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Pac-12 Releases Updated Cancellation Policies, Tiebreaker Scenarios

In the ever-changing landscape of college football — especially for the 2020 season — the Pac-12 announced on Monday that it had updated its cancellation and tiebreaker policies for the 7-game season

When the Pac-12 reversed its original decision and elected to play football for the upcoming season, it meant that it would have to adapt new rules and guidelines to the 7-game schedule.

On Monday, the conference released its updated cancellation and tiebreaker policies for the truncated season. In accordance with the Pac-12 Student-Athlete Health and Well-Being Initiative’s (SAHWBI) Medical Advisory Committee and Pac-12 medical experts, the conference laid out minimum standards and considerations all programs must follow to be be eligible.

These rules and guidelines aren't set in stone, as they're ever-changing due to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. But one thing that will not change is that all of the Pac-12's guidelines will be in accordance with state and local guidelines and will not supersede those already in place.

The Pac-12 will officially begin its season on Nov. 7, and will conclude with the Pac-12 championship game and division cross-over games the weekend of Dec. 18.

"These standards will apply to all Pac-12 institutions in order to provide a healthy and safe environment to conduct football in 2020," the statement from the Pac-12 office read. "In addition to the minimum standards, all local health guidelines also apply. Information will be continuously updated as guidance from the CDC, Pac-12 medical board and other understandings and developments continue to evolve."

GAME CANCELLATION
According to the statement, programs must field a minimum of 53 scholarship players, including denominations of offensive linemen (7), quarterback (1), defensive linemen (4) among those 53 scholarship athletes. If programs cannot meet this standard, they will have the option to play if they choose to do so. If not, the game could be rescheduled or declared a 'no contest,' with approval by Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott.

A game can also be rescheduled (or declared a no contest) under the guidelines below.

  1. Inability to isolate new positive cases within a team or athletic department or to quarantine high-risk contacts.
  2. Unavailability or inability to perform testing as provided by the Pac-12 medical guidelines.
  3. Campus-wide or local community transmission rates that are considered unsafe by local public health officials.
  4. Inability to perform adequate contact tracing consistent with governmental requirements.
  5. Local public health officials of the home team state that there is an inability for the hospital infrastructure to accommodate a surge.
Pac-12 Schedule

TIEBREAKERS

Determine Division Champions (Unbalanced Conference Schedule)
In order for programs to win their respective divisions, they must play at least one conference game fewer than the combined average of games played by all teams. 

"For example, if the average number of conference games played in the 2020 season is 5.25 (value of 5 when rounded down), a team would be eligible to win their Division if that team played 4 conference games," the statement said. 

Two-Team Tie

  1. Head-to-head results
  2. Record in games played within the division
  3. Record against the next highest placed team in the division (based on record in all games played within the Conference), proceeding through the division
  4. Record in common Conference games
  5. Team with the highest College Football Playoff (CFP) ranking
  6. Cumulative winning percentage of each tied team’s Conference opponents
  7. Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics (Team Rating Score metric) following the last weekend of regular-season games
  8. Coin toss

Multiple-Team Ties

The following procedures will only be used to eliminate all but two teams, at which point the two- team tiebreaking procedure will be applied:

  1. Head-to-head (best record in games among the tied teams)
  2. Record in games played within the division
  3. Record against the next highest placed team in the division (based on record in all games played within the Conference), proceeding through the division
  4. Record in common Conference games
  5. Team with the highest College Football Playoff (CFP) ranking
  6. Cumulative winning percentage of each tied team’s Conference opponents
  7. Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics following the last weekend of regular-season games

Determine Conference Championship Game Host

  1. Head-to-head competition, if applicable
  2. Record against the next highest-placed common opponent in the Conference (based on recording all games played within the Conference) proceeding through the Conference
  3. Record in common Conference games
  4. Team with the highest College Football Playoff (CFP) ranking
  5. Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics following the last weekend of regular-season games
  6. Coin toss

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