Mountain West changes football tiebreaker rule in wake of Fresno State-Boise State mess

When the Mountain West put out its 2017 football schedule, a final weekend matchup between Fresno State and Boise State likely didn’t raise any red flags. The Bulldogs were coming off a 1-11 season, the Broncos a 10-3 season. The chances of them meeting again the following week in the conference championship game were not good.

But that is what happened, setting up a nightmare scenario for the conference when the Bulldogs won that final regular-season game and despite having an identical 7-1 record in league play and a head-to-head victory had to go play the title game in Boise.

The conference announced on Monday in advance of its two-day Media Summit that it had fixed that – the host of the championship game will now be the team with the highest winning percentage in conference games with head-to-head competition the first tiebreaker.

“We had a very unique set of circumstances last December with the two divisional champions playing on the final weekend of the regular season,” deputy commissioner Bret Gilliland said in a release from the conference.

“That prompted a review of the formula and a shift to place a priority on head-to-head competition, while maintaining strategic positioning for the Mountain West champion to serve as the Group of Five representative to the College Football Playoff structure.”

Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford was not available to comment, but university president Joseph Castro succinctly summed it up for Bulldogs’ fans with one tweet: “Never again. Go ‘Dogs!”

Last season, the conference used a five-step system to determine the host for the title game:

▪ No. 1 the College Football Playoff Selection Committee rankings and No. 2 a composite of four computer rankings to determine home field for the conference championship game.

▪ If one divisional champion was ranked ahead of the other divisional champion in the CFP rankings and won in the final weekend of the regular season, that team would be declared the host.

▪ But if the divisional champion that was the highest-ranked in the CFP poll lost in the final weekend of the regular season, the composite of computer rankings would be used to determine the host.

▪ And, if no Mountain West teams were ranked in the latest CFP rankings, the composite computer rankings following the final week of regular-season games would be used to determine the host.

▪ A head-to-head result wouldn’t come into play unless there still was a tie after the CFP rankings and a composite of the computer rankings.

Boise State, despite the Bulldogs’ 28-17 victory to end the regular season, was rated higher by the computer models.

The conference already had put out a 2018 schedule with no cross-divisional play the final two weeks of the season, eliminating the chance a West Division champion would meet a Mountain Division champion in the final week.

Now, head-to-head competition will be the first tiebreaker, as well.

Computer rankings will not come into play unless the division champions did not play during the regular season. If still tied, second, third, fourth and fifth on the list of tiebreakers are:

▪ If one team is ranked in the latest CFP Selection Committee rankings and wins in the final weekend of the regular season, they will be declared the host. If the team that was the highest-ranked team in the latest available CFP Selection Committee ranking loses in the final weekend of the regular season, a composite average of selected computer rankings will be used to determine home field.

▪ If both teams are ranked in the latest available CFP Selection Committee ranking, the highest-ranked team that wins in the final weekend of the regular season will host.

▪ Or, if neither of the ranked teams win in the final weekend of the regular season, a composite average of selected computer rankings will then be used.

▪ If still tied, the best record against common conference opponents will be the tiebreaker.

▪ If still tied, the team with the highest overall winning percentage (conference and non-conference excluding exempt games) will host.

▪ And, if still tied, a coin toss will be conducted by the conference commissioner.

This story was originally published July 23, 2018 at 2:51 PM.