Pac-12 Announces Policies For Tiebreakers, Canceled Games
SAN FRANCISCO - The Pac-12 Conference announced on Monday policies and parameters for football game cancellations and updated tiebreaker procedures for the 2020 season.
In coordination with the Pac-12 Student-Athlete Health and Well-Being Initiative’s (SAHWBI) Medical Advisory Committee and Pac-12 medical experts, the Pac-12 Conference has created minimum standards and considerations to return to play. These standards will apply to all Pac-12 institutions in order to provide a healthy and safe environment to conduct football in 2020. In addition to the minimum standards, all local health guidelines also apply. Information will be continuously updated as guidance from the CDC, Pac-12 medical board and other understandings and developments continue to evolve.
The 2020 Pac-12 Football season is slated to begin on Saturday, Nov. 7 and feature a seven-game Conference-only schedule to culminate the weekend of December 18-19 with the Pac-12 Football Championship Game, presented by 76®, featuring the North and South champions alongside a full slate of Pac-12 games for all teams.
All football competitions will be conducted in accordance with the Pac-12 COVID-19 Medical Advisory Committee health and safety recommendations and guidelines, as previously announced on September 24 when the Pac-12 CEO Group voted to resume football, basketball and winter sport seasons.
Game Cancellation
The Pac-12 has established minimum thresholds to play a football game of at least 53 scholarship players available to participate and the following minimum number of position scholarship players available to begin a game: seven (7) offensive linemen, one (1) quarterback and four (4) defensive linemen. Each institution shall provide a complete roster by position to the Conference office prior to the season. The impacted institution has the option to play the game with fewer than the 53 scholarship players or fewer than the minimum number of position players listed above if it elects to do so. Otherwise, upon approval by the Commissioner, the game would be rescheduled or declared a no contest.
In addition, a game should be rescheduled or declared a no contest in the event of the following COVID-19 related impacts:
Inability to isolate new positive cases within a team or athletic department or to quarantine high-risk contacts.
Unavailability or inability to perform testing as provided by the Pac-12 medical guidelines.
Campus-wide or local community transmission rates that are considered unsafe by local public health officials.
Inability to perform adequate contact tracing consistent with governmental requirements.
Local public health officials of the home team state that there is an inability for the hospital infrastructure to accommodate a surge.
Tiebreakers
Tiebreak Procedures To Determine Division Champions (Unbalanced Conference Schedule)
In order for teams to be considered in a divisional tiebreak scenario, teams must play no less than one fewer conference game than the average number of conference games played by all conference teams (rounded up/down at .50). For example, if the average number of conference games played in the 2020 season is 5.25 (value of 5 when rounded down), a team would be eligible to win their Division if that team played 4 conference games.
The winner of each Division will be determined by the best winning percentage (both divisional and cross-divisional) within the conference. In the event of an unbalanced schedule where there is a tie for the best record in the loss column, head-to-head results will take precedence over winning percentage.
In determining the divisional champions, the following will apply: If any team(s) has not played six (6) Conference games (due to not being able to reschedule a postponed Conference game) and any team(s) is within one Conference win from the team(s) with the highest conference winning percentage AND has an equal number of losses, those teams shall be declared tied.
The following procedures will be applied to determine the Pac-12 Championship Game representatives:
Two-Team Tie
Head-to-head results
Record in games played within the division
Record against the next highest placed team in the division (based on record in all games played within the Conference), proceeding through the division
Record in common Conference games
Team with the highest College Football Playoff (CFP) ranking
Cumulative winning percentage of each tied team’s Conference opponents
Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics (Team Rating Score metric) following the last weekend of regular-season games
Coin toss
Multiple-Team Ties
The following procedures will only be used to eliminate all but two teams, at which point the two- team tiebreaking procedure will be applied:
Head-to-head (best record in games among the tied teams)
Record in games played within the division
Record against the next highest placed team in the division (based on record in all games played within the Conference), proceeding through the division
Record in common Conference games
Team with the highest College Football Playoff (CFP) ranking
Cumulative winning percentage of each tied team’s Conference opponents
Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics following the last weekend of regular-season games
Determination of Championship Game Host
The home team in the Pac-12 Championship Game will be determined by the record in all Conference games. In the event of a tie, the following procedures will be applied to determine the home team:
Head-to-head competition, if applicable
Record against the next highest-placed common opponent in the Conference (based on recording all games played within the Conference) proceeding through the Conference
Record in common Conference games
Team with the highest College Football Playoff (CFP) ranking
Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics following the last weekend of regular-season games
Coin toss
Tiebreak Procedures to Determine Conference Championship Participations if Average Number of Conference Games Falls To 4 OR Below (Unbalanced Conference Schedule)
In the event that the average number of conference games falls to 4 or below, the two teams with the best winning percentage (both divisional and cross-divisional) within the conference will participate in the Pac- 12 Football Championship Game (regardless of division affiliation). In order for teams to be considered in a tie-break scenario, teams must play no less than one fewer conference game than the average number of conference games played by all conference teams (rounded up/down at .50). For example, if the average number of conference games played in the 2020 season is 4.25 (value of 4 when rounded down) a team would be eligible to participate in the Pac-12 Football Championship Game if that team played 3 conference games.
Under this scenario, the participants in Pac-12 Football Championship Game will be determined by the best winning percentage within the conference. In the event of an unbalanced schedule where there is a tie for the best record in the loss column, head-to-head results will take precedence over winning percentage.
If the teams remain tied, the following procedures will be applied to determine the Pac-12 Championship Game representatives:
Two-Team Tie
Head-to-head
Record in common Conference games
Team with the highest College Football Playoff (CFP) ranking
Cumulative winning percentage of each tied team’s Conference opponents
Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics (Team Rating Score metric) following the last weekend of regular-season games
Coin toss
Multiple-Team Ties
The following procedures will only be used to eliminate all but two teams, at which point the two- team tiebreaking procedure will be applied:
Head-to-head (best record in games among the tied teams)
Record in common Conference games
Team with the highest College Football Playoff (CFP) ranking
Cumulative winning percentage of each tied team’s conference opponents
Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics following the last weekend of regular-season games
Coin toss