Explaining the SoCon Autobid (not decided yet)

[T-Dog]

So after looking over games notes, official procedure and such, here is what I've deciphered.

We all know ASU, Wofford and GSU each won a share of the SoCon with 6-2 records.

The big point of contention is whether the 4th place teams would be ranked or not. It appears that teams with similar final records will be grouped together (ASU's game notes confirmed this).

Samford is 5-3 and done. UTC and El Cit are 4-3 and have games left against Elon and Furman, respectively.

-If UTC and El Cit wins, then Samford, UTC and El Cit would be tied for fourth. ASU went 2-1, GSU went 2-1 and Wofford went 2-1. ASU, GSU and Wofford all would have defeated the remaining teams, Elon, Furman and Western. Then it would come down to who gave up the least points in SoCon play. GSU gave up 163, Wofford gave up 164 and ASU gave up 238. GSU gets the autobid.

-If UTC wins and El Cit loses, then Samford and UTC would be tied for fourth. ASU went 2-0, GSU went 2-0 and Wofford went 1-1 against those two. Wofford would be eliminated and then it would revert back to head-to-head between ASU and GSU. ASU gets the autobid.

-If UTC and El Cit loses, then Samford would be alone in fourth. ASU won, GSU won and Wofford loss. Wofford would be eliminated and then it would revert back to head-to-head between ASU and GSU. ASU gets the autobid.

So here's what it boils down to.

If Furman beats El Citadel, ASU gets the autobid. If El Citadel beats Furman, GSU gets the autobid.

And before anyone else says, yes the SoCon was vague on this, but this is apparently how it goes.

[AppStsGr8]

T-Dog, need to edit the three way tie to be among Wofford, App, and GaSo (not Chatty). Thanks.

[Eaglesrus]

Touchdown, The Citadel!

[walliver]

It would be bad to lose the autobid by a single point.

[Eaglesrus]

It would be bad to lose the autobid by a single point.

That would be tough, but as far as I'm concerned we'll take it any way we can get it. Hopefully all three of us make the playoffs anyway, but who knows?

[Edge316007]

This makes absolutely no sense to me and I want to see confirmation. Why would you not break the tie for 4th first? I want to read what you're reading.

[Saint3333]

All three are in no doubt about it.

[Edge316007]

All three are in no doubt about it.

Agreed, but if a seed came out of the SoCon, I would not support it going to a non-autobid over an autobid.

Also, I would like to see the SoCon amend the rulebook and eliminating shared titles. I don't like to recognize our 2007 title when it was a 2 way tie but Wofford beat us head to head.

[Eagle22]

Agreed, but if a seed came out of the SoCon, I would not support it going to a non-autobid over an autobid.

Sort of what happened in 1999.

Of course the seeding was different back then, with 8 teams seeded.

If I'm not mistaken, ASU got the autobid. GSU was seeded #2, ASU #4 and Furman #7.

[cbarrier90]

Also, I would like to see the SoCon amend the rulebook and eliminating shared titles. I don't like to recognize our 2007 title when it was a 2 way tie but Wofford beat us head to head.

Even if you do that, it doesn't make figuring out the autobid any easier.

ASU is 1-1 against GSU and Wofford
Wofford is 1-1 against ASU and GSU
GSU is 1-1 against Wofford and ASU

Thus, the only way to figure it out is to determine the teams' records against the 4th place team, which will be decided this upcoming week.

Once you figure that out, one of the three teams above will be eliminated from contention, at which point you can revert back to the much easier head-to-head matchup.