Ties and tiebreakers lead to football chaos
Off the foul Pohl
Bart Pohlman
Issue date: 12/5/08 Section: Sports
Nobody likes ties.
They're boring.
Nobody wins, nobody loses, everyone goes home no better or worse than they were before.
Take the Cincinnati Bengals and the Philadelphia Eagles.
They tied this year. 13-13. Neither team won. Eagles' quarterback Donovan McNabb wasn't even aware a tie could happen.
That's sad. Not that McNabb didn't know about ties, but that a tie actually happened. In a football game.
Ties happen all the time in futbol, but that's a different thing entirely.
In football, ties shouldn't happen. At least in college football. And they don't happen in games. But ties find a way to cast their shadow of neutrality in the standings.
Enter the Big 12.
Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech ended the regular season tied atop the Big 12 South Division standings with identical 11-1 records.
It's usually rather simple to break such a tie.
The first Big 12 tiebreaker states that the records of the tied teams will be compared against each other.
Oklahoma beat Texas Tech, who beat Texas, who beat Oklahoma.
Oops. That doesn't work.
The next tiebreaker says that the records of the tied teams will be compared within the teams' division.
Well, since each team only lost to each other, their divisional records are the same.
The third tiebreaker states that the records of the teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish.
Each of the three teams is undefeated against everyone else.
The fourth tiebreaker says that the records of the teams will be compared against all common conference opponents.
All three teams played Kansas, and all three teams beat Kansas.
Uh-oh.
The fifth tiebreaker is where things get dicey. It states that the highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series poll following the completion of Big 12 regular season conference play shall be the representative in the championship game.
They're boring.
Nobody wins, nobody loses, everyone goes home no better or worse than they were before.
Take the Cincinnati Bengals and the Philadelphia Eagles.
They tied this year. 13-13. Neither team won. Eagles' quarterback Donovan McNabb wasn't even aware a tie could happen.
That's sad. Not that McNabb didn't know about ties, but that a tie actually happened. In a football game.
Ties happen all the time in futbol, but that's a different thing entirely.
In football, ties shouldn't happen. At least in college football. And they don't happen in games. But ties find a way to cast their shadow of neutrality in the standings.
Enter the Big 12.
Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech ended the regular season tied atop the Big 12 South Division standings with identical 11-1 records.
It's usually rather simple to break such a tie.
The first Big 12 tiebreaker states that the records of the tied teams will be compared against each other.
Oklahoma beat Texas Tech, who beat Texas, who beat Oklahoma.
Oops. That doesn't work.
The next tiebreaker says that the records of the tied teams will be compared within the teams' division.
Well, since each team only lost to each other, their divisional records are the same.
The third tiebreaker states that the records of the teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish.
Each of the three teams is undefeated against everyone else.
The fourth tiebreaker says that the records of the teams will be compared against all common conference opponents.
All three teams played Kansas, and all three teams beat Kansas.
Uh-oh.
The fifth tiebreaker is where things get dicey. It states that the highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series poll following the completion of Big 12 regular season conference play shall be the representative in the championship game.
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