Big Ten announces football tiebreaking process for championship game

The Big Ten announced new football tiebreaking procedures for the 2024 title game, which will be the first in conference history to match the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the overall conference standings, on Monday.

The conference is heading into its first season without divisions, meaning that the days of the winners of the Big Ten East and West divisions meeting in the championship game are over.

That said, many teams could be tied for the top two spots at the season’s end — and have never played each other — with the current 18-team field.

The list of tiebreaking criteria in order, according to the Big Ten, is:

Head-to-head results during the regular season
Record against all common conference opponents
Record against mutual conference opponents with best record
Best Big Ten winning percentage of conference opponents
Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics after the regular season
Random draw of tied teams

The 2024 Big Ten Championship Game is set to take place on Saturday, December 7 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and the winner will represent the conference as the Automatic Qualifier (AQ) to the College Football Playoff.

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