Auburn v. Emory has the potential to wreck the format

As I write this, Auburn and Emory are playing in 2nd place Semis at Men's Southeast D-I Regionals.

Because of the bracket format of the tournament (which used to be the standard format, but has now mostly been replaced by pool play), this is the second time the teams have played (Auburn won yesterday's matchup in Quarters 15-6).

If Auburn wins, they will advance to 2nd place Finals against the loser of Florida v. Georgia.

Emory would then drop to 3rd place Semis against the winner of Kennesaw State v. FSU.

This creates the following situation:

* If Emory wins 3rd place Semis, Auburn is guaranteed a spot at Nationals.

Because Auburn has already played Emory twice and won both games, if they lose to Florida/Georgia, they can elect NOT TO PLAY the final game against Emory and automatically win.

From the format manual:

>Case 2

>1 – It is the last game of the tournament for both teams.

>2 – The teams have played twice already in the tournament and one team has a 2-0 record against the other team.

>3 – Either one of the teams does not wish to play the game.

>If ALL of these conditions are met, then the game may be left un-played. The team with the 2-0 record will be placed above the other team in the final tournament rankings.

https://www.usaultimate.org/assets/1/Page/FormatManual_7108.pdf (page 2)

This comes up incredibly rarely, so if Auburn wins, someone may want to let them know that they never have to play Emory again.