With two more wins, Wittenberg would accomplish something it hasn’t done since 2000: three North Coast Athletic Conference titles in four seasons.

There could be as many as three other hands on the trophy — Wabash, Kenyon and Ohio Wesleyan could all finish 6-1, too, by winning their last two games — but that’s better than nothing for the Tigers. Most importantly, the stars might align for Wittenberg (7-1 overall), allowing the Tigers to claim the automatic berth in the Division III playoffs if they are tied with two or three teams.

A conference title would be a big deal for the seniors, especially. When they arrived on campus in 2009, Wittenberg hadn’t won the outright title since 2001.

“It’s no secret we had some lean years in the mid-2000s,” Wittenberg coach Joe Fincham said. “It was hard around here, not that it was ever easy. They did a good job of getting us back.”

Fifteen Wittenberg seniors will play their final regular-season home game today at 1 p.m. against Hiram. Eight are starters: left guard A.J. Owen, wide receiver Garth Gilbert, defensive ends Justin Bartlett and Jon Daniels, defensive tackle Cory Cosby, cornerbacks Jamaal Evertt and Karlos Marshall and kicker Sean Williams. Others have played a lot: Ethan Sharpin, on special teams, for example.

The senior class has lost only one game at home in four years, the 27-24 loss to Wabash earlier this season. Despite that loss, Wittenberg could make the playoffs.

It needs either Ohio Wesleyan or Kenyon to win their last two games. In a three-way tie, the first tiebreaker — head-to-head results between tied teams — is thrown out if two of the teams didn’t play each other. Wittenberg didn’t play either Ohio Wesleyan or Kenyon. If Wittenberg and Wabash are the only teams to finish 6-1, then Wabash wins the tiebreaker because it beat Wittenberg.

The second tiebreaker is “results versus individual NCAC conference game opponents in descending order.” This would knock out Wabash, assuming it also wins its last two games, because the Little Giants lost to Allegheny. So far Ohio Wesleyan has lost only to Wabash, and Kenyon has lost only to Ohio Wesleyan.

Most likely, the tie would be broken by the fourth tiebreaker: “team with the highest preseason power ranking.” Wittenberg would beat Ohio Wesleyan and Kenyon in this scenario.

Next year, the league goes to a round-robin format. Everybody plays each other, eliminating some of the problems caused by the power-rated schedule, in which teams like Kenyon can avoid playing Wittenberg and Wabash.

“The power-rated schedule, the whole thing is ridiculous,” Fincham said. “We all know why it was put in place. We all know who pushed to have it in place. Thank heavens, this is the last year.”