CSN So South: Three-Team Ties Seem to Be the Norm

So the Southern Conference went through 11 weekends of conference play only to wind up with three teams tied for first and with a week of league games remaining, the Big South Conference also has three teams effectively tied for first place.

By Myron Hosea
CSN So South Columnist
College Sporting News

Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, and Wofford have completed SoCon play with 6-2 conference records. The Eagles have a game remaining at Georgia while the Terriers travel to South Carolina. The Mountaineers have completed regular-season games.

Naturally, no one has a head-to-head advantage over anyone else. Wofford beat Appalachian State which beat Georgia Southern which beat Wofford. So all those other tiebreakers the conference put in place may have to be used. This weekend’s games involving the other SoCon teams could influence the final pecking order for the top three.

Over in the Big South, Stony Brook’s loss at Liberty complicated things significantly. The Seawolves appeared on the fast track to the playoffs with their play all season, but five turnovers – including an interception and a fumble returned for touchdowns by Liberty – helped stall if not derail that move toward the playoffs.

Stony Brook has completed its regular season with a 9-2 overall record and a 5-1 mark in the league. Coastal Carolina and Liberty are both 5-5 overall and 4-1 in the Big South. If Liberty wins at VMI (2-8, 1-4) and Coastal Carolina wins its home game with Charleston Southern (5-5, 3-2) this Saturday, the Big South will have a three-way tie at the top for the second time in three seasons.

And just like the SoCon, the teams that would be in the three-way have beaten each other (Stony Brook over Coastal Carolina, Liberty over Stony Brook, and Coastal Carolina over Liberty). Yes, we’re checking the tiebreaker list, and we’re checking it twice.

In an interesting quirk, the SoCon could finish with not only with three 6-2 teams at the top, it could have three 5-3 teams right behind them. Samford is already there with a non-conference game at Kentucky remaining. If Chattanooga wins at home against Elon and The Citadel wins its rivalry game at Furman, those two would join Samford at 5-3.

Clearly, not all of the drama in the FCS this weekend will happen Sunday afternoon during the selection show. A lot of it will happen at stadiums on Saturday.