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However, Wittenberg coach Joe Fincham knows anything can happen in weeks nine and 10. His team (7-1 overall) returns to action at 1 p.m. Saturday at Ohio Wesleyan (3-5, 3-4).
“Our season’s not over,” said Fincham after the loss to Wabash. “We’ve got to go on the road twice here and play a team that only lost to (Wabash) by a touchdown and finish at Wooster. We’ll see what happens. I’ve got no idea if we all end up with one loss what the tiebreaker is.”
Wabash plays Allegheny and DePauw at home in the final two weeks. Denison plays a home game against Wooster and then travels to Kenyon.
The most likely scenario, based on those matchups, is all three first-place teams win their last two games. In that case, Denison would win the tiebreaker and the NCAC’s playoff berth.
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All the teams in the NCAC play each other, so the first four tiebreakers in the NCAC’s system would not break the tie between the three first-place teams. The fifth tiebreaker would. It goes to the team with “the longest active winning streak in conference games at the end of the season.”
Denison lost its third NCAC game on Sept. 29, 68-66 in four overtimes to Wittenberg. If it doesn’t lose again, it will have a six-game NCAC win streak by the end of the season. Wabash, which lost 34-10 at Denison on Oct. 6, would have a five-game winning streak. Wittenberg’s streak would be two games.
Wabash and Wittenberg might have a shot at one of the five at-large berths in the Division III playoffs, but Wabash has the edge there because of its victory over Wittenberg, In the first regional rankings released Wednesday, Wabash ranks seventh and Wittenberg ranks eighth.
NCAC Tiebreaker System
1. Head-to-Head result(s) between tied teams.
2. Result(s) versus individual opponents examined in descending order, individually, until tie is broken. The first team to have beaten a higher ranked team that is a common opponent wins the tiebreaker. If the tie is not broken in the descending order review, start from the bottom of the standings and examine opponents in ascending order. The first team to have lost to a lower-ranked team loses the tiebreaker.
3. Number of conference wins by the conference opponents you defeated. Team whose opponents they defeated had the highest number of wins breaks the tie.
4. Number of conference wins by the conference opponents you lost to. Team whose opponents they lost to had the highest number of wins breaks the tie.
5. The team with the longest active winning streak in conference games at the end of the season.
6. The team with the best overall record.
7. Coin Toss.
Note: When three or more teams are tied, the same procedure shall be followed until any team emerges or is eliminated by the process. If any teams are still tied, the procedure will be repeated from the beginning until all teams are ranked. If three or more results are arrived at any step, and no ties remain, then teams shall be seeded according to their results.
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