Georgia’s Kirby Smart talks SEC scheduling debate: ‘It’s not that big of a deal’
The Southeastern Conference faces hurdles with future scheduling after the addition of Texas and Oklahoma in 2024, the same year the College Football Playoff will be expanded to a 12-team system.
The conference is considering a future scheduling system in which teams would play each other at least once every two years.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart brushed-off the debate in his Tuesday press conference at SEC spring meetings.
“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 says he is a fan of the traditional rivalries that make college football special, but acknowledges the challenges of keeping those marquee games while bringing another two programs in the loop.
“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.”
In the proposed nine-game system, the Bulldogs would have three permanent opponents that could include a rivalry games like Florida, Auburn and Tennessee.
