The regular season is over, and we just have championship games left.
ACC Championship: Clemson Tigers (8-0) vs. UNC Tar Heels (6-2)
Both teams clinched their divisions by virtue of having the best record in either division. There will be no tiebreakers required in the ACC.
SEC Championship: Georgia Bulldogs (8-0) vs. LSU Tigers (6-2)
Georgia has the best record in the East. LSU has the head-to-head tiebreaker over Alabama, also 6-2.
Big Ten Championship: Michigan Wolverines (8-0) vs. Purdue Boilermakers (6-3)
Both teams clinched their divisions by virtue of having the best record in either division. There will be no tiebreakers required in the Big Ten.
Big 12 Championship: TCU Horned Frogs (9-0) vs. Kansas State Wildcats (7-2)
These teams have the two best records in the conference with no tiebreakers required.
Pac-12 Championship: USC Trojans (8-1) vs. Utah Utes (7-2)
USC has the best record in the conference. Utah, Oregon, and Washington were all tied for the second best record, and it came down to the fourth tiebreaker of opponent win percentages.
I know I said last week that Utah was out of contention and it should have been Oregon or Washington. However, as I was projecting the tiebreakers, I made two errors. First, I forgot that Oregon was 1-1 against the other two teams. But the bigger error was that I forgot to include Oregon State as a common opponent. So that changed the projection from Oregon having the best record among those teams to all three teams still being tied. Honestly, I don't even fully understand step 3 and step 4 looks like a lot of work, so I'll take ESPN's word that this tie is resolved by the 4th step of conference opponent win percentages, and it goes to Utah.
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ReplyDeleteNo worries, I missed the PAC-12 too. I suppose my mind was committed to seeing Oregon winning and it working out cleanly.
ReplyDeleteBut in any case, it looks like USC gets to avenge their lone loss against Utah. It won't be easy. 7 of the previous 11 PAC-12 CG's have featured rematches, and the winner of the first game is 6-1 in the rematch. The bright side for USC: the "1" granted the team a CFP berth, as it was Oregon over Arizona in 2014.
In terms of the "what if" with respect to divisions, since two P5 (so far) have committed to abolish divisions, but only one of them decided to make it this year:
- Had the PAC-12 followed the ACC's lead and kept its divisions for this one last season, Washington would have won the North. UW and Oregon both finished 7-2, with UW winning the H2H tiebreaker.
- Had the ACC followed the PAC-12's lead and eliminated divisions while keeping the schedule for this season, the two CCG participants would still be Clemson (8-0) and UNC (6-2). No tiebreakers needed.