In the SEC this season, every week brings a high-stakes clash (or three) that grabs national attention.
From Tennessee-Oklahoma to Georgia-Alabama and Georgia-Texas, the conference regularly pits some of the country’s top teams against one another in ultra-marquee matchups.
Despite the expanded College Football Playoff, the SEC’s relentless “best vs. best” competition means that deserving teams could still be left out.
One coach currently near the top of the SEC standings recently shared his thoughts on this in an interesting radio interview.
“What’s crazy is the only people you can trust and believe in this business is Vegas,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said on 92.9 The Game’s “The Steakhouse.”
“Because you tell Vegas to do all these teams, there’s no question who would be favored in these games. And I guess that doesn’t matter, because the perception will be every conference will have two or three teams left out that should get in and they’ll include SEC teams in that two or three.
“But these SEC teams, whoever it ends up being, it could be anybody, because the schedules are just brutal when you look at what’s left, it’s crazy.”
Smart also weighed in on the potential shift to a nine-game conference schedule, which would increase SEC competition from the current eight games.
“It makes me wonder about the whole nine-game conversation, because I’m sitting here going, ‘Wait a second, what if we all had nine games? We’d be talking about three- and four-loss teams,’” Smart added.
“Because you just add another game, you’re going to play another good team and you’re going to bring about the possibility of teams losing. There’s so much parity in our league right now. It’s closer than it’s ever been.”
As ranked teams in the SEC face off over the coming weeks, Smart warned that the conference’s depth might lead to teams being perceived as average because of their records.
We all know the point that Kirby is trying to make. That’s the beast that the SEC (and Big Ten) has created.
With very few exceptions, powers from the SEC would be “favored” in the vast majority of their matchups against teams from other conferences.
It’s inevitable that multiple SEC teams will be left out of the 12-team playoff field despite those teams certainly qualifying – at least on the eye-test – as one of the nation’s top 12 teams.
Again, that’s just the beast that’s been created…
What are your thoughts on Kirby’s comments???
