So I guess you have to give Berry Tramel, of all people, kudos for pushing this out there and forcing action on it!!!
Photo by Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer
Oklahoma State Football
Big 12 Addresses Tiebreaker Issue and Is Set to Clarify Use of Head-to-Head
STILLWATER – In the aftermath of the Big 12 action last week and Oklahoma State’s loss knocking them from a first-place tie with Texas into a four-way tie for second-place with Oklahoma, Kansas State, and Iowa State fans from all schools have done a quick check into the conference tiebreakers. It appears those tiebreakers may be needed to decide which two teams will play in the Dec. 2 Big 12 Championship Game. Fans have had to resort to AI tiebreaker tools to deciphur the scenarios. One possible one that drew attention was a tie involving Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, and Kansas State.
The Big 12 tiebreaker criteria stated that if all three teams in this instance did not play each other then you would move from head-to-head (the No. 1 option) to No. 2 where you look for the highest finishing team below those three in the standings and see how all three fared with that team to break the tie.
Here is how that reads in the Big 12 Tiebreaker Procedure:
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 two.
That reads like it is the case regardless that Oklahoma State beat both OU and K-State and those two playing wouldn’t change that.
Berry Tramel of the website Sellout Crowd inquired with the Big 12 and Tramel was awarded the answer first because of his inquiry and he reported on it today (Nov. 14).
That answer is that the Big 12 athletic directors will be briefed in a conference call tomorrow scheduled to discuss bowl selection procedures, on a clarification that will call for head-to-head to be used whenever it can be fairly applied to determine the order of finish in the case of multiple teams being tied.
In the case of the scenario being mentioned, Oklahoma State having defeated both Oklahoma and Kansas State head-to-head means they win that tiebreaker.
The craziest part of this is give Tramel credit for raising the issue and being persistent. If that scenario actually takes place, and right now even it’s possibility makes Tramel a potential hero for Oklahoma State and its’ fans and a definite villain for OU and their fans. Very interesting.
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