SEC Football Tiebreaking Process: Updated 16-Team Tiebreakers for SEC Championship Game

Back in August, the Southeastern Conference tabbed their new football tiebreaking procedures in a landmark moment. The 2024 season became the first SEC season since 1991 to be conducted without divisions, and as such, new tiebreaking procedures were necessary.

With Texas and Oklahoma now in the picture, the SEC football tiebreakers are set in stone.

What Are the SEC Football Tiebreakers?

In the inevitable event of teams finishing with identical records in conference play, and in order to find the top two teams to represent the SEC, the conference set up tiebreaking procedures before the 2024 campaign begin. To account for the lack of divisions for the first time in over 30 years, the conference set forth the following tiebreakers to find the top two teams to represent the conference in the SEC Championship Game moving forward.

Here’s how the tiebreakers are set, straight from the SEC:

• A) Head-to-head competition among the tied teams
• B) Record versus all common Conference opponents among the tied teams
• C) Record against highest (best) placed common Conference opponent in the Conference standings, and proceeding through the Conference standings among the tied teams
• D) Cumulative Conference winning percentage of all Conference opponents among the tied teams
• E) Capped relative total scoring margin versus all Conference opponents among the tied teams
• F) Random draw of the tied teams

Official SEC Football Tiebreaking Procedures

Of course, it isn’t always crystal clear. So, the conference doubled down and ensured the tiebreaking procedures were much more thorough.

Two-Team Tie for First Place

First things first, if two teams tied atop the rankings, they would both automatically qualify for the SEC Championship Game and just those two teams would progress through the tiebreaking procedures to determine who was the ‘home’ team and who was the ‘visiting’ team in this scenario.

Two-Team Tie for Second Place

If two teams were tied for the second-place spot, they would follow those guidelines above. The teams compete in each progressive step listed above until a winner is determined. This team would then become the ‘visiting’ team in the SEC Championship Game.

Three-or-More-Team Tie for First Place

Here is where we get a bit dicey. It’s important to note one thing here, and for all the rest of the tiebreaking procedures where there are more teams tied than spots available, when one team is declared the winner of a specific tiebreaking scenario, that team is removed from contention and placed in their earned spot. Then, the remaining teams go through the tiebreaking procedures again.

For instance, if three teams are tied for first place, but one team clearly wins the tiebreaking procedures based on a specific parameter, that team earns the No. 1 spot and the remaining two teams start back over at the top of the tiebreaking procedures.

In the instance where three or more teams are tied for first place, if any tiebreaker step awards two teams as the top two places or even two teams tied for first place, those two teams are placed into the championship game and will undergo the tiebreaking procedures by themselves for seeding purposes.

For three or more teams tied for first place, the conference set these rules in place:

• Head-to-head competition among tied teams
  • If a complete round robin, meaning all tied teams played each other:
    • If one team has sole possession of best record, that team is selected for the championship game
      • If two tied teams remain, they return to the beginning of the tiebreaking procedures
      • If more than two teams remain, they return to the beginning of the three-or-more-team procedures
    • If two teams tie for best record within the round robin, they are both selected for the championship game
    • If three or more teams are tied for best record within the round robin:
      • Those teams revert to the beginning of the three-or-more-team tiebreaking procedures
      • Any teams that do not have the best record are then eliminated
  • If there is not a complete round robin, meaning not every team played each other:
    • If one team beat all the other tied teams, they are selected for the championship game, and the remaining teams return to the start of the procedures
    • If one team lost to all the other tied teams, they are eliminated and the remaining teams return to the beginning of the tiebreaking procedures
    • If no team either beat all the other tied teams or lost to all the other tied teams, all tied teams go to the next step in the tiebreaking procedures
• Record vs. all common SEC opponents among tied teams
  • If one team has sole possession of the best record vs. all common SEC opponents, they are selected for the championship game
  • Remaining teams then return to start of tiebreaking procedure
    • If there are two teams tied for second place within this level, they start at the beginning of the two-team tiebreaking procedures
    • If there are three or more teams tied in this level, they start at the beginning of the three-or-more-team procedures
  • If two teams are tied for the best record within this level, they both are selected for the championship game
  • If three or more teams are tied for best record within this level:
    • Those teams revert to the beginning of the three-or-more-team level and
    • The remaining teams are eliminated
• Record against highest-placed common SEC opponents
  • If the highest place in the standings within common SEC opponents among these tied teams includes two or more opponents that are also tied:
    • The tie lower in these standings will only be broken if the head-to-head tiebreaker can break the tie
      • If two teams are tied, they enter the beginning of the tw-team tiebreaker for second place
      • If three or more teams are tied, they enter the three-or-more-team tiebreaker for second place
    • If the head-to-head tiebreaker procedure fails to break the tie between the teams lower in the standings, the records of tied teams against the common SEC opponents are to be combined
    • If there are three or more opponents tied, but not all of them are common SEC opponents, only the record against common SEC opponents will be considered
  • If one of the tied teams is in sole possession of the best record against common SEC opponents with the best SEC record:
    • That team is selected for the championship game
    • The remaining teams return to the start of the tiebreaking procedures
  • If two tied teams are tied for best record against common SEC opponents with the best SEC record, they both are selected for the championship game
  • If three or more tied teams are tied for the best record against common SEC opponents with the best SEC record:
    • The teams that are tied for best record revert to the beginning of the three-or-more-team tiebreaking procedure for first place
    • The remaining teams are eliminated
  • If all tied teams have the same record against common SEC opponents with the best SEC record, they proceed to the next common SEC opponents based on their order of finish and continue until all common conference opponents are exhausted
• Cumulative SEC winning percentage of all SEC opponents among tied teams
  • If standings produced by this tiebreaking scenario yield clear first-place team:
    • That team is selected for the championship game
    • The remaining teams revert to the beginning of the applicable tiebreaker
  • If standings produced yield two-team tie for first, those two teams are selected for the championship game
  • If standings produced yield more than two teams tied for first and there are any teams below first:
    • These teams tied for first place revert to the beginning of the applicable tiebreakers
    • The remaining teams are eliminated
  • If standings produced yield more than two teams tied for first and no teams below first, move on to the next tiebreaking step
• Capped relative total scoring margin by SportSource Analytics vs. all SEC opponents among tied teams
  • Once the first place team is determined by this metric, the remaining teams that are still in contention revert to the beginning of the tiebreaking procedures
• Random draw of tied teams
  • Each tied institute’s Athletic Director join via videoconference with the SEC commissioner; the videoconference will indicate each tied team’s name visibly being placed into a drawing
  • If two or more teams are tied for one spot in the championship, the commissioner will draw one name; the first name drawn will win the random draw and be placed into the championship game
  • If there are three or more teams tied for two spots, the commissioner will draw two names; the first name drawn is placed into the championship game as the first-place team; the second team drawn will be the second-place team

Three-or-More-Team Tie for Second Place

In the event that three or more teams are tied for second place, the following tiebreaking procedures are to be followed:

• After the head-to-head competition among tied teams, if tiebreaker step produces standings with clear No. 1 teams, that team is selected for the championship
• If standings produced by any tiebreaking procedure produce ties at the top that is insufficient to assigning any championship game participants, but include one or more team ranked below the tied teams, the tied teams at the top of those standings will revert to the beginning of the tiebreaking procedures and the other teams will be eliminated

The tiebreaking procedures for three or more teams are as follows:

• Head-to-head competition between all tied teams
  • If there is a complete round robin, meaning all three or more teams played each other:
    • If one team has sole possession of the best record among tied teams, that team is selected for the championship
    • If two teams are tied for best record within the round robin standings:
      • Those teams revert to the beginning of the two-team tiebreaking scenarios and
      • All other teams will be eliminated
    • If three or more teams are tied for the best record within the round robin standings and there are teams below those with the best record:
      • The teams tied with the best record advance to the beginning of the three-team tiebreaking scenarios and
      • The other teams are eliminated from contention
    • If there is not a complete round robin among tied teams:
      • If one team beat all other tied teams, they are selected to the championship game
      • If one team lost to all the other tie dteams, they are eliminated, and the remaining teams revert to the beginning of the tiebreaking procedures for second place
      • If no team either beat all the other tied teams or lost to the tied teams, all tied teams advance to the next step in the procedures
• Record vs. all common SEC opponents among tied teams
  • If one team has sole possession of the best record among tied teams against common SEC opponents, they are selected for the championship game
  • If two teams are tied for the best record against common SEC opponents:
    • Those teams revert to the beginning of the two-team tiebreaking procedures and
    • The other teams are eliminated from contention
  • If three or more teams are tied for the best record within the record vs. all common SEC opponents:
    • Those teams revert to the beginning of the three-or-more-team tiebreaking scenarios and
    • The remaining teams are eliminated from contention
• Record against highest placed common SEC opponent, proceeding through standings among tied teams
  • If the highest place in the standings with common SEC opponents among the tied teams includes two or more opponents that are also tied:
    • The tie lower in the standings will only be broken if the tiebreaking procedure for head-to-head can break the tie
      • If two teams are tied, they enter the beginning of the two-team tiebreaking procedures
      • If three or more teams are tied, they enter the three-or-more-team tiebreaking scenarios
    • If the head-to-head tiebreaking procedure fails to break the tie, the records of the tied teams against these common opponents will be combined
    • If there are three or more opponents tied, but not all of them are common opponents, only the record against common opponents is to be considered
  • If one of the tied teams is in sole possession of the best record against common SEC opponents with the best SEC record:
    • That team is selected for the championship game
    • The remaining teams are eliminated from contention
  • If two of the tied teams are tied for the best record against the common SEC opponent(s) with the best SEC record:
    • The teams that are tied for the best record revert to the beginning of the three-or-more team tiebreaking procedures
    • The remaining teams are eliminated
  • If all tied teams have the same record gainst the common opponent(s) with the best SEC record, proceed to the next common SEC opponent(s) based on their order of finish within the conference standings and continue until all common SEC opponents are exhausted
• Cumulative SEC winning percentage of all SEC opponents among tied teams
  • If the standings produced by this tiebreaking scenario yield a clear first place team
    • That team is selected for the championship game
  • If the standings produced here yield two or more teams tied for first:
    • Those teams tied revert back to the beginning of the tiebreaking procedures and:
    • The remaining teams are eliminated
  • If the standings produced by this scenario yield more than two teams tied for first place and no teams are below first, advance to the next tiebreaking procedure
• Capped relative total scoring margin per SportSoure Analytics vs. all SEC opponents among tied teams
• Random draw
  • Each tied institute’s Athletic Director will join via videoconference with the SEC commissioner; the videoconference will witness each tied school be visibly entered into a drawing
  • If there are two or more teams tied for one spot in the conference championship game, then the commissioner draws one name; the first name drawn will win the random draw and placed into the championship game as the away team
  • If there are three or more teams tied for two spots in the championship game, the commission will draw two names; the first name drawn will be placed in the conference championship game as the home team and the second name drawn will be entered into the championship game as the away team

For clarity’s sake, here is a downloadable PDF: SEC Official Tiebreaking Procedure

The SEC also made it clear that the commissioner or a designee will oversee the validity of these tiebreaking procedures if and when it comes to it.

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