Question for Jon Miller regarding 3 way tie!

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Not4cy

Well-Known Member
If Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State all finish 7-1 in conference play, who goes to the Rose Bowl? On Soundoff, you stated that MSU would go to the Rose Bowl because Iowa lost to Arizona and that eliminates Iowa. MSU beat Wisconsin head to head, so MSU goes to the Rose and Wisconsin more than likely gets the other at large BCS bowl game.

Kirk Herbstreit on BCS Countdown stated the tie breaker in the Big 10 in a 3 way tie first goes to the highest rated BCS team and I have heard other ESPN commentators state the same thing. In that case, it is more than likely going to be Wisconsin.

So what exactly is the rule?
 
Not4cy said:
If Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State all finish 7-1 in conference play, who goes to the Rose Bowl? On Soundoff, you stated that MSU would go to the Rose Bowl because Iowa lost to Arizona and that eliminates Iowa. MSU beat Wisconsin head to head, so MSU goes to the Rose and Wisconsin more than likely gets the other at large BCS bowl game.

Kirk Herbstreit on BCS Countdown stated the tie breaker in the Big 10 in a 3 way tie first goes to the highest rated BCS team and I have heard other ESPN commentators state the same thing. In that case, it is more than likely going to be Wisconsin.

So what exactly is the rule?
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They are both right, however, when Jon said it the 7-1 teams are Iowa, Wisky, and MSU, when Herbie said it the 7-1 teams are Wisky, MSU, and tOSU. The only way Iowa goes to the Rose is if Iowa wins out and Wisky loses, then they will be against MSU and head to head is Iowa.

MSU beat Wisky,
Wisky beat OSU
OSU doesn't play MSU so it comes down to who has the highest BCS ranking.
 
hawkfarmer said:
They are both right, however, when Jon said it the 7-1 teams are Iowa, Wisky, and MSU, when Herbie said it the 7-1 teams are Wisky, MSU, and tOSU. The only way Iowa goes to the Rose is if Iowa wins out and Wisky loses, then they will be against MSU and head to head is Iowa.

MSU beat Wisky,
Wisky beat OSU
OSU doesn't play MSU so it comes down to who has the highest BCS ranking.
Click to expand...

So if Iowa, Wisc and MSU are the 3 teams at the top, then Iowa is automatically eliminated due to the loss to Arizona? If that is the case, that is just another example of why we should only schedule cream puffs in the out of conference, because it can cost you in the tie break scenario. The Big 10 won't have to worry about that next year because of the championship game but that probably means the Big 10's chances of always getting 2 teams in the BCS will be hurt significantly.
 
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Not4cy said:
So if Iowa, Wisc and MSU are the 3 teams at the top, then Iowa is automatically eliminated due to the loss to Arizona? If that is the case, that is just another example of why we should only schedule cream puffs in the out of conference, because it can cost you in the tie break scenario. The Big 10 won't have to worry about that next year because of the championship game but that probably means the Big 10's chances of always getting 2 teams in the BCS will be hurt significantly.
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Wisky lost to MSU, MSU lost to Iowa and Iowa lost to Wisky. The tiebreaker that we lose out on is overall winning % as the head to heads are all split. The only way we go to the Rose Bowl is if Wisky loses a game and Iowa wins out. If Iowa and MSU win out and Wisky loses then we win the head to head tiebreaker with MSU as head to head is higher on the list than overall winning %.

As far as scheduling creampuffs...hell no. A national championship would be nice but being relevant week in and week out to the media is more important when building a top 10 caliber team. Plus do you really want to watch an Iowa game against a directional school that is meaningless? I love the hawkeyes, but I can find better things to do with my Saturdays if they head that direction.
 
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Here are the official rules:

Method to Determine Big Ten Conference Automatic Representative to Bowl Championship Series - BIG TEN OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE


The BCS consists of five (5) bowl games: BCS National Championship Game, Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Sugar Bowl. Participation by a Big Ten Conference member institution will be determined as follows:

BCS National Championship Game. In the event the conference has one or two football teams ranked No. 1 and/or No. 2 in the final BCS poll, these conference team(s) shall participate in the BCS National Championship Game.
Rose Bowl. Unless ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the final BCS poll, the conference champion shall participate in the Rose Bowl. The championship shall be determined on the percentage basis of conference games (tie games counts ½ win and ½ loss). If there is a tie for the championship, the Rose Bowl representative will be determined as follows:
An ineligible team shall not be considered in the standings for determination of the conference representative.
If there is a tie for the championship, the winner of the game between these two teams shall represent the conference.
If there is still a tie, or if the tied teams did not play each other, the representative shall be determined on the percentage basis of all games played.
If there is still a tie, the highest-ranked team in the final BCS standings shall be the representative.
If more than two teams tie for the championship, the same selection procedures shall be followed with the following exceptions:
If three teams are tied, and if one team defeated both of the other teams, then that team shall be the representative.
If three teams are still tied, and if two of the three teams defeated the third team, the third team is eliminated, and the remaining two teams shall revert to the two-team tie procedure.
If three teams are still tied, and there is a tie game between two of the three teams, or if two or all three of the teams did not play each other, the representative shall be determined on a percentage basis of all games played.
If three teams are still tied, and one of the three teams is eliminated through the percentage basis of all games played, the remaining two teams shall revert to the two-team tie procedure.
If three teams are still tied, and all three teams have the same winning percentage of all games played, the highest-ranked team in the final BCS standings shall be the representative.
If four or more teams tie for the championship, the following selection procedure shall be followed:
If one team defeated each of the other three teams, then that team shall be the representative.
If two of the four teams defeated each of the other two teams, the latter two teams shall be eliminated, and the two remaining teams shall revert to the two-team tie procedure.
If three of the four teams defeated the fourth team, the fourth team is eliminated, and the remaining three teams shall revert to the three-team tie procedure.
If there is a tie game between two of the four teams, or if two of the four teams did not play each other, the representative shall be determined on a percentage basis of all games played.
If one of the four teams is eliminated through the percentage basis of all games played, the remaining three teams shall revert to the three-team tie procedure.
If all four teams are still tied and have the same winning percentage of all games played, the highest-ranked team in the final BCS standings shall be the representative.
 
I cannot see Wisky losing to UM or NW.

If we win out, we will be top 10 and be in line for a second straight BCS game...jumping MSU and OSU.

Could you imagine Hawk fans on Bourbon Street!?
 
The tiebreaker is set up to get it to two teams. If its three teams Iowa, MSU and Wisky, they have all played one another. Had Iowa gone 4-0 in out of conference, then they would have had to go to BCS ranking. But Iowa lost one game, so Iowa would be eliminated on that, leaving a two team tiebreaker between Wisky and MSU, which MSU wins.

If OSU, Wisky and MSU, MSU did not play OSU...and all teams went 4-0 in OOC...so they would have to go to BCS ranking
 
JonDMiller said:
The tiebreaker is set up to get it to two teams. If its three teams Iowa, MSU and Wisky, they have all played one another. Had Iowa gone 4-0 in out of conference, then they would have had to go to BCS ranking. But Iowa lost one game, so Iowa would be eliminated on that, leaving a two team tiebreaker between Wisky and MSU, which MSU wins.

If OSU, Wisky and MSU, MSU did not play OSU...and all teams went 4-0 in OOC...so they would have to go to BCS ranking
Click to expand...

To dumb this down we need Wisky to lose
 
HawkKing81 said:
This is right.

- If Iowa wins out and Wisky loses they go to the Rose.
- If Iowa wins out and Mich St loses they 99% get an At-Large
- If Iowa wins out and so do Mich St and Wisky, Iowa is 75% to get an At-Large

In the last scenario it would be between Iowa and Michigan St. MSU would only have 1 loss compared to Iowa's 2, but Iowa would likely have a higher BCS ranking and owns the head to head. Plus Iowa travels better.
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If Iowa wins out, how do they get to a BCS game? Is there an "automatic" ranking (top 8, 12, etc) that would allow them to automatically be chosen? I don't think either a 1-loss MSU team and 2-loss Iowa team get picked over a 2-loss OSU team, even though they would finish 4th in the conference. Is there something in the rules for selection that says otherwise?
 
HawkKing81 said:
No. It's an at-large bid and there is nothing that automatically qualifies Iowa or any other Big Ten team. But it's very unlikely in my opinion that a 2 loss OSU team that loses to Iowa in the 2nd to last week of the season and that will likely have a lower BCS ranking than Iowa will get in over Iowa. It's also unlikley, in my opinion that a MSU team that has a lower BCS ranking and lost the head to head with Iowa will get in over them as well.

The Big Ten conference will try to pressure the bowls to take their teams in the order of finish. In this case, Iowa technically will finish above MSU due to the head to head, although I doubt the Big Ten will care either way in this case since both teams finished tied for 1st in the conference.
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Thanks. Just wasn't sure on the rules/guidelines. I hope Iowa would get picked ahead of OSU, but I'll believe it when I see it. I don't know that a bowl cares about head-to-head as much as bringing in a "name". I hope you're right!
 
To make it to a BCS game, we need either MSU or Wisky to lose. If Wisconsin is the one who drops a game, then we go to the Rose. If it's MSU, then we go to a BCS at-large.

If neither drop a game, and we're also 7-1, we'll be co-Champs, but go to the Capital One.
 
edr247 said:
To make it to a BCS game, we need either MSU or Wisky to lose. If Wisconsin is the one who drops a game, then we go to the Rose. If it's MSU, then we go to a BCS at-large.

If neither drop a game, and we're also 7-1, we'll be co-Champs, but go to the Capital One.
Click to expand...

This is right. Thanks,
 
If Iowa wins out, it will go to a BCS bowl game even if it isn't the automatic qualifier for the Rose Bowl. To get an at large bid to a BCS game, a team must finish in the top fourteen in the BCS standings.

If Iowa wins out it will finish in the top fourteen. Unless Georgia Tech is the ACC representative, the Orange Bowl would love to have Iowa again this year. The Orange Bowl representaives know their best chance of filling the stadium is to invite Iowa. They are just in awe of the Iowa fans.

The Fiesta Bowl representatives also are on record as wanting to invite Iowa. The Arizona game may have hurt Iowa's record, but all the Hawk fans that invaded Arizona did not go unnoticed by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
LoewDog said:
I cannot see Wisky losing to UM or NW.

If we win out, we will be top 10 and be in line for a second straight BCS game...jumping MSU and OSU.

Could you imagine Hawk fans on Bourbon Street!?
Click to expand...

I could see Wisky losing to UM in the Big House. Was anyone really that impressed with Wiscy's defense against us? So, it's possible that UM could win in a shoot-out. Not that I'm predicting it, but it's plausible. If NW's playing them in Madison then I agree that they have little chance.
 
Iowa could go over a 11-1 MSU if Iowa is in the top 14 of the BCS.
BCS rules state a team must have at least nine victories and finish in the top 14 of the final standings to qualify for an at-large bid to one of the five BCS bowl games

There are 10 spots in the BCS. 6 will be taken from the 6 automatic qualifiers from the Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, SEC, ACC and Pac 10.

As of today the following teams would get the automatic births
Wisconsin
Oregon
Oklahoma or Okie St/Nebraska
Auburn
Va Tech/FSU
Pitt/Cuse

The Big East and ACC will actually be spoiling the BCS this year, not Utah, TCU or Boise St.

The highest-ranked champion of a non-BCS conference will receive an automatic berth if:
It is ranked in the top 12, or Ranked in the top 16 and higher than at least one BCS conference champion.
So TCU/Utah winner will probably get an automatic bid.

That leaves 3 spots.
1 will most likely go to the SEC West Runner up. Auburn vs. Alabama game will be ENOURMOUS!
Another will probably go to Boise St. assuming they are undefeated.
The Fianl spot could come down to the Big12 Runner up and the Big Ten Runner up or Co-Champion.
 
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