MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — Kirby Smart says the scheduling debate dominating the opening of the SEC spring meetings is “the most overrated conversation there ever was.”
The eighth-year Georgia head coach said during his presentation at the SEC spring meetings at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Hotel on Tuesday that he’s more concerned with how playing in the SEC Champion
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“You need to be in the SEC championship, that’s a lot better topic for me, is somebody going to get an advantage by not going to the SEC Championship Game but making the expanded playoff,” Smart said.
“That’s a lot better topic to me than eight or nine games. You’ve got to win your games, and now more than ever it’s going to be that way because there’s not going to be divisions.”
College football is going to a 12-team playoff in 2024, the same season as Texas and Oklahoma are joining the SEC.
Smart raised the issue of how a team not playing in the SEC Championship Game could have an advantage because of projections that the first CFP playoff game will take place before Christmas.
“I’m looking at it from a competitive disadvantage of, you might have to play one or two weeks later after just playing that (SEC Championship) game,” Smart said, “which will be the most physical game the whole year.”
Smart explained why he thinks the programs and coaches caught up in debating the 8- or 9-game schedules are wasting their collective breath.
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“I think with the nine, there’s the three permanent (opponents) and that creates a lot more debate because teams are like ‘wait, I’ve got to play them,’ " Smart said. “Well, I’m looking at it like you’re going to probably play one or two of those three anyway because it’s going to cycle so quickly.”
Indeed, in both the 3-6 and 1-7 models, programs would play every other program in the SEC in two years.
Smart said that outside of Alabama’s success with Nick Saban, the profile of teams in the league ebbs and flows.
“Pretty much in the SEC, it changes,” Smart said. “Outside of what Alabama has done the time Nick has been there, it’s really been cyclical.
“It will probably, over the next 20 or 30 years, be the same way. I don’t get caught up in it a lot.”
Smart said the bottom line is teams need to win games.
“Four years, you’ll play everybody home and away,” Smart said. “I get it, the traditional rivalries, you have three, (or) you have two, (or) you have one. You guys need something to write about bad when you start writing about this. It’s not that big of a deal to me. You have to win your games to advance.”
Smart did concede that the possibility of Georgia not playing Auburn every year should the league go to a 1-7 model -- Florida would likely be the annual rival -- would bother some.
“It’s going to tough because there’s so many people that want that historic rivalry including me,” Smart said. “I was part of that rivalry. I grew up as part of that rivalry. I think it’s one of the best there is.
“But I think it’s one of the costs of progress bringing two more teams in. One of the costs of scheduling, getting more balanced in term of you’re going to play everybody.... I think that’s good debate in terms of, traditionalists want those rivalries and others want to see you play the teams they never get to see you play, and you can’t have both.”
Georgia’s rivalry with Alabama -- not Auburn -- has actually grown most in recent. years with the Bulldogs and Tide meeting five times in the past six years in the SEC tilt game (3) and the CFP Championship Game (2).
Georgia will play Alabama at least every other season regardless of the schedule model, which UGA fans seem to be on board with based on polls asking about preferred opponents.
