Tie Breaker - Need help understanding

[MacroGuru]

So in the USFL we have an interesting scenario -

USFL 2027 STANDINGS (http://108.59.255.76/~benelou/usfl/ben/standings.php)

If Richmond beats Wichita there will be a 3 way tie between Richmond / Wichita and loser of CHM / Denver. How would the tiebreaker work?

I do have a vested interest in this as I am Richmond. The win this week over Wichita would mean I have 2 wins over them.

Zbuck had this question that I am curious about as well..

The NFL site has this statement for breaking a tie between 3 or more clubs

Apply division tie breaker to eliminate all but the highest ranked club in each division prior to proceeding to step 2. The original seeding within a division upon application of the division tie breaker remains the same for all subsequent applications of the procedure that are necessary to identify the two Wild-Card participants.

Does that mean the AC south can only have 1 wildcard team in this situation?

Hope I didn't confuse you....Basically, if Richmond were to beat Wichita and create the 3 way tie breaker, how would it pan out?

[scorp]

If Richmond wins they have only one division loss, they should be in since the other 2 teams would have 2 division losses assuming you are worried about Denver.
If you lose well its head to head then strength of schedule I believe depending how everyone does.

[Dawgfan19]

Provided FOF is using the current NFL rules, common opponents and strength of victory enter into the equation.


NFL Tie-Breaking Procedures (http://www.nfl.com/standings/tiebreakingprocedures)

[ShadowJack]

If Richmond beats Wichita, then Wichita is eliminated from any tie-breaker that Richmond is in, since Richmond swept them two games to zero. Richmond would thus be the higher ranked team over Wichita in their division, using the Division tie-breakers.

For the wildcard tie-breaker with three teams like you posted, Wichita is eliminated by Richmond in step 1, since they are in the same division. Richmond and the other team (loser of CHM / Denver) would then go through the two team tie-breaker for the wildcard. (Once the 3rd team is eliminated in a three team tie-breaker, it reverts back to step one of the two team tie-breaker with the two remaining teams). Between those two teams then, it would be 1) head-to-head, 2) conference record, then 3) best record in games against common opponents.

Two teams from the same division can still be the two wildcard seeds though. The higher ranked wildcard team would be the team that is ranked higher in the division using the division tie-breakers.

[Rizon]

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5NPBIwQyPWE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[MIJB#19]

First of all, that wouldn't be 3-way tie. It's a 2-way tie between the North runner up and the South runner up.
* If the North runner up has the tie-breaker, North#2 takes WC1, South#2 takes WC2.
* If the South runner up has the tie-breakers, South#2 takes WC1, then WC2 goes between North#2 and South#3.

In this scenario, Richmond would always end as South#2 on hth sweep, with Wichita being South#3. Obviously the Champaign-Denver loser will be the North#2

If Champaign ends up 2nd:
it's Richmond vs Champaign on conference record, which is in Champaign's advantage, so:
WC5: Champaign
WC6: Richmond


If Denver ends up 2nd:
it's Richmond vs Denver on common games vs Columbus (OH), Charlotte, Minnesota and St. Louis (RIC=3-2, DEN=3-2), then it goes to SOV: Denver lead by 1 win at the moment and will score between 81 and 83, Richmond will score between 77 and 82. Denver will be rooting for Columbus and Seattle, Richmond will be rooting for Louisville, Minnesota, New York, St Louis and Jacksonville. If this ends up tied, it will come down to SOS. Most liely it will be:
WC5 Denver
WC6 Richmond
If Richmond by some miracle manages to win on SOV or SOS, it will be:
WC5 Richmond
WC6 Denver vs Wichita, which will go to common games first, which will be Wichita 4-1, Denver 3-2, so:
WC6 Wichita

[Firefly]

To summarize, macro, in case you're still confused:

If Richmond beats Wichita and you have a three-way tie, yes, it is possible for both teams to make WC. First you see who has the best tiebreaker among Wichita and Richmond. Suppose it's Richmond. Then you look at Richmond and the other team. The winner is the first WC. At that point you look at the remaining two teams to define the last WC.

The details are in the posts above.

[MacroGuru]

Got it thanks guys...

[lastcat3]

This thread has been very informational for me as well. One of my guilty pleasures on the game (I just play single player) is to try to figure out many of the playoff scenarios (even amongst teams that aren't my own).

I never understood how that three way tie thing went though. But from what I understand from this thread if two of the teams are within the same division then the team that lost the tiebreaker within those two teams is eliminated from contention.

It looks like this scenario played itself out though with Wichita beating Richmond in the final game. That is the way it often ends up in my league to. Many times there might be three way ties with a week or two left but very seldom does the season end with a three way tie.

When there are ties though I have found it is often quite common for it to go past step three but it is often a miracle if it ever gets past step four or five.

Then if it goes past step 6 or step 7 you better go out and by yourself a lottery ticket because there is about as good of a chance that there is a tie in step 6 and 7 as there is that you will win the lottery.

Then if both teams have scored the same amount of net points and net touchdowns within a sixteen game season you might as well pack your things and run for the hills because there is probably a better chance that we will be invaded by aliens tomorrow

[MIJB#19]

As I re-read this thread, I have to say that the whole misconception of the three-way creates more confusion than needed. As I repeat: the situation at hand is not a threeway tie. It's a two-way tie.

A sort-of guide to the tie-breakers in FOF (as they are today).

The order of business is:
1. determine order 1 through 4 within the four divisions of the conference

2. determine from the four 2nd placed teams which one has the best record, or if there are ties, which team has the tie-breakers

3. repeat step two with the replacement of the first wild card winner with 3rd placed team from that same division



The tie-breakers inside the division and the tie-breakers for the wild cards are different. Also remember to go back to step one if one team gets eliminated in a step, obviously without the eliminated team involved.

for the ordering inside the division (step 1 above):
1. head to head (check team schedules of all involved; tip: in a 3-way, a 3-1 team wins if the swept team beat the third team; tip: in a 4-way this is the same as the division games tie-breaker)
2. division games (see standings screen)
3. common games (check team schedules of all involved; tip: simply remove results of weeks 3 and 13 for the 14-game record that applies; tip: this applies to any number of teams involved: 2, 3 or 4)
4. conference games (see standings screen)
5. strength of victory (check team schedules of all involved, write down the teams they beat, figure out how many games those teams won; tip: keep in mind that some beaten teams may play hth in the remaining games, which boosts the SOV with a guaranteed win)
6. strength of schedule (check team schedules of all involved, write down the teams they played, figure out how many games those teams won; tip: keep in mind that some beaten teams may play hth in the remaining games, which boosts the SOV with a guaranteed win)

for the wild cards (step 2 and 3 above):
1. head to head (check team schedules; tip: this only applies if one team beat the other 1, 2 or 3, or as an eliminator if one team lost to all the other 1, 2 or 3; tip: if 3 or 4 teams are involved, first look at the week 3 and 13 opponents, if none of the 3 or 4 played hth in those two weeks, this tie-breaker won't be appliciable)
2. conference record (see standings screen)
3. common games (check team schedules; tip: in a 2-way tie, write down each team's week 3 and 13 opponents and check both teams' five-game schedule against those four teams; tip: in a 3-way tie this step will only apply if two of these teams played the same week 3 and 13 opponents, there will be a four-game schedule for all these teams' week 3 and 13 opponents; tip: in a 4-way tie this step only applies if three of the four teams played the same week 3 and 13 opponents)
4. strength of victory (check team schedules of all involved, write down the teams they beat, figure out how many games those teams won; tip: keep in mind that some beaten teams may play hth in the remaining games, which boosts the SOV with a guaranteed win)
5. strength of schedule (check team schedules of all involved, write down the teams they played, figure out how many games those teams won; tip: keep in mind that some beaten teams may play hth in the remaining games, which boosts the SOS with a guaranteed win)