The ACC is changing the way it determines the two teams that will play for the conference championship, and Commissioner Jim Phillips made the announcement Wednesday during ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte. The move comes after last season’s chaotic finish, when multiple teams finished tied in the standings and the league had to work its way through seven different tiebreakers to decide who advanced to the ACC Championship Game.
“Our game will feature the two most deserving teams,” Phillips said while unveiling the new policy.
The biggest change is that head-to-head results will now carry the most weight whenever tied teams have played each other. If that doesn’t settle the tie, the conference will use a Team Success Ranking, an analytics-based metric designed to identify the strongest overall conference résumé rather than relying on the lengthy tiebreaker process used in previous seasons (gladly this needed to happen.)
Phillips admitted the old system had become too complicated after last year’s race to Charlotte. “Who knew we would get to a seventh tiebreaker?” he said, referencing the unprecedented scenario that forced the conference to dig deep into its previous procedures.
The updated model is built around three guiding principles, reward head-to-head results, avoid giving an advantage to teams playing different numbers of conference games during the transition to a nine-game schedule, and make sure the team with the strongest overall body of work earns a spot in the ACC Championship Game if head-to-head results can’t break the tie (meaning Miami would of got in last season, rather they Duke getting in with 5 losses.)
For Miami, the change could be significant. The Hurricanes are expected to be among the ACC’s top contenders this season, and the revised format places an even greater emphasis on winning key conference matchups. In a league where several teams could finish with similar records, every game against an ACC opponent could have a direct impact on who gets to play for a conference title.
After the controversy surrounding last season’s tiebreakers, the ACC believes it has a system that’s easier to understand and more focused on rewarding performance on the field. With the new policy officially in place, the road to Charlotte now has a much clearer path. What do you think about this policy? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Let me know.
“Our game will feature the two most deserving teams,” Phillips said while unveiling the new policy.
The biggest change is that head-to-head results will now carry the most weight whenever tied teams have played each other. If that doesn’t settle the tie, the conference will use a Team Success Ranking, an analytics-based metric designed to identify the strongest overall conference résumé rather than relying on the lengthy tiebreaker process used in previous seasons (gladly this needed to happen.)
Phillips admitted the old system had become too complicated after last year’s race to Charlotte. “Who knew we would get to a seventh tiebreaker?” he said, referencing the unprecedented scenario that forced the conference to dig deep into its previous procedures.
The updated model is built around three guiding principles, reward head-to-head results, avoid giving an advantage to teams playing different numbers of conference games during the transition to a nine-game schedule, and make sure the team with the strongest overall body of work earns a spot in the ACC Championship Game if head-to-head results can’t break the tie (meaning Miami would of got in last season, rather they Duke getting in with 5 losses.)
For Miami, the change could be significant. The Hurricanes are expected to be among the ACC’s top contenders this season, and the revised format places an even greater emphasis on winning key conference matchups. In a league where several teams could finish with similar records, every game against an ACC opponent could have a direct impact on who gets to play for a conference title.
After the controversy surrounding last season’s tiebreakers, the ACC believes it has a system that’s easier to understand and more focused on rewarding performance on the field. With the new policy officially in place, the road to Charlotte now has a much clearer path. What do you think about this policy? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Let me know.
