The Big Ten released new tiebreaker procedures for selecting the conference championship game participants. While head-to-head remains the primary criteria, such games will become far less common with an 18-team conference.
In previous years, the winners of the Big Ten East and West divisions met in the Big Ten Championship Game. The divisional races were guaranteed to have a head-to-head matchup, meaning that there was no need for tiebreakers unless three or more teams were tied. However, only two teams will emerge from 18 to head to the Big Ten title game. Conceivably, a large number of teams could be tied for the top two spots and have never played each other.
Here is the list of tiebreaking criteria in order, according to the Big Ten:
- Head-to-head results during the regular season
- Record against all common conference opponents
- Record against mutual conference opponents with best record
- Best Big Ten winning percentage of conference opponents
- Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics after the regular season
- Random draw of tied teams
The first four tiebreakers are consistent with those released by the SEC released last week to work through the scenarios. However, the SEC opted to move towards a point-differential tiebreaker at No. 5. The Big Ten followed the Big 12 in leaning on an analytics system to decide tiebreakers.
In an era of superconferences and post-divisions, tiebreakers will play an outsized role. Earning a trip to the conference championship game and winning a conference title become far more valuable as the conference champion earns a bye in the College Football Playoff. At the same time, losing divisions means that many of the teams facing tiebreakers will not have played against each other for a head-to-head result. Slight language tweaks could decide championships.
The new tiebreaker rule changes an existing Big Ten tiebreaker procedure which benefitted teams with the best overall winning percentage. Ultimately, eliminating overall record avoids punishing Big Ten teams for scheduling tough nonconference games.
The Big Ten Championship Game, the first ever to face off No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the conference standings, will take place on Saturday, Dec. 7 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.