I thought I’d write a post describing what happens in the event of a tie in the Big Ten (the real football, not the elimination).\u00a0 As most of you know, the Big Ten has 2 divisions.\u00a0 The East consists of Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland, Indiana, and that’s it*.\u00a0 The shit** division consists of Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, and Illinois.\u00a0 Seriously, this is the way the divisions are laid out… because Jim Delaney is a dumbass.\u00a0 I mean I know Nebraska is having a bad year and Iowa is decent once in a while but come on… Rutgers would be tied for 3rd*** in this division right now…<\/p>\n
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Anyway, here’s how it works.\u00a0 Stay with me because there’s a whole bunch of words arranged into sentences here… Every team plays everyone in their division(6 games), 3 teams from the other division, and 3 non-conference games.\u00a0 The winner of the West plays the winner of the East in Indianapolis.\u00a0 The winner of each division is the team in that division with the best conference record.\u00a0 (games against non-Big Ten teams don’t count).\u00a0 If there are two teams with the same conference record in the division then the team that won the head-to-head matchup is the winner.\u00a0 If there are more than two teams with the same conference record in the division then they go through a huge list of tiebreakers**** until there are only 1 or 2 teams left un..tie..broken.\u00a0 If at any point there are 2 teams left then the one who won the head to head matchup wins the division… Confused yet?\u00a0 Let’s go through two possible examples:<\/p>\n
Let’s assume that Penn State, Michigan State, and Michigan win the rest of their games.\u00a0 This would mean that PSU, MSU, UM, and OSU are all tied in the East at 7-2.\u00a0 (assuming OSU beats Illinois).\u00a0 The first step in the list\u2122 is to compare the tied teams’ records against each other.\u00a0 In this situation:
\nPSU: 1-2 with losses to OSU and MSU and Win over UM<\/p>\n
MSU: 2-1 with loss to OSU and wins over PSU, UM<\/p>\n
OSU: 2-1 with loss to UM and wins over PSU, MSU<\/p>\n
UM: 1-2 with losses to MSU, PSU<\/p>\n
UM and PSU are eliminated.\u00a0 With only 2 teams left, OSU beat MSU so OSU is the winner.<\/p>\n
Now let’s assume the same situation but MSU loses to Rutgers and\/or Maryland.\u00a0 Now we have 3 teams in the East at 7-2 (UM, PSU, OSU)\u00a0 Again compare the records against eachother (UM=1-1, OSU=1-1, PSU=1-1).\u00a0 Still 3 so go to the next TB\u2122\u00a0 This is to compare each team’s record against the division.<\/p>\n
UM: 4-2 (Losses against MSU, PSU)<\/p>\n
PSU: 4-2 (W: IU, UM,\u00a0 Rutgers, MD, L: OSU, MSU)<\/p>\n
OSU: 5-1(W: IU, Rutgers, MD, PSU, MSU)<\/p>\n
OSU still wins.\u00a0 There are situations in which OSU doesn’t win but a. they’re not likely b. they don’t help further explain the tie breaker, and c. I’m not gonna spell them out because, you know… NEVER EAT POULTRY WHEN THE SCORE IS TIED!<\/p>\n
Everybody get it?\u00a0 No? Perfect.\u00a0 Tune in next week when we discuss gravitational parabolas and why it’s a bad idea to throw god damn fades to receivers listed at 5’11”.<\/p>\n
*Oh and some high school from New Jersey I guess.<\/p>\n
**Sorry I misspelled worst… I mean West.<\/p>\n
***Possibly higher as they would have probably played Wisconsin, Iowa, and Northwestern instead of Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State<\/p>\n
****I’m going to make the official name of this list “The-List-Of-Tie-Breakers-That’s-Really-Long-and-Way-Too-Complicated-For-Rutgers-To-Understand-But-Fortunately-They’ll-Never-Have-To-so-Once-Again-They-Shouldn’t-Be-In-The-Big-Ten”\u2122\u00a0 The whole list is here <\/a>if you’re interested but we’ll likely not get past the first one or two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I thought I’d write a post describing what happens in the event of a tie in the Big Ten (the real football, not the elimination).\u00a0 As most of you know, the Big Ten has 2 divisions.\u00a0 The East consists of Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland, Indiana, and that’s it*.\u00a0 The shit** division … <\/p>\n