ACC announces new tiebreaker policy

Atlantic Coast Commissioner Jim Philips announced on Wednesday a new tiebreaker policy for its championship game selection.

The first tiebreaker remains head-to-head. The ACC said no team will be "overly rewarded or penalized" based on the number of conference games it plays. When head-to-head matchups cannot separate tied teams, the ACC will use the Team Success Ranking provided by SportSource Analytics as a way to reward the team with the strongest body of work.

The ACC worked with consultants and did 10,000 simulated season outcomes to ensure the model fairly addressed a wide range of championship scenarios.

Commissioner Philips described the new policy as getting the league to the "right place" to feature its two best football teams. Because the CFP will now give automatic spots to each Power 4 champion, Phillips said it was important to be sure the top two teams in the league will play in the ACC championship game in December in Charlotte.

"You have to do everything you can to position your championship game with those two best teams," Phillips said. "Head-to-head matters. That's always most important. Then we will look at the grouping and how teams fared. It will come down to body of work. I'm looking forward to that.”

"It warranted that kind of time and commitment, so that we can position ourselves to put those two best ACC teams forward," Phillips said. "We'll continue to watch how this thing goes. But I feel incredibly strong that we have gotten to the right place with unanimity from our membership on what this new tie-breaking policy states.”

GO CANES!