While most of the division races coming into the final week of the regular season are either settled (Clemson in the ACC Atlantic, Ohio State in the Big Ten East, LSU and Georgia in the SEC West and SEC East, respectively) or easy to figure out (winner of Virginia-Virginia Tech wins ACC Coastal, winner of Minnesota-Wisconsin wins Big Ten West, Utah wins Pac-12 South with win over Colorado, USC wins Pac-12 South with Colorado win over Utah), things are a bit trickier to iron out in Conference USA. And a sudden change to the tiebreaker procedure this week is throwing a nasty curveball to Southern Miss.
Southern Miss, UAB and Louisiana Tech are all tied for the top spot in the Conference USA West Division. With none of the teams facing each other in the final week of the season, the possibility of a three-way tie is in play. If all three teams win or lose this weekend, Conference USA will begin sifting through the many procedures for a three-way tie. Unfortunately, the way the tiebreakers are laid out, it would take quite a number of steps to determine a winner in the event of a three-way tie. On Sunday, Conference USA announced the eighth tiebreaker would award the division crown and a spot in the conference championship game to Southern Miss on the merit of the Golden Eagles not having played in the conference title game in the longest stretch of time compared to UAB and Louisiana Tech. UAB played in the conference title game last season, and Louisiana Tech played in it back in 2016. Southern Miss last appeared in the game in 2015. It’s not the best way to settle a three-way tie, but it was No. 8 for a reason.
However, as reported by The Sun Herald, that specific tiebreaker has been rewritten just this week. Now, instead of awarding the division’s top spot to the team with the longest championship game drought, an average of multiple computer rankings will be used to determine a winner. How about that for a BCS flashback?
The reason for a change came from a decision made by the conference’s athletic directors to clarify the seventh tiebreaker to include the highest computer ranking for the seventh tiebreaker in a two-team tie for the divisional champion. The modification for the three-team tiebreaker keeps things in sync throughout the tiebreaking process. Louisiana Tech would stand to have the most favorable position if it comes down to computer rankings. Southern Miss would have the second-best chance ahead of the Blazers. Computer rankings can be impacted by this weekend’s results, so not letting the foot off the gas pedals may be necessary for Southern Miss and UAB this weekend if they want to avoid being a victim of the computers.
The East Division is much simpler to figure out at least. Lane Kiffin and FAU can wrap up the division with a win against Southern Miss or a Marshall loss to FIU. Marshall would take the division with a win against FIU and an FAU loss to Southern Miss.
