Going down to the wire, the MIAC favorite is ... ?

The MIAC's automatic bid for the NCAA Division III football playoffs could come down to a rule interpretation that even the league's executive director, Dan McKane, describes as "very confusing."

The conference race enters the final two weekends with four teams -- Carleton, Concordia, Gustavus and St. John's -- tied for first with 4-2 league records and three others -- St. Thomas, Augsburg and Bethel -- within one game of the lead. It's mathematically possible that six teams could finish in a first-place tie with 5-3 records.

And that possibility has McKane and his staff feverishly reviewing the league's tiebreaking policy that was written by coaches in 1999. The easy part is the first tiebreaker: head-to-head competition in all games involving teams tied for first. But that could still leave multiple teams with the same record, sending it to the rather murky second tiebreaker that eliminates the team that most recently has been to the playoffs.

That's team -- not teams -- although that point has been the focus of McKane's scrutiny.

"When you look at our policy, one word, or even one letter in the policy can really change things, and how people look at it," McKane said. "It really is confusing to us, and to our coaches. We've haven't been in a situation like this for a long time."

The key line from the tiebreaking rule is this: "If three or more teams are tied, the team that has most recently been to the playoffs will be eliminated. Then it goes back to head-to-head competition with the remaining teams."

So if four teams emerge from the first head-to-head tiebreaker still tied, the most recent playoff team is ousted. The head-to-head games involving the remaining three teams are compared, and if it's still tied, the last team in the playoffs among this group is dropped. The head-to-head winner of the last two teams standing advances to the playoffs.

"It's pretty convoluted," Carleton coach Kurt Ramler said. "They could try to make it more complicated, but I'm not sure they could pull it off."

The parity is surprising for a league long dominated by St. John's, with Bethel making recent inroads. Since 1998, SJU has won or shared seven titles, Bethel four (including the past two) and Concordia one. No more than two teams have tied for the title since 1979.

How balanced is the league? Of the 28 conference games played to date, 21 have been decided by eight or fewer points. Hamline is 0-7 in conference play, but six of the losses have come by a total of 17 points. St. Olaf, the eighth-place team in the nine-team league, threw a monkey-wrench into the title race by defeating Concordia 28-25 last Saturday.

"I don't remember anything quite like this, where the last-place team could give everybody such a hard time," said St. John's coach John Gagliardi, in his 56th season as SJU coach. "We could be undefeated, or we could possibly have lost every game."

The tiebreaker that could eliminate teams most recently in the playoffs is bad news for St. John's and Bethel, which both reached the playoffs last year, and Concordia, which went in 2005.

It's good news for Gustavus, which hasn't been to the playoffs since 1987 -- the longest drought among the contenders. Gustavus coach Jay Schoenebeck, a four-year starter at running back for the Gusties from 1976-79, already has announced plans to retire at the end of the season.

The question being asked within the league is whether this is a one-year aberration that will find St. John's and Bethel returning to their former positions of prominence next fall. The prevailing opinion favors a run of parity.

The reason: An influx of energetic new coaches within the past four seasons, including Ramler, Glenn Caruso at St. Thomas, Jim Good at Hamline, Frank Haege at Augsburg and Jerry Olszewski at St. Olaf.

"I think [parity] is here to stay," said Concordia coach Terry Horan, in his eighth season. 'There's just so many great coaches in the league right now. Recruiting is the lifeblood for all of us, and every coach has been out working the trails hard."

One thing is certain in the MIAC's future, according to McKane: The tiebreaking procedure will be closely reviewed by the coaches at the end of the season.

"I'm pretty sure we'll have some good conversation," he said.