http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...n-contractor-atlantic-division-ends-3-way-tie
The Atlantic Coast Conference will turn to a ranking from a privately contracted company to determine which team will play for the league title if No. 3Louisville, No. 5 Clemson and No. 13 Florida State finish in a three-way tie atop the Atlantic Division.
The ACC has partnered with SportSource Analytics, the same company that provides statistics to the College Football Playoff selection committee members.
This particular ranking, though -- a team rating score metric -- is not given to the CFP committee members, and it's not free to the public like the former BCS standings, which was also used to break three-way ties. The highest-ranked team in the team rating score metric would win the Atlantic Division, and SportSource Analytics would permit the ACC to release the ranking of the teams in the conference in the event it is required to break a tie.
This would be the ACC's seventh tiebreaker, and for it to even come to fruition in its only likely form, Clemson has to beat Louisville on Oct. 1, and Florida State has to beat Clemson at home on Oct. 29 -- and all three teams couldn't lose again.
The ACC decided to use SportSource Analytics as its No. 7 tiebreaker this summer because the CFP ranking it would need isn't released until Nov. 29 and the ACC title game is Dec. 3.
"The decision to change our tiebreaker from utilizing the CFP ranking to the Team Rating Score was based on the reality that we're not in a position to wait until Tuesday night to determine a division champion that's going to participate in Saturday's championship game," ACC senior associate commissioner Michael Strickland said. "This summer, our athletic directors unanimously decided to insert this metric as the seventh and final step before a blind draw."
The Atlantic Coast Conference will turn to a ranking from a privately contracted company to determine which team will play for the league title if No. 3Louisville, No. 5 Clemson and No. 13 Florida State finish in a three-way tie atop the Atlantic Division.
The ACC has partnered with SportSource Analytics, the same company that provides statistics to the College Football Playoff selection committee members.
This particular ranking, though -- a team rating score metric -- is not given to the CFP committee members, and it's not free to the public like the former BCS standings, which was also used to break three-way ties. The highest-ranked team in the team rating score metric would win the Atlantic Division, and SportSource Analytics would permit the ACC to release the ranking of the teams in the conference in the event it is required to break a tie.
This would be the ACC's seventh tiebreaker, and for it to even come to fruition in its only likely form, Clemson has to beat Louisville on Oct. 1, and Florida State has to beat Clemson at home on Oct. 29 -- and all three teams couldn't lose again.
The ACC decided to use SportSource Analytics as its No. 7 tiebreaker this summer because the CFP ranking it would need isn't released until Nov. 29 and the ACC title game is Dec. 3.
"The decision to change our tiebreaker from utilizing the CFP ranking to the Team Rating Score was based on the reality that we're not in a position to wait until Tuesday night to determine a division champion that's going to participate in Saturday's championship game," ACC senior associate commissioner Michael Strickland said. "This summer, our athletic directors unanimously decided to insert this metric as the seventh and final step before a blind draw."
