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Kirby Smart questions SEC championship game, playoff byes
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Kirby Smart questions SEC championship game, playoff byes
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. â Kirby Smart didnât mince words when discussing this preferences and questions about the football postseason while appearing at the SEC Spring Meetings on Tuesday.
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Smart said. “I’m really more worried about the financial burden that we’re under right now of paying for all of the athletic department. Kirby make $13 mill a year plus incentives goals which to me should be your job to do regardless. This doesn’t include all the people on the coaching staff that make $$ big bucks. That’s why Georgia doesn’t pay the big NIL money. Money is destroying college football. Where is the money the TV deals bring in?
Kirby is absolutely correct - there's too much time between the SECCG and the playoffs if you get a BYE in the first round. (2) weeks should be all that is needed between breaks for any team in that situation.
“(But) Is it the revenue stream that we’re having to fund our athletic programs with — that we need … ?“ Smart said.
Smh...well, there goes the neighborhood. Lol
Imo...The SEC Championship, is the only game that really matters.
IIf You want to make money....allow any qualified Team to challenge the Winner of the SEC to a duel at the end of the Season. Sell it on Pay-per-view...and, make a mint.
Run it like professional boxing and MMA, after the regular season and Conference Championships. Have a mini season with preferred matchups chosen by the Fans.
THAT....is how you make money and preserve the integrity of CFB. Maybe. Lol
I want the following things in the CFP: NO BYES. Get as close to the top 24 teams as is possible. The first round will be a maximum of two weeks after conference championship Saturday. Everyone that gets in will have played 13 games.
Here is my plan:
Rankings going into Conference Championship Saturday (CCS) are the rankings to be used. The rankings will be a "composite" of the CFP committee rankings, the AP rankings, and the Coach's poll rankings. One or more computer based ranking system(s) ranking could be added, if needed to objectively include RPI, SOS, etc. ( I am just not sure which system best does that). We should have the "regular season" rankings (thus the "composite" rankings) by the Monday before CCS. Post CCS rankings are just used as seeding tools. Until Notre Dame joins a conference, they will have to play in one of the "play in" games so they will have played 13 games, but, they will also need to be in the top 24 of the final season rankings. After the 4 Power 4 teams that won their conference championships, the next 20 highest ranked teams are the ones that are most likely to be the teams selected. The highest ranked teams that have played in a conference championship game are in the "sweet sixteen". The highest ranked team not in a conference championship game will play Notre Dame, no more than 7 days after CCS, but preferably on CCS or on the Monday right after CCS. Then the remaining teams ( which are in the top 24 of the rankings and only have played 12 games are looked at according to the rankings composite prior to CCS. The "pool" teams will be required to play in a game in the same time frame as the Notre Dame game ( maximum of 7 days after CCS, but preferably on CCS or the Monday after CCS ). If Notre Dame is the highest ranked of the pool teams, then they will be matched against the lowest ranked team. If they are not the highest ranked, they will play the highest ranked team.
Last year's field would have been (using my system):
Indiana, Georgia, Duke, Texas Tech ( Power 4 Conference Champions )
Alabama, BYU, Virginia, James Madison ( Teams that have played 13 games )
Michigan, Oregon, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Miami, Vanderbilt, Texas, Utah, USC, North Texas, Tulane, Arizona, Navy, GA Tech, Iowa ( Pool Teams that only played 12 games )
Play In Games:
Michigan vs Notre Dame
Oregon vs GA Tech
Ole Miss vs Iowa
Texas A&M vs Navy
Miami vs Arizona
Vanderbilt vs Tulane
Texas vs North Texas
Utah vs USC
The 2024 field would have been:
Oregon, Georgia, Arizona State, Clemson ( Power 4 Conference Champions )
Texas, Penn State, SMU, Boise State, UNLV, Army ( Highest rated teams that have played 13 games )
Notre Dame, Tennessee, Ohio State, Indiana, Alabama, Miami, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Iowa State, Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Syracuse ( eligible pool teams that only played 12 games )
Play-In Games:
Notre Dame vs Missouri
Tennessee vs Illinoi
Ohio State vs Colorado
Indiana vs Ole Miss
Alabama vs Miami
South Carolina vs Iowa State
Notes: Using the composite rankings from before the CCS games are played eliminates a team from being penalized for playing in a conference championship game, and not de-valuing those games. Using composite rankings rather than just CFP Committee rankings helps smooth out any potential bias in the committee ( and would be further smoothed by also including a computerized objective ranking that factors in strength of schedule ). This preserves the value of the regular season. There some differences in the 2025 and 2024 makeup. In 2025, there were only 4 teams that were ranked high enough, so we have exactly 8 qualifying teams ( 4+4 )that have played in conference championship games. That means we need 8 "play-in" games to fill out the 16 team first round. In 2024 we had 10 qualifying 13 game teams ( 4+6 ), so we only need 6 "play-in" games that year. This resulted in Syracuse, a qualified team, being left out as the lowest ranked qualifying team. Another issue is both Army and Navy had only played in 11 games before the start of the CCS. In 2024, Army won on CCS against Tulane in the AAC. but they did not play Navy until the following Saturday, thus getting their 13th game in then. I am for starting the season in what is now known as Week 0, and maybe Army and Navy can get their game in on Rivalry Saturday ( the last Saturday of the "regular" season. I don't know if the desired "exclusivity" of the Army-Navy game can be maintained. The composite rankings I used were AI generated from the CFP rankings, the AP Poll rankings, and the Coach's Poll rankings. This was the fairest system I could come up with. In setting matchups for the play-in games, I tried to not have teams from the same conference play against each other in these games. Also remember that the seedings for the round of 16 can be seedings reflecting the results of the CCS games and the play-in games. I would hope that every effort would be made not to have conference teams face each other in this round, and also not repeat regular season games when possible. Those two things can probably not be maintained for subsequent rounds.
I have 2 suggestions my friend....
1]....Edit that bad boy down some to make it more readable.
2]....Submit several copies around the league and keep posting it, if you really believe in it. Or...until it makes no sense to keep posting it.
IMO....EVERYBODY....except the people that should...are coming up with pretty good ideas. I don't think that's what they're looking for.
"They're" looking for something that can still be corrupted....but, look legit. Lol. That's why I value the SEC Championship....far more than this thing they call a National Championship.
The way D1 CFB determined it's Champion has always been "questionable", to say the least. Until the 1990's.....It had no more validity than the theoretical High School National Championship from USA Today....imo.
Why they continue to insist on subjecting D1 CFB to a hybrid of both systems....I'm sure idk. Just kidding....I do know. Corruption runs deep in College Sports. And....it's married to syndicated gambling.
In other words....we may never get a REAL Playoff. Just an entertaining one that generates lots of revenue to divvy up.
Should go a long way in lowering ticket prices, concessions and streaming costs, huh?. Lol....just kidding, again. Most of us know "the deal". Way o' the world.
Go Dawgs....practice & prepare "to be the best & beat everybody". Nothing else should matter. The wins will continue to pile up. It's about the process....not the results. Enjoy your journey back to the Crown in '26 & '27.