Georgia Coach Kirby Smart Sounds Off On SEC Championship Game

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ATHENS - The college football world is changing at at alarming rate.

In this new era of the game we’ve seen an expanded playoffs, we’ve seen conference realignment, we’ve entered an NIL world, along with a transfer portal that has completely changed the best sport in the world.

The game was completely different just several years ago. It was a time when any particular loss could end your season. Championship games mattered. Roster management was easier. Programs were built on the recruiting trail.

The SEC is at a cross-roads right now on a lot of topics and Georgia head coach Kirby Smart spoke about that this week in Destin...

On SEC Title game…

“I love this. It's a championship game and I’m a big fan of that. I grew up watching it. It’s been a long time since then, and a lot of changes since then. So is it the revenue stream that we're having to fund our athletic programs with that we need because of it? Is it the calendar that we need to shrink so we're not playing a championship game in late January? I don't think that's great for student athletes. I don’t think it's great for the transfer portal to be ending the season that late. And if that championship game is in the way of that or gets put on the back burner because of that, I think you'd have to accept it, but I'm really more worried about the financial burden that we're under right now of paying for all of the athletic department, and when you take that revenue stream out, can we make it work? Is it sustainable? That would be my biggest concern.”

On neutral site games...

“I love the games so it's not a matter whether it's home and home or neutral site. Everybody wants to go to another campus. Somebody wants to have an extra home game for a non-conference, but everybody likes neutral site games too. So these opportunities to go to a different place like Jacksonville, Nashville, Atlanta or Charlotte. They're really cool experiences for our fan base to go to a place they don't traditionally go to.”

“So I'm more interested in the matchup than I am where it is. I don't really care if it's neutral site or home and home. I just hate that we talking about ending them. I feel like we're all gravitating away from these because of appearance to the committee. I’ve got to win and I can't have a loss. I can't play the schedule I want to play. We’ve got 9 games in the conference, so now we're moving away from these. That concerns me more than where that game is.”

On where the conversations have to start...

 There's too many issues to say where it should start. My biggest concern is the health of the game and the health of the student athletes. What's best for them. There's so many things that you want to talk about and so many things we want to share and say, hey, this is our stance as a league, because within the league, there's not perfect uniformity.”

“I mean, everybody's not in agreement of what's best for their program. And I think as long as we acknowledge differences and can give a opinion, as a league, and say, this is our stance, that doesn't mean it's gonna happen. Look, we don't come in here, and everybody's like, well, what's the decision? We don't make the decision. We merely just have a point of view, and we try to share that with rules makers for what we think is best.”

“It's self preservation, and people make decisions based on what gives them the best opportunity to have success. I’ve been in this conversation a long time and have listened to Coach Saban come out of these meetings. It can't always be what's best for self preservation, has to be what's best for the game. And sometimes people get caught up in the middle of that.”

On playing nine conference games…

“When I worked for Nick for 10 years or 11 years we wanted to go to nine game conference schedule. The appetite was much better for our fan base, for television networks, for the conference, to go to nine games. That was before we had so many teams in the conferences that we do now. I felt like a nine game schedule would be beneficial with a four game playoff.”

“Now you could say there may be regret in there going to nine because I don't know that the committee  can recognize and truly say strength of schedule matters, and you're putting a team with one more loss in their column over a team that might have one less and didn't play the same schedule. I don't know that they're ever gonna be able to find a format that works in that. So that's what's driven the expansion, and you could say, all right, going to nine we'll get the reward or bang for the buck on the strength of schedule, that would equal the 12 that we currently have. I don't know. I really don't know. I don't know that that's a decision that a lot of people want to make. What's your driving factor? Is it total revenue? Is it TV? Is it the student athletes that are playing forever? What is your main purpose? I do agree with Mr. Sankey, that we're not a tournament sport. That's really not what we are.”

On the best teams not necessarily winning the college football championship…

“I don't know that I would say we were a shell of ourselves. We had injuries. They had injuries, everybody had injuries at the end of the year, but we had injuries after the game, too. That continued on. So you continue to have them as it goes longer. I think that's true in probably any sport, but also true at football. to say that sometimes the best team doesn't win the National Championship. I don't know if I agree with that. Because with what you do now in the playoffs, in the games you have to win, I think that the cream comes to the top, the best team comes out and wins. Who's playing the best at the end might not be who's playing the best in the beginning. That's who wins it every year in basketball. The team that plays the best at the end.”

On the SEC breaking away...

“I have always been a huge advocate that if we can't find rules that everybody plays by, then we should play our own. I'm not afraid of that. I'm not afraid to break away and say that our compass is strong enough to go out and play. I mean, if we could actually function financially among all the sports, and do it by our own rules, I'd be all for that. I've been to this meeting now, 10, 11 times, and it's frustrating at times to say, well, we can't do this because of litigation, we can't do this because of litigation. We can't do this 'cause we'll get sued. We can't do that. And we're just trying to do things for the betterment of the sport and the betterment of the student athletes. And that's not curtailing what money they make. I'm not advocating that they make less money. I'm fine with what student athletes make. I'm trying to make it where it's, uh, it's equal and it's comparable footing for everybody, and it's not a race to the bottom, as they say.”