New SEC Tiebreakers for 2024 Season: Just a Bulldog Minute

Staff writer Taylor Hodges looks at how the conference championship game participants will be decided

Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby speaking at Omni Dallas Hotel. / Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Even the most diehard Mississippi State fans will have a hard time arguing about their team’s chances to compete for the SEC championship or finding any media pundit making the argument.

But the Bulldogs hope to one day soon be competing for a conference championship, which means the newly released tiebreakers for the conference championship game should at least be noted.

The SEC eliminated its East and West divisions with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas expanding the conference to 16 teams, which necessitated new tiebreakers to be implemented. In today’s Just a Bulldog Minute, staff writer Taylor Hodges looks at the new tiebreakers.

Here are the procedures that will be used in the event of a tie between teams competing for a spot in the SEC championship game:

A. Head-to-head competition between the tied teams.

B. Record versus all common conference opponents among the tied teams.

C. Record against highest (best) placed common opponent in the conference standings and proceeding through the standings among the tied teams.

D. Cumulative conference winning percentage of all conference opponents among the tied teams.

E. Capped relative scoring margin versus all conference opponents among the tied teams. Formula will include a cap of 42 points scored on offense and 48 points allowed on defense.

F. Random draw of the tied teams.

If the regular-season standings determine a clear conference champion and two or more teams are tied for second place, the conference champion will be the home team in the SEC championship game and the tiebreaking procedures will be used to determine its opponent.

If a tiebreaking step produces standings with two teams tied for first place in the conference, both will qualify for the SEC championship game. The tiebreakers will be used to determine the home and away teams.