How can Ohio State football reach the Big Ten championship in a tiebreaker? Here’s how

With its 2024 season kicking off Saturday, Ohio State now has a better idea of what it takes to make the 2024 Big Ten Championship game.

The Big Ten Conferences announced its tiebreaking procedures for its football championship Monday. The Big Ten championship will pit the top two overall teams in the conference against each other Dec. 7 at Lucas Oil Stadium. The game will be broadcast on CBS.

The winner of the Big Ten championship will earn an automatic bid into the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Big Ten championship tiebreakers 2024

Here’s a look at the tiebreaker scenarios which would continue until a determination is made:

1. The tied teams will be compared on head-to-head regular-season matchups

2. The tied teams will be compared on record against common conference opponents

3. The tied teams will be compared based on record against common opponents with the best conference record and proceeding through the common conference opponents based on their order of finish within the conference standings

4. The tied teams will be compared on best cumulative conference winning percentage of all conference opponents

5. The representative will be chosen based on the highest ranking by SportSource Analytics (team Rating Score metric) following the regular season.

6. The representative will be chosen by random draw among the tied teams conducted by the Commissioner or designee.

What if there are three or more teams are tied at top of Big Ten?

If a tiebreaker results in two teams tied for No. 1, both would play in the championship game.

If the tiebreaker produces two teams tied for a position other than No. 1, the traditional tiebreaking procedure would commence.

If the conference is forced into a tiebreaker involved with three or more teams, here is the order of tiebreakers:

1. The tied teams would be compared on winning percentage in games involving the tied teams – if all teams involved in the tie did not play each other, but one team defeated all other teams involved in the tie, that team is removed from the tiebreaker

2. The records of the three or more teams would be compared against all common opponents

3. The records of the threeore tied teams will be compared based on winningpercentage against the next highest placed common opponent in the standingsin order of finish

4. The records of the three (or more) tied teams will be compared based on the best cumulative conference winning percentage of all conference opponents

5. The representative will be chosen by the by the highest ranking by SportSource Analytics (team Rating Score metric) following the regular season.

6. Random draw among the tied teams conducted by Commissioner or designee.

Ohio State football schedule 2024

• Aug. 31: Ohio State vs. Akron; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

• Sept. 7: Ohio State vs. Western Michigan; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

• Sept. 21: Ohio State vs. Marshall; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

• Sept. 28: Ohio State at Michigan State; Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, Michigan

• Oct. 5: Ohio State vs. Iowa; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

• Oct. 12: Ohio State at Oregon; Autzen Stadium, Eugene, Oregon

• Oct. 26: Ohio State vs. Nebraska; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

• Nov. 2: Ohio State at Penn State; Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pennsylvania

• Nov. 9: Ohio State vs. Purdue; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

• Nov. 16: Ohio State at Northwestern; Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois

• Nov. 23: Ohio State vs. Indiana; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

• Nov. 30: Ohio State vs. Michigan; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 2024 Big Ten football championship tiebreakers: What it means for Ohio State