League Clarifies Football Tiebreaker
OGDEN, Utah (Nov. 14, 2014) - With two weeks remaining in football regular season and four teams currently tied for first place in the loss column, the Big Sky Conference is clarifying its football tiebreaking procedure.
First and foremost, the tiebreaker is in place solely to determine which team will receive the Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Championship. If teams tie for the Conference title, they will be named co-champions.
Eastern Washington (6-1), Idaho State (5-1), Montana State (5-1) and Northern Arizona (5-1) enter the final two weeks of the regular season with one conference loss. Idaho State and Montana State play on Saturday in Bozeman, meaning no more than three teams can tie for the Conference title with a 7-1 record.
The first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition. This includes matchups of Conference teams playing each other in non-conference games. There have been three matchups of Conference teams playing in non-conference games, including Eastern Washington’s 52-51 win over Montana State on Sept. 20 in Bozeman, Mont.
If Eastern Washington and Montana State tie for the conference title with no other teams, Eastern Washington would win the tiebreaker because of its head-to-head non-conference win over the Bobcats.
If Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington tie for the conference title, Northern Arizona would win the tiebreaker based on a 28-27 conference win over Eastern Washington on Oct. 25 in Flagstaff.
If Idaho State and Eastern Washington tie, Eastern Washington would claim the automatic bid because of a 56-53 win Idaho State on Oct. 4.
If Idaho State and Northern Arizona tie, Northern Arizona would win the tiebreaker. The teams did not meet head-to-head, so the tiebreaker would move to the second criteria: Record against common conference opponents in descending order. Both teams played Eastern Washington with NAU beating the Eagles, and ISU falling to the Eagles.
In the event of the three-way tie, the head-to-head criteria would again be used first. The automatic bid will be awarded to the team with the best record against the other tied teams, regardless if all have played each other.
If Northern Arizona, Montana State and Eastern Washington tie for first, Northern Arizona would win the tiebreaker based on its 1-0 record against the other schools as it beat Eastern Washington. Eastern Washington went 1-1 against NAU and MSU, while MSU was 0-1.
If Northern Arizona, Eastern Washington and Idaho State tie for first, NAU would win the tiebreaker based on its 1-0 record against the tied teams. Eastern Washington went 1-1, while Idaho State was 0-1.
The possibility of five or six teams tying for first place with 6-2 conference record also exists. Northern Arizona would win the tiebreaker based on its 2-0 record against the tied teams.
The 2014 Division I playoff field will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 9 a.m. Mountain on ESPNU. Eleven conference champions will earn automatic bids, while 13 teams will receive at-large invitations.
The first round will be played on Saturday, Nov. 29. Eight seeded teams will earn byes to the semifinals, which are Saturday, Dec. 6. The 2015 Division I National Championship Game is Saturday, Jan. 10 in Frisco, Texas.
2014 -TIE-BREAKER
When two or more Conference members are tied in the final Conference standings, the tie shall be broken for purposes of determining the NCAA FCS automatic bid only, and shall be determined on the following basis:
1. Head-to-head Competition
2.Record against common CONFERENCE opponents in descending order
3. Record against common NON-CONFERENCE opponents
4. Sagarin Rating
5. Coin Flip
Example of No. 2: This applies to ALL head-to-head games, even those played as non-conference. (Example: Team A and Team B tie for the championship and played each other as a non-conference game. This game will be used as the tiebreaker).
Example of No. 3: If conference teams A and B both scheduled the same non-conference opponent (FBS, FCS, Division II or NAIA), the results of that game could be used in a tiebreaker.