“Magic Numbers:” What the Diamond Rebels Need to Win to Make the SEC Tournament
OXFORD, Miss. — Baseball fans start looking at magic numbers towards the end of every season. A magic number is the mathematical formula used to determine how many wins a team must secure combined with an opponent’s losses, with the total being the “magic number” that will clinch a division championship or, in the case of the seven SEC teams currently with losing records, a berth in the SEC Tournament.
The simplest way to derive this number is to add all possible wins to the trailing team’s current win total. Next, see how many wins it will take for each front runner to beat that number by one win, or in the case of a head-to-head advantage that’s already secured, to tie that number. That’s your “magic number.”
In SEC tiebreaker rules, head-to-head is the first decider. If no winner is determined, it then goes to each team’s record against the No. 1 seed, then the No.2 seed, progressing on down until there’s a distinct winner. If there’s still no winner, the commissioner flips a coin.
But for the moment, let’s concern ourselves with the “Qualifier” situation in the SEC. A Qualifier MAKES the the SEC Tournament, while the two teams with the fewest wins and/or lost tiebreakers are eliminated and miss the opportunity to play post-season baseball.
Missouri is the “Magic Number” matchup for all the teams that have yet to qualify because Auburn’s record has them at a tremendous disadvantage. “Mathematically eliminated” is likely just one game away for the Auburn Tigers. Auburn’s only way in is to win all six remaining games while either Ole Miss, LSU, Florida, or Alabama loses all of theirs.
Missouri did not play Alabama and Ole Miss this year so the second tiebreaker will come into play should they finish with identical records.
To avoid such scenarios, we’ve noted the teams who need an extra win or an extra Missouri loss in order to eliminate the Tigers and qualify for the tournament. “MN” is the magic number needed for the listed teams to eliminate Missouri as a threat and become Tournament Qualifiers, assuming of course that Auburn doesn’t pull off the impossible.
Magic Numbers (in relation to Missouri): These combinations of wins and Missouri losses could send teams to SEC Tournament
Going into this weekend’s SEC action:
Vanderbilt 11-13: 2 (needs two wins or combination of wins and Missouri losses that equals 2)
Alabama 10-14: 4 (avoids tiebreakers, needs four wins or combination of wins and Mizzou losses that equals 4)
Florida 10-14: 4 (lost head-to-head; needs four wins or combination of wins and Missouri losses that equals 4)
LSU 9-15: 4 (needs four wins or combination of wins and Missouri losses that equasl 4)
Ole Miss 9-15: 5 (avoids tiebreakers; needs five wins or combination of wins and Missouri losses that equals 5
Missouri 7-17: –
Auburn 4-20: – one loss eliminates Auburn
Stay tuned!
David Walker
David is the consummate true-freshman quarterback, first pioneering the position only a year after college freshmen were given varsity eligibility by the NCAA in 1972. In 1973, the left-handed all-state gunslinger from Sulphur, Louisiana started for the Texas A&M Aggies and earned the All-Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year award as selected by the league’s coaches. David is the first college quarterback ever awarded Freshman of the Year in the NCAA. He was only 17, and still holds the NCAA record as the youngest starting quarterback in college football history. He wore No. 8 at A&M in honor of one of his football heroes, Archie Manning.
In becoming the winningest quarterback ever at A&M, David was converted from a dual-threat QB to a triple option trailblazer. The two-time team captain led three record-breaking offenses that changed the direction of football at A&M forever, establishing once and for all the winning tradition that the Aggies had so-long desired.
As a high school head coach in Houston in the late ‘80s, David stationed his quarterback in the shotgun formation, having him reading defenses and throwing hot routes at a time when such offensive schemes were frowned upon by traditional fans and coaches. One of his quarterbacks tossed 57 passes in a single game, which stood as the all-time Greater Houston Area record for many years.
As you can tell from his bona fides, David is extremely qualified as our expert on all things Quarterback at Ole Miss. Enjoy his exclusive analysis only here at The Rebel Walk!
