So this is the step by step process for determining tiebreakers, straight from the big 12:
1. The Conference records of the three or more teams will be compared against each other in a “mini round-robin” format.
2. The Conference records of the three or more teams will be compared against the remaining team(s) in the Conference standings from top to bottom. a. When comparing against the remaining teams in the Conference standings any two-way ties will be broken by head-to-head competition before the comparison begins. b. If more than a two-way tie exists amongst the remaining teams in the Conference standings, the record against the collective tied teams as a group will be used.
3. Scoring differential among the tied teams. The team or teams with the lowest difference between points scored and points.
Step one won’t determine anything in the event of a three way tie. BU, OSU, and OU would all be 1-1 against each other. So we move to step 2. The key phrase here- FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. So, going down the list, ISU comes before TCU. BU trumps OU and OSU. BU gets in. OU wins head to head. We’re out. We wouldn’t ever make it to step 3 (point differential) because the tie would be broken in step two.
Again, none of this matters because there probably won’t be a three way tie, but here it is if it does come to that. Most likely scenario is we either beat OU and play BU in Arlington, or we lose to Ou and have two bedlams. Those are the two most likely.
No, let’s win out, and have ISU beat OU. Not only finish #1 and make it to Arlington, but let Ou go into the off-season reeling and all pissed off at each other after 3 straight losses
so our conference record against the remaining teams outside the tie-breaker would be 6-1(losing to ISU who is not included in tie-breaker), baylors would be 6-1 as well(tcu not included in tie-breaker).
what am i not thinking of?
i am assuming “remaining teams” means your record against everyone not included in the tie-breaker.
oh ok i get your point now.
im not sure that is how “top to bottom” works, but hopefully we dont have to find out
OU would also be 6-1, with a loss to ISU (outside of Tiebreaker). The only possible way this whole situation can come up would be if OU loses to ISU and then beats us.
So all three would be 6-1. But since they go from top to bottom (which is think is dumb, it should be from bottom to top but whatever) ISU comes before TCU in the standings and OU and OSU would have both lost to them.
I read top to bottom as just in entirety. Which we would all be 5-2? So move on to point diff.
But maybe I’m just having a hard time in believing that our fate could come down to the fact that we lost to the 4th place team while Baylor lost to the 9th place team and goes ahead.
I apologize for making it seem like I’m right and you’re wrong, it’s only bc that scenario is completely asinine!
Was supposed to be a reply to the thread, not just @AccountingPoke
I thought so at first too, so I completely get this. And I think it’s dumb too. But, the number 1 cardinal rule in law for official documentation of rulings of any kind is to not use loose words. They can be misinterpreted. I know the big 12 has some pretty stupid people working for em, but surely they wouldn’t put “from top to bottom” in there if it didn’t mean anything. If it meant as a whole, they could have just excluded that part of the statement as it would be unneeded and just loose wording to be misinterpreted as we’re possibly doing now. I think there’s a reason they deliberately put that part of the phrase in there. Unless they didn’t and their ignorance has led to my ignorance.
I want to add you might still be right and we’re wrong. I wouldn’t put it past the B12 to do something dumb like this. Lol
Actually, I know it’s correct. Look at 2a and 2b. They have steps to decide tiebreakers between the rest of the conference if needed. That means that they are in fact going down the list from top to bottom, team by team. So this is right. We’d be out. It’s really stupid, but oh well. I still don’t think it comes to that.
That just means they will determine all of the tiebreakers between the remaining 7 teams before starting the comparison of the 3 tied teams at the top. For example, if two teams were tied for 4th, they’d determine that tiebreaker and declare one of them the 4th place team and another the 5th place team before starting the comparisons of the top 3 teams and going down the list. That step is referring to the other 7 teams, not the top 3. Does that make sense?
It for sure can’t be looking at the record against the rest of the conference as a whole because that would be a 100% pointless step that couldn’t resolve any ties. To get to step 2, we know the tied teams would already have the same conference record and the same record against each other, so it’s mathematically impossible that any team in the tie would have a better or worse record than any of the other tied teams.
