The SIAC football season concludes this weekend and the championship picture has become more clear. Four SIAC teams are contending for the championship: undefeated Benedict College (9-0, 7-0 SIAC), Tuskegee University (7-2, 6-1 SIAC), Fort Valley State University (7-2, 6-1 SIAC) and Albany State University (5-4, 5-2 SIAC).

Benedict College has secured its place in the SIAC Championship once again with its tenacious defense and reliable balanced offensive attack. However, their championship opponent won't be determined until Saturday, leading many to wonder what the various championship scenarios are.

Let's discuss the championship picture in the SIAC and the various possibilities leading into Week 10.

Championship Clinching Scenarios

Benedict secured their place in the championship after a dominant 38-17 win over Savannah State in Week 9. Below are each of the scenarios for each of the three other teams in the hunt to make the championship game.

Tuskegee University: The Golden Tigers control their own destiny. Tuskegee only lost one game in conference to Edward Waters on a hail-mary play during their homecoming in Week 7. With one loss in conference, Tuskegee automatically secures a bid to return to the championship game for the second year in a row with a win over rival Miles College.

Fort Valley State: Although the Wildcats lost to Benedict College 48-6, they are still firmly in the championship picture with five SIAC wins by two touchdowns or more this season. With Benedict being Fort Valley's only official SIAC loss (as the Red Tails Classic vs. Tuskegee counts as an out-of-conference game) Fort Valley State needs to beat rival Albany State in the Fountain City Classic and for Miles College to beat Tuskegee.

Albany State: Albany State secured a dominant 48-7 victory over Miles College in week 9 to snap a two-game losing streak to Allen University and Edward Waters. Albany also pushed Miles College out of the championship picture, now entering Week 10 with two losses and a head-to-head loss against the Golden Rams.

Albany's path to the SIAC Championship is identical to Fort Valley State. Miles needs to beat Tuskegee for the Golden Ram's chances to be alive. Albany also must defeat Fort Valley State in the Fountain City Classic.

Tie Breaker Scenarios

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The SIAC released the tie-breaker scenarios for the championship game that was published by HBCU Gameday. below are the scenarios for the game. Read the full article on HBCU Gameday's website.

Two-team tiebreaker

  1. Head-to-head competition between the two tied teams.
  2. Win-percentage versus all common opponents.
  3. Head-to-head results versus common opponents based upon their order of SIAC  finish (overall conference win percentage, with ties broken) and proceeding through other common opponents based upon their descending order of finish.
  4. Combined win percentage of conference opponents.
  5. The tied team with the higher NCAA regional ranking following the conclusion of regular season games.
  6. The representative shall be chosen by a draw as administered by the Commissioner or Commissioner’s designee.

Three-teams or more tiebreaker

  1. Combined head-to-head win-percentage among the tied teams if all tied teams are common opponents.
  2. If all the tied teams are not common opponents, the tied team that defeated each of the other tied teams.
  3. Win-percentage versus all common opponents.
  4. Head-to-Head results versus common opponents based upon the final SIAC standings (overall conference win-percentage, with ties broken) in descending order of finish.
  5. Combined win-percentage of conference opponents.
  6. The tied team with the highest NCAA regional ranking following the conclusion of regular season games.
  7. The representative shall be chosen by a draw as administered by the Commissioner or Commissioner’s designee.

Also of note for the SIAC Tie-breakers: Games played by the SIAC Conference against teams that are otherwise ineligible for the post-season will still be considered when determining the league standings and applying tie-breaker policies. On the other hand, non-conference games, including those played between SIAC schools, can be used to determine head-to-head results in the case of tied teams.

The tie-breaker scenarios likely won't be needed, as there will be a clearly defined second team by Saturday evening in the SIAC. Tuskegee fully controls the championship conversation in the conference, something that the Golden Tigers are used to as a perennial SIAC superpower. However, a Tuskegee loss and an Albany win could take us to the tie-breaking scenarios defined above.

Nevertheless, we're in for a thrilling finish to the SIAC football season that is sure to cause a lot of conversations.