PITTSBURGH (AP) — Just the thought of it makes Pat Narduzzi cringe.

There the Pitt football coach is, standing in front of his players after a largely successful season, explaining to the Panthers why they aren’t going to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. It might not have anything to do with what they did or didn’t do on the field, but because of a spreadsheet that explains the league’s byzantine tiebreaker policy says.

“I think there’s nothing worse than walking in a team room saying, ‘Sorry guys, we’re not going because we didn’t play that team or they didn’t play that team,’” Narduzzi said. “But it’s not my job, it’s what (the ACC) did.”

The recent expansion to super-sized versions of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC — all of which have at least 16 teams, all of which

See Full Page