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Big Ten CommunicationsPublished: 8/26/2024, Last updated: 8/26/2024
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Big Ten Announces New Football Tiebreaking Procedures

Tiebreaking procedures for the 2024 Discover Big Ten Championship Game

OFFICIAL TIEBREAKING PROCEDURES

ROSEMONT, Ill. (Aug. 26, 2024) — The Big Ten Conference on Monday announced new football tiebreaking procedures for the 2024 Discover Big Ten Championship Game, the first in Big Ten history to match the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the overall conference standings. 

If two teams are tied in the Big Ten standings (conference games only) the following steps will be taken until a determination is made (condensed version below with full version listed here):

  1. The tied teams will be compared based on head-to-head matchups during the regular season.
  2. The tied teams will be compared based on record against all common conference opponents.
  3. The tied teams will be compared based on record against common opponents with the best conference record and proceeding through the common conference opponents based on their order of finish within the conference standings.
  4. The tied teams will be compared based on the best cumulative conference winning percentage of all conference opponents.
  5. The representative will be chosen based on the highest ranking by SportSource Analytics (team Rating Score metric) following the regular season.
  6. The representative will be chosen by random draw among the tied teams conducted by the Commissioner or designee.

For Additional information, including the process for three-or-more tied teams, click here.

The 2024 Discover Big Ten Championship Game will be held on Saturday, December 7, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and will be broadcast for the first time on CBS. The winner will represent the conference as the Automatic Qualifier (AQ) to the College Football Playoff.

The Big Ten Football season kicks off this weekend with all 18 teams in action, beginning with three contests on Thursday evening, two on Friday, 12 on Saturday and one on Sunday. The 2024 campaign will be the first to feature a full slate of Big Ten games on three broadcast networks (CBS, FOX, NBC) supported by exclusive cable and streaming coverage all season on Big Ten Network, FS1 and Peacock.