Tie Breaker Logic

[viejid]

It was asked somewhere else - what happens if multiple teams finish with the same record in the Big 12 standings?

For the record - we control our own destiny and so does Oklahoma State.
(Oh, after I typed that I realized ISU may also control their own destiny, just in a really complicated way. They get to play us, and if they beat us they could force like a 6 team tie with 2 losses - I don't even know how that would play out. Let's ignore that for now)

I think any remaining scenario would likely get decided by the first two steps.

I wrote this assuming a scenario where KSU, OU and UT all finish with 2 losses. There are a lot of other possible tie breaker scenarios that could materialize, but I think this highlights how we need to think about it

1. Head-to-head (best cumulative win percentage in games among the tied teams). If not every tied team has played each other, go to step 2.

This doesn't apply because not all teams have played head-to-head (OU does not play KSU)

2. Record against the next highest placed common opponent in the standings (based on record in all games played within the conference), proceeding through the standings.
When arriving at another group of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s win percentage against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to that group’s own tie-breaking procedure) rather than the performance against individual tied teams.

This is the where it would get decided - it depends on who we lose to and what the standings look like.
Here you would go to the next best ranked common opponent (which would alsmot surely be either KU, ISU or both if they have the same record). This is where OU is in a bad spot because they already have a loss to one of those two (KU).

So, in a 2-loss scenario for KSU, OU and UT, this is what it would look like:
OU: 1-1
KSU: 2-0
UT: either 2-0 or 1-1 - depends on whether we lose to ISU or someone else.

As I play through the scenarios, I think if there is a tie between these three teams with two losses, OU is out - there is no way for them to both survive the first tie breaker and also win the second one because this scenario requires KSU to win both games - so there is no way for OU and UT survive the first tie breaker (which would give OU the H2H over UT).

Because we own the H2H over KSU, I think KSU's only way to win this one they would need a) us to lose to ISU, and b) for ISU to be a part of the tie breaker (i.e., have at least a share of 5th place).

So, here are the realistic scenarios:

• If KU finishes alone on 5th
  • UT advances: OU is eliminated from the 3-team tie, UT beats KSU on H2H
• if ISU finishes alone on 5th
  • If UT loses to ISU:
    • KSU advances: KSU and OU survive this tie breaker, KSU then beats OU on the 2nd tie breaker because of the record vs. Xth ranked KU
  • If UT loses to TCU or Tech
    • UT advances: All teams beat ISU, so it goes to record vs. KU where OU is eliminated. Then UT beats KSU on H2H
• If ISU and KU finish tied for 5th
  • If UT loses to ISU:
    • KSU advances: KSU has a 2-0 record, OU and UT are both 1-1
  • If UT loses to TCU or Tech
    • UT advances: KSU and UT have a 2-0 record vs those two teams, OU is out, and then UT wins the H2H tie breaker vs. KSU