SEC Tiebreaker

#1

WillisWG

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#1

In the event of a tie between teams competing for a place in the Conference championship game, the following procedures will be used in descending order until the tie is broken:

  1. Head-to-head competition among the tied teams
  2. Record versus all common Conference opponents among the tied teams
  3. Record against highest (best) placed common Conference opponent in the Conference standings, and proceeding through the Conference standings among the tied teams
  4. Cumulative Conference winning percentage of all Conference opponents among the tied teams
  5. Capped relative total scoring margin versus all Conference opponents among the tied teams
  6. Random draw of the tied teams
Too long to post all see 👇
 
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#2
#2
Looks like a good process to me.

1. Keeps it entirely internal to the conference, no link to national rankings, CFP, etc.
2. Can't see many times having to go past #4...that one has a lot of variability, or maybe "incrementality" built into it. Not sure I'm grabbing the right word. I mean it seems unlikely teams will precisely tie on this step.

but

3. The #5 tie-breaker is going to promote continued scoring late in games, even if it's unlikely it will ever be used.

And they got it done before the season starts. All in all, I'm a fan.

Go Vols!
 
#4
#4
Looks like a good process to me.

1. Keeps it entirely internal to the conference, no link to national rankings, CFP, etc.
2. Can't see many times having to go past #4...that one has a lot of variability, or maybe "incrementality" built into it. Not sure I'm grabbing the right word. I mean it seems unlikely teams will precisely tie on this step.

but

3. The #5 tie-breaker is going to promote continued scoring late in games, even if it's unlikely it will ever be used.

And they got it done before the season starts. All in all, I'm a fan.

Go Vols!
The tie breaker process will likely go deeper with an 8 game conference schedule than a 9 game schedule.

Hopefully we move to a 9 game schedule soon.
 
#6
#6
It might never even come to it, but having the scoring margin tiebreaker will still encourage running up scores, which is very disappointing. I would have far preferred the random draw after the first four tiebreakers. Really stupid addition to an otherwise sound system.
 
#7
#7
Whew, had to read that capped relative scoring margin a few times to understand it.
Yeah, you almost need a PHD to figure who is supposed to come out on top. It kills me to know it could all come down to drawing a name out of a hat. I'd prefer they just scrap the whole thing and have a cage match to determine the winner.
 
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#9
#9
It might never even come to it, but having the scoring margin tiebreaker will still encourage running up scores, which is very disappointing. I would have far preferred the random draw after the first four tiebreakers. Really stupid addition to an otherwise sound system.
You said it yourself.
 
#12
#12
Mark my words, in three years (or less) there will be a law suit somewhere about getting into the playoff. Guess who wins there? The attorneys.
 
#13
#13
The tie breaker process will likely go deeper with an 8 game conference schedule than a 9 game schedule.

Hopefully we move to a 9 game schedule soon.
I like the idea of a 9 game schedule, expansion has slowly reduced the opportunity to play so many of the SEC games we played before 92. I truly hate it.
 
#15
#15
Imagine the consternation and anxiety amongst the two competing SEC fan bases if this thing ever came down to rule #6: Random draw of the tied teams.
 
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#16
#16
The tie breaker process will likely go deeper with an 8 game conference schedule than a 9 game schedule.

Hopefully we move to a 9 game schedule soon.

I think we do the 8-game in 2025 and then move to 9-game for 2026. Rumors are that the issue is the payday per game. The SEC is playing hardball until ESPN pays up.
 
#17
#17
I think we do the 8-game in 2025 and then move to 9-game for 2026. Rumors are that the issue is the payday per game. The SEC is playing hardball until ESPN pays up.
something the SEC should have hammered out in 2020 when they signed the contract with ESPN since it was the beef they had with CBS too
 
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#19
#19
It might never even come to it, but having the scoring margin tiebreaker will still encourage running up scores, which is very disappointing. I would have far preferred the random draw after the first four tiebreakers. Really stupid addition to an otherwise sound system.
It’s terrible. I can already see key injuries late in blowouts that affect your postseason chances
 
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#20
#20
something the SEC should have hammered out in 2020 when they signed the contract with ESPN since it was the beef they had with CBS too

Yeah, I don't think Sankey and the SEC have been as organized as people think throughout this process. I get that CBS has been screwing the SEC for some time (the biggest beef was that CBS did not increase the money when Missouri and A&M were added). This started the SEC down the path of working with ESPN. However, ESPN is financially unstable and Disney is threatening to sale them off. This has me worried that we maybe walking into a problem.

I know in my current profession to watch out about getting into contracts with companies that are struggling financially.

Also look what ESPN has done with the ACC. I know a lot of people talk about it being smart but in the business world, sometimes "ethical" and being a "partner" is more valuable long-term than squeezing money out for a short-term gain.
 
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#21
#21
To see if Tie-breaker #4 is as pixilated (still looking for the right word) as it seems it will be, I imagined a four-way tie* in 2022 involving us, LSU, Bama and UGa.

So I went back and added up the "Cumulative Conference winning percentage of all Conference opponents" for each of us. Here's how it came out:

Vols played: FL (3-5), LSU (6-2), Bama (6-2), Ky (3-5), UGa (8-0), Mizzou (3-5), USCe (4-4), and Vandy (2-6)
Bama played: Vandy (2-6), Arky (3-5), A&M (2-6), Vols (6-2), Miss St (4-4), LSU (6-2), Ole Miss (4-4), and Auburn (2-6)
UGa played: USCe (4-4), Mizzou (3-5), Auburn (2-6), Vandy (2-6), FL (3-5), Vols (6-2), Miss St (4-4), and Ky (3-5)
LSU played: Miss St (4-4), Auburn (2-6), Vols (6-2), FL (3-5), Ole Miss (4-4), Bama (6-2), Arky (3-5), and A&M (2-6)

So that gives all the Vols' opponents a combined conference win rate of 35 games out of 64, or a cumulative winning percentage of 54.69%. Bama's conference opponents combined to go 29 of 64, or 45.31%. UGa's foes combined for 27 of 64, or 42.19%. And LSU's opponents were 30 of 64, which is 46.88%.

Yah, that looks pretty pixilated, or whatever. Four teams, four unique numbers. No ties. I'm sure it is possible for two teams to have the precise same outcome there, but seems unlikely. So tie-breaker #4 is a good one.

Anyway, Go Vols!

p.s. Remember, this case study has nothing to do with the 2022 season. Just picked it semi-randomly to get some actual season results to play with.



* it will always be at least a three-way tie if we're considering the 2nd to 6th tie-breaker rules, because tie-breaker rule #1 (head-to-head game result) easily decides a two-way tie.
 
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#22
#22
The tie breaker process will likely go deeper with an 8 game conference schedule than a 9 game schedule.

Hopefully we move to a 9 game schedule soon.
That's fine, but teams will need to be allowed to drop the rule about playing at least one out of conference power 5 team per season....if they haven't dropped that rule already.
 
#23
#23
To see if Tie-breaker #4 is as pixilated (still looking for the right word) as it seems it will be, I imagined a four-way tie* in 2022 involving us, LSU, Bama and UGa.

So I went back and added up the "Cumulative Conference winning percentage of all Conference opponents" for each of us. Here's how it came out:



So that gives all the Vols' opponents a combined conference win rate of 35 games out of 64, or a cumulative winning percentage of 54.69%. Bama's conference opponents combined to go 29 of 64, or 45.31%. UGa's foes combined for 27 of 64, or 42.19%. And LSU's opponents were 30 of 64, which is 46.88%.

Yah, that looks pretty pixilated, or whatever. Four teams, four unique numbers. No ties. I'm sure it is possible for two teams to have the precise same outcome there, but seems unlikely. So tie-breaker #4 is a good one.

Anyway, Go Vols!

p.s. Remember, this case study has nothing to do with the 2022 season. Just picked it semi-randomly to get some actual season results to play with.



* it will always be at least a three-way tie if we're considering the 2nd to 6th tie-breaker rules, because tie-breaker rule #1 (head-to-head game result) easily decides a two-way tie.

Well, at least strength of schedule could actually mean something.
 
#25
#25
It’s terrible. I can already see key injuries late in blowouts that affect your postseason chances

Not to mention less time for reserves to get some invaluable game experience. It just wasn't necessary, that's what is so idiotic about it.
 
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