ACC to Hire Contractor If Atlantic Division Ends Up in 3-Way Tie for 1st

With three of its teams in the Top 15 of the most recent AP Top 25 poll, the ACC is planning ahead for a doomsday scenario in which the No. 3 Louisville Cardinals, No. 5 Clemson Tigers and No. 13 Florida State Seminoles are tied atop the Atlantic Division standings.

According to ESPN.com's Heather Dinich, the conference has reached an agreement for SportSource Analytics to determine a winner should all of the various tiebreakers be unable to separate the three teams.

Michael Strickland, the ACC's senior associated commissioner, cited a need to anoint an Atlantic Division champion as quickly as possible since the conference title game (Dec. 3) comes only days after the most recent College Football Playoff rankings would be released (Nov. 29), via Dinich:

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The decision to change our tiebreaker from utilizing the CFP ranking to the Team Rating Score was based on the reality that we're not in a position to wait until Tuesday night to determine a division champion that's going to participate in Saturday's championship game. This summer, our athletic directors unanimously decided to insert this metric as the seventh and final step before a blind draw.

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Louisville already owns a head-to-head win over Florida State after beating the Seminoles 63-20 at home on Sept. 17. Below is a look at the remaining head-to-head clashes involving the three teams:

Date	Time (ET)	Home	Away
Oct. 1	8 p.m.	Clemson Tigers	Louisville Cardinals
Oct. 29	TBD	Florida State Seminoles	Clemson Tigers

Dinich noted it's unlikely the ACC will need to rely on SportSource Analytics, since the company's proprietary metric would be the seventh tiebreaker the conference will have needed to use. And that's contingent on the Cardinals, Tigers and Seminoles finishing with identical conference records.

Still, it's a good idea for the ACC to create a fail-safe should the worst-case scenario occur.

The Big 12 famously came under criticism when claimed it would crown "one true champion" in 2014 and ultimately named the Baylor Bears and TCU Horned Frogs co-champions after they finished 8-1 in Big 12 play.

That opened the door for the Ohio State Buckeyes to enter the College Football Playoff, and they eventually won the national championship.

With the ACC in a good position to send a team to the playoff when all is said and done, it's important for the conference to ensure it produces a clear-cut champion to eliminate any doubt for the CFP committee.