreaker process, the team that is eliminated shall not be pulled back into the tiebreaker for any future step(s).
The 2024 Discover Big Ten championship game will be played on Saturday, December 7, in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium. It will be aired on CBS for the first time. The winner of the championship game will guarantee their spot in the College Football Playoffs.
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