SWAC Announces Tie-Breaker Procedures for Championship Game

April 20, 2021 by Staff and swac.org

Two key games take place in the SWAC this Saturday, even though the championship game matchup scheduled for May 1st has already been determined.

Alabama A&M clinched the east division last week with its 38-14 win over Alabama State in the 79th Magic City Classic at Birmingham.

In the other half of the ledger, Arkansas-Pine Bluff cemented the west division title with a 36-31 win over Prairie View A&M.

This week, undefeated 3-0) Alabama A&M travels to winless Mississippi Valley State (0-3), and unbeaten Arkansas-Pine Bluff (4-0) hosts winless Texas Southern (0-2). The Congrove Computer Rankings give the Bulldogs and the Golden Lions huge advantages over their respective opponent with Alabama A&M favored by 11.22 and APBU by 14.76.

The oddsmakers have installed the Bulldogs as an even heavier favorite, doubling the computer's line to 23 points. They were a little less enthusiastic about APBU, but still still give the Golden Lions a 10.5-point edge,

Obviously, one team needs to win and another lose to make the hosting situation clear cut. If both win or lose, the first tie-breaker would be head-to-head competition but the two teams did not face each other during the regular season.

The conference website, swac.org, published the tie-breaking scenarios this past Saturday.

SWAC Football Championship Host Tiebreaker Policy
1. Head-to-Head Competition
2. Overall conference record versus common divisional and non-divisional opponents
3. Record versus non-divisional opponents
4. Football Championship Subdivision Coaches Poll (FCS) ranking
5. NCAA FCS Simple Ratings System
6. Best point differential between the tied teams, common head-to-head match ups
7. Best point differential between the tied teams common head-to-head match ups, against teams with the best overall (divisional and non-divisional) record and proceeding through other common non-divisional teams based on their order of finish
8. Coin flip