The OVC-Big South Football Association champion shall be the recipient of the Association’s automatic bid to participate in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs. If co-champions have been declared, the following tiebreaker formula shall be utilized to determine the recipient of the automatic bid:
1. Transitioning Schools
a. To be eligible for the conference’s automatic bid to the FCS Football Championship, a school must be a full Division I member.
b. Transitioning schools will be utilized in the tiebreaker process.
c. If a transitioning school is involved in a two-way tie, the tied team that is eligible for postseason competition shall be the league’s recipient of the automatic bid.
d. If a transitioning school wins the multi-team tiebreaker, the procedure would start over with the remaining teams.
2. Two-Way Tie
a. If the two teams played each other during the conference season, the winner of the head-to-head contest shall be the league’s recipient of the automatic bid.
b. If the tied teams did not play each other during the conference season, each team’s head-to-head record against all common opponents in the league will be used to determine the automatic bid.
c. If a tie still exists, then each team’s record against the next highest common opponent in the league standings will be used to determine the automatic bid. When arriving at a group of tied teams that each team has played, composite records between the tied teams shall be utilized to determine if one of the tied teams has won more games against the group of tied teams.
d. If the teams are still tied, a point system will be utilized based on a complete schedule and wins using the NCAA four-metric average ranking for FCS* following all games on the final Saturday of the regular season (and the Massey ranking entering the final day of the regular season for FBS opponents) as indicated below:
| FBS |
FCS |
Schedule |
Outcome |
| Massey |
NCAA 4M* |
FCS Opponent |
FBS Opponent |
Win |
Loss |
| 1-50 |
1-5 |
5 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
| 51-100 |
6-10 |
4 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
| 101+ |
11-30 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
|
31-75 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
|
76+ |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
e. Should the points system finish in a tie, the team with the best ranking in the NCAA four-metric average for FCS* following all games on the final Saturday of the regular season will receive the automatic bid.
3. Multiple Ties
a. If at any point, a tie is broken using the multiple-tie tiebreaker procedures and only two teams remain, the remaining teams will revert to the two-way tiebreaker (head-to-head).
b. If the tied teams all played each other during the conference season, the team with the best cumulative record involving games with the tied teams shall be declared champion. For example, if a team is 2-0 against two other tied teams, that team will be declared champion.
c. If the tied teams all played one another and have identical records against the other tied teams, then each team’s record against all common opponents in the league will be used to determine the automatic bid. If teams are still tied, then each team’s record against the next highest common opponent in the league standings will be used to determine the automatic bid.
d. If the tied teams did not play each other, then each team’s record against all common opponents in the league will be used to determine the automatic bid. If the teams are still tied, and they did not play each other, then each team’s record against the next highest common opponent in the league standings will be used to determine the automatic bid.
e. If the teams are still tied, a point system will be utilized based on a complete schedule and wins using the NCAA four-metric average ranking for FCS* following all games on the final Saturday of the regular season (and the Massey ranking entering the final day of the regular season for FBS opponents) as indicated below:
| FBS |
FCS |
Schedule |
Outcome |
| Massey |
NCAA 4M* |
FCS Opponent |
FBS Opponent |
Win |
Loss |
| 1-50 |
1-5 |
5 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
| 51-100 |
6-10 |
4 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
| 101+ |
11-30 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
|
31-75 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
|
76+ |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
f. Should the points system finish in a tie, the team with the best ranking in the NCAA four-metric average for FCS* following all games on the final Saturday of the regular season will receive the automatic bid.
*NOTE: For purposes of the tiebreaker, the NCAA four-metric average ranking prepared for the FCS Championship Committee utilizes an average of the Massey, KPI, ESPN SOR and ESPN FPI metrics.