[NU Sports] What if.............. (fwd)

[John Labbe]

OK, this tie-breaking discussion is getting complicated.  For some 
reason, I can recall debates about how this procedure works going years 
back, when the question can be answered by referring to the rules (see 
link below).  But it turns out that this year, at least, this procedure 
is a bit more complicated than I thought.

It turns out that if there's a tie, the BCS bowls will get to pick 
which Big Ten team they want.  Who knew that?  Read on to learn more.

There was some suggestion in some of the earlier posts that the BCS 
bowls gets to pick their team from the Big Ten or that ranking in the 
BCS determines the Big Ten representative.  I thought this was 
incorrect.  It was my understanding that the Big Ten gets to pick its 
automatic BCS representative using whatever procedure it chooses, and 
it has chosen to use its own set of tie-breaking procedures.  The only 
exception to the normal tie-breaking rules, to my knowledge, was if one 
of the teams tied for the Big Ten championship was ranked #1 or #2 in 
the BCS, in which case that team would get the automatic bid and play 
in the national championship game, regardless of the normal 
tie-breaking procedures.

But in fact, the Big Ten's tie-breaking procedures are ONLY for use in 
years when the Rose Bowl is NOT the national championship game and the 
Big Ten winner, therefore, goes to the Rose Bowl.  Hence, the set of 
tie-breakers that we're familiar with only applies for selecting a Big 
Ten team for the Rose Bowl, not for any other BCS bowl, like this year.

Check out the rules at the following link:

http://bigten.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/102204aad.html

According to those rule:
  "In years that the Rose Bowl hosts the national championship game and 
the Conference champion is not ranked No. 1 or No. 2, the champion or 
co-champion will be available for selection by the Orange, Sugar, 
Fiesta, or other bowls designated for inclusion in the BCS."

That's the scenario this year.  So in theory, if there's a tie between 
PSU and Michigan, for instance, a BCS bowl could pick PSU if it wanted 
to, even though the normal Big Ten tie-breaking procedures would pick 
Michigan.  Or in a tie between PSU and OSU, a BCS bowl could pick OSU.  
Interesting that the commentators haven't talked about this, but 
they're not really good at reading fine print until a bowl makes a pick 
they don't expect.

The rules then go on to say:

"If the champion or co-champion is not ranked No. 1 or 2, that team 
shall participate in the Rose Bowl in years when the Rose Bowl is not 
hosting the national championship game as follows: [then the 
tie-breaking procedures are spelled out]"

That's not this year.  But for the heck of it, if you were to apply the 
regular tie-breakers, here's the analysis that would apply:


First, to return to the original question:  If there's a four-way tie 
between PSU, OSU, NU, and Wisconsin, the answer would be simple:  PSU 
would get the Rose Bowl bid.  That's because you use the head-to-head 
tie breaker first and PSU beat all three of the other teams.  It 
doesn't matter that OSU and Wisconsin didn't play each other.  They 
each lost to PSU, so PSU gets the nod.  (See tie-breaking rule 7(a).)

Second, if there's a three-way tie between PSU, Wisconsin, and Ohio 
State, the answer would again be simple:  PSU would get the Rose Bowl 
bid.  See above.  (See tie-breaking rule 6(a).)

Third, if there's a three-way tie between PSU, Wisconsin, and Michigan, 
it's a little more complicated.  The head-to-head doesn't work because 
each team beat one of the other two but lost to one of the other two, 
as well (i.e., their each 1-1).  So as Stephen points out, Michigan is 
eliminated because they have the lower overall record, and then PSU 
beats Wisconsin head-to-head.  (See tie-breaking rule 6(d).)

Again, the previous three paragraphs of analysis do not apply to this 
year, but it's the way the normal tie-breakers would play out, if they 
applied.  Presumably the BCS bowls would consider these tie-breaking 
principles in making their decision, but not necessarily, I don't 
suppose.


On Nov 6, 2005, at 3:31 PM, SjT (Stephen J. Truog) wrote:

>> PSU holds all tiebreakers as long as it beats MSU to
>> finish the
>> season.  If they lose that game, the winner of the
>> Ohio State/Michigan
>> game would go (assuming OSU beats NU and Michigan
>> beats Indiana).
>
> Not necessarily. If PSU, Wisconsin and the OSU/UM
> winner all wind up 6-2 in league play - PSU still
> goes. Head to head can't be used (everyone's 1-1 if
> it's Michigan and OSU/UW never played), so you then
> eliminate the team with the worst overall mark, and
> OSU/UM both lost out of conference where PSU and UW
> did not. So then you have PSU-UW and the Nits win.
>
> The only way PSU loses this is if they lose, Michigan
> wins out and no one else (besides Northwestern)
> finishes 6-2. There is no way we can win the bid and
> Michigan beat both PSU and NU. Stupid Wolverines.:)
>
> But 6-2 would still be a nice finish - conference
> co-title or not. GO CATS!!! BEAT THE BUCKS!!!
> -SjT
>
> * * * * * * * * *
> STEPHEN J. TRUOG
> sjtruog at yahoo.com
> GO CATS!!!
>
>
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