Explaining the new ACC tiebreaker if a 7-1, 8-1 and 7-2 team somehow wind up 'tied'

Key Points:

• The ACC, now a 17-team league, is implementing new tiebreaker rules for its conference title game due to the shift from eight to nine conference games, with some teams playing eight games and others nine this transitional year.
• The league's new tiebreaker system treats teams tied in either the win or loss column as tied, then uses head-to-head results or a proprietary SportsSource Analytics Team Success Ranking to break ties, prioritizing fairness given the uneven number of games played.
• Complex scenarios arise when comparing teams with different numbers of wins and losses (e.g., 7-1 vs. 7-2), but the ACC’s approach avoids illogical transitive ties by carefully grouping teams by win or loss columns before applying tiebreakers.
• The SportsSource Analytics ranking, similar to the College Football Playoff’s metrics, is used instead of CFP rankings to allow timely decisions immediately after the regular season, ensuring teams know who will play in the title game without delay.
• This complicated tiebreaker system might only be necessary for this season, as potential future College Football Playoff expansions to 24 teams could eliminate conference title games and the need for such intricate tiebreakers.