Some of you may have noticed that I have removed the “conference champions” label from a few seasons on this website. If you feel slighted, don’t worry, I will not be breaking into the school trophy case and melting down trophies that don’t meet my criteria.

So what is my criteria? Full disclosure, I realize I am being overly strict.

There are 3 types of conference championships (not including Football, which has its own unique set of rules explained in its own section)

Outright

This is the easiest to explain. Team A has fewer conference losses than everyone else in the league. Seasons like this are labeled dark blue on my tables.

Partial Outright via tiebreaker

This applies if two or more teams finish with the same amount of losses, but one team holds the tiebreaker. Team A and B finish the year 9-1. But, in their only head-to-head match-up, Team A won. Therefore, Team A is the only champion, and labeled light blue on my tables. If the conference schedule is double round-robin, Team A would have to win both games against B to claim the tiebreaker. Otherwise…

Shared

Applies when two or more teams finish with the same record, and also split their head to head meetings. Also labeled light blue on the table. The only way a share can happen in a sport with single round robin is if there is a 3-team tie.

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Football has its own set of rules.

Football is the only sport where you need to qualify for the post-season. Therefore, a premium is put on determining who the conference champion is for seeding purposes.

Outright and partial rules listed above apply to football.

In 1981 RV and PdC finished 5-1 in league play. At this time only conference champions made the playoffs. Valley qualified due to their head-to-head victory over PdC. (Like nearly all schools in this situation, PdC claims to be 1981 conference champs)

The difference for football is that 3 team ties do not result in a 3 team share. The tiebreaker used is “quarters led”. In 2016 RV finished in a 3 team tie with Platteville, and Lancaster. But, due to their quarters led record of 2-4-2 they officially finished in 3rd place.

I realize I am over-analyzing this. But, the reasoning is to provide context. Not all conference champions are equal, and should not simply be lumped together.