Big Ten Championship clinching scenarios to watch in Week 13 games today

What you need to know as the Big Ten looks to clear a path to its conference championship game, and what happens today will help them do that.

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As it stands today, the top two ranked teams in college football appear on a collision course to face each other for the Big Ten championship, and each to appear in the playoff regardless of what happens there.

But it’s not just Ohio State and Indiana that are bound for a place in Indianapolis right now, not as long as Oregon, Michigan, and USC have something to say about it, combined with a little potential craziness down the stretch over the final two weeks of the regular season.

Two of those three insurgents play against each other today as USC hits the road against Oregon in a playoff elimination game for the former, and Michigan still finds itself in the conversation after beating Northwestern last weekend.

Here are the various clinching scenarios for those teams still in contention to qualify for the Big Ten Championship Game as we move into college football’s Week 13 action today.

How Ohio State makes the Big Ten championship

— Beats Rutgers and Michigan

— Losing to Rutgers and beating Michigan means the Buckeyes miss out if Indiana and Oregon both win out

— Beating Rutgers and losing to Michigan means the Buckeyes miss out if Indiana and USC win out

How Indiana makes the Big Ten championship

— Beating Purdue

— If they lose to Purdue and Michigan beats Maryland and Ohio State, the Hoosiers miss out

How Oregon makes the Big Ten championship

— If they beat USC and Washington and Michigan beats Ohio State, the Ducks play for the Big Ten title

— If they beat USC and Washington and Ohio State loses to Rutgers but beats Michigan, the Ducks are in

How USC makes the Big Ten championship

— If they beat Oregon and UCLA and Ohio State loses to Michigan

How Michigan makes the Big Ten championship

— If they beat Maryland and Ohio State and Indiana loses to Purdue

— If they beat Maryland and Ohio State, Oregon beats USC, and Washington beats Oregon

— If they beat Maryland and Ohio State, USC beats Oregon, and UCLA beats USC

How the Big Ten does tiebreakers

First, the tied teams are compared based on head-to-head matchups in the regular season.

Second, the tied teams are compared based on their record against all common Big Ten opponents.

Third, tied teams are compared based on record against common opponents, with the best Big Ten record and going through common league opponents based on the order of finish in the conference standings.

Fourth, teams are then compared based on the best cumulative conference winning percentage of all Big Ten opponents.

Fifth, teams are chosen based on the highest ranking by SportSource Analytics.

Finally, fate plays a hand: a random draw by the commissioner or someone appointed by him.