Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart does not like what will happen to the loser of the SEC championship game in the new 12-team College Football Playoff. The four highest-ranked conference champions will receive byes under the current playoff format.
Kirby Smart thinks that whoever loses in the SEC championship will get screwed under the new format.
“The idea of the SEC championship loser, who just fought their ass off to be the second-place team in the best conference in the world, having to turn around and play maybe two weeks later with no bye,” said Smart.
For instance, Georgia went 12-1 last season and lost in the SEC championship game. In this hypothetical example, assume that Washington and Florida State were both two-loss conference champions. In this scenario, under the new rules, Georgia would have been ranked below Washington and/or Florida State despite having a much more impressive resume.
“If you go through our conference undefeated like we did last year and lose to a team in the SEC championship game, you’re going to lose your bye and go play as a 5 seed somewhere? That’s crazy,” noted Smart.
The new playoff format rewards conference champions, but does punish conference championship game losers. Whoever loses in the 2024 SEC championship could easily be ranked below the team that finishes No. 3 in the SEC’s final standings. The third-best team in the SEC would get the week of the SEC title game off.
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