Kirby Smart on 9-game SEC schedule:"I don't think we saw value in adding 9 more losses to our league last year, in terms of the way they picked the (Playoff) teams."If we are going to play a 9th game, we need the right people making the right decisions in terms of who goes... pic.twitter.com/rBHSnoO2HJ— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) July 15, 2025
So fucking sick and tired of the SEC narrative. These assholes can't break away and form their own national championship fast enough.
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People on here agree. Remember to some Alabama's losses shouldn't count. Their body of work is simply "better".
So this is a completely editorialized title because he doesn't say that at any point in the video.
Even though this is a violation of the CG's "Don't start a new topic to rant," I am going to leave it up because you did provide the actual video and this 8/9 game thing and future playoff implications is a common topic of CFB discussion, particularly in the offseason.
I mean he explicitly said that the SEC needs to have the right people in place for the committee going forward. That implies that the committee doesn't have the right people in place now.
And yet he does not say "Its not fair that the SEC doesn't control who is invited to the playoff."
His point is also pretty measured for a question that gets brought up every offseason, and he knows whatever he says is going to get this exact treatment.
The SEC had three 9-3 teams miss the playoff, all three of which with much stronger wins on their resumes than say Clemson, SMU, or Indiana, and the current committee landed heavily on the side of fewer losses is more important than strong wins. The auto-bid element, which benefitted the ACC greatly, is another unmentioned point here. Of the four teams who finished 9-3, Clemson had by far, and by any metric, the weakest resume of the four, but eventually got an autobid through being in the ACC. They lost head to head to one of those teams at home (South Carolina), and lost head to head on a neutral field (3-34) to a team that both Alabama and Ole Miss beat in a football game.
You can say they picked the right teams (SMU and Indiana) and acknowledge that the point he is making about the SEC not having much incentive to add more losses to their schedules, when last year's selection showed that each loss is incredibly punitive and highly valued in their decision making criteria, is not really him being ridiculous or even whiny. It's a pretty reasonable statement in the context of what happened.
Logic makes zero sense. If VT beats South Carolina and they end up Top 10... thats a really strong win. So does it or does it not offset our losses to ODU and Miami? I guess it does, since losses don't matter and shouldn't be very "punitive" . And lets cut the bullshit here. If the "best" teams are in the SEC- period, no matter the regular season- just fucking put 8 SEC teams in the playoff and be done with the 8 month fucking narrative. In your eyes SMU could go undefeated again and win every game by 40 and they won't be as "good" as Ole miss. So can we just cut the shit?
You commonly employ these hypothetical situations to be upset about when it comes to anything involving the SEC.
What I just laid out, and what Kirby is alluding to, is what actually happened last year. They are observable, recorded events that occurred in reality.
At no point did I, or Kirby, say we should have 8 SEC teams in the playoff. This is a hypothetical tangent from the original discussion to get mad about.
No, my bad- not 8... just 4 to 5 - a 9-3 South Carolina team since they beat Clemson... etc.
all of this could easily be avoidable if we just had a 4 team playoff where the criteria for making it to the playoff is that you win your league's championship game. The committee gets to pick which of the leagues send their champion and they can base their decisions on whatever made up metrics they want to in the moment. But the SEC would only get, at most, 1 team into the playoff. Same for the B1G and the ACC, etc.
The playoff shouldn't have ever been about the "best" or the "most deserving" teams - it should always have been about bragging rights for the conference. Maybe the SEC would win every single playoff ever. Maybe the 4th best team in the SEC would be better than the best team in half the other leagues. I don't give a shit. You want to lift the national title you gotta get through your own league first. Then the top dogs from each league can duke it out and prove which league is the strongest.
The system we have now is completely f*cked
Are you trying to suggest that a system where you pit divisional champions against each other in a Conference Championship Game for the right to enter the National College Football Playoff as a representative of your conference creating a year long playoff where the only thing that matters is winning and yet also encourages big out of conference cash grab contests that only matter for pride would be a good thing for the sport?
Nah, fuck that. 12 of 16 teams from the SEC and Big Ten based on who we think is better regardless of results or we riot!
People will look you in the face- many people - and say that a team that didn't even win their division "deserve" to play for a national championship. It makes no sense on any level, but hey.
This is where that "best" vs "deserving" argument comes in. This sport has so few games to go on that even if the underlying statistics suggest a team would win 7/10 games when they play each other, I'm still going to hold losses against a team. For me that should disqualify teams from playoff contention. The oddity of INDIANA making the playoff is some of what makes this sport great. Why should we take that away to accommodate a three loss Alabama or South Carolina? We've already determined they aren't the best of their conference so why should we give them access to the playoff?
I don't care that the SEC and Big Ten have harder schedules. Maybe they shouldn't have expanded and killed one conference and left the others dying.
Personally, I agree that it's cool that Indiana made the playoff, and they weren't one of the teams that was even really on the bubble.
My only point is that the point Kirby is making, based on how the selection committee approached the at-large decisions last year, is reasonable.
2023 FSU with NO LOSSES shatters his whiny argument.
How about a league where no committee exists? One where records matter and conference championships matter, and not rely on media sexiness and whether or not the team's best players are not injured. Crazy talk.
That would create a power vacuum and the wars would restart.
No it's true!
I know! That's my brother, Crazy Talk! We're all a little worried about him...
Yea! It's almost like we should have conference championship games or something to decide it on the field. And only those teams get to be in the playoff.
*noise in ear*
I'm receiving information that this is not what Kirby Smart or anyone in the SEC means.
Really? So an undefeated, conference champion decided on the field - Florida State should be a lock then? cool. We wouldn't give a 2 loss non conference champ their spot or anything.
Personally, I think all conferences should have 8 game schedules. Leaves more room for OOC games. I would also like smaller conferences.
I am in this camp. More conference games disincentivizes compelling OOC matchups because of how punitive losses are at the moment. I also don't want to see schools sacrifice locked OOC rivalries for the same reason.
but if you have real OOC games you have chances for losses that feed into the circular logic calculator of what conferences are good versus 3 cupcakes and 9 quality wins /losses
Counterpoint, what are the odds that any of the SEC teams schedule a real out-of-conference opponent? We'll just get more of Clemson vs. Citadel and Alabama vs. Troy.
They will do it a neutral sites of course.... but Alabama didn't play a road ooc P4 opponent for like 15 years. The first time they traveled west of the mississippi was that rose bowl a few years back- before aTm joined the SEC. Its ridiculous