Sam Pittman admits SEC title game 'has hurt the league' in CFP era, doesn't want it to go away

College football is undergoing some major changes this upcoming season between conference realignment and the 12-team College Football Playoff. Shifting the geometry off the postseason in a major way ahead of one of the most highly anticipating college football season’s in recent history.

With that in mind, Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman was asked a fascinating two-part question on Thursday at SEC Media Days regarding the postseason.

With the expanded playoff, there is a potential scenario where a team could play 17 games in a season between their regular season schedule, a conference title game, and their 13-game regular season slate. Which led to Pittman being asked if the SEC title game should be potentially removed from the schedule and if the first round home playoff games should be extended to further rounds in the 12-team playoff.

“Well, I’d like to get to the damn SEC Championship game is what I’d like to do,” Pittman laughed and said to start.

“You know, I’ll say this, the game has hurt the league in the past. And I don’t know if that’s fair, I don’t know if Mr. Sankey would agree with me. But I remember when I was at Georgia it hurt us and then obviously this last year it hurt Georgia,” Pittman said. “It’s not going to know obviously.”

In the four-team College Football Playoff era, several losers of the SEC Championship games were excluded from the CFP despite many feeling like they were strong enough to make the cut. Which will more than likely not occur moving forward in under the 12-team model, with several forecasting the four or five SEC programs could potentially get a shot at the national championship game in the postseason.

But regarding the SEC title game, Pittman is firm on it remaining as a part of college football.

“Will there be some communication about that? Probably. But don’t you want to see the conference championship? Who’s the winner?” Pittman said. “So personally I’d hate to see that game go. I know 17 is a long season, but I do think this. I think whoever’s a top seed has an opportunity to host, I think they’ve earned it throughout the year.”

First-round CFP games will be hosted by the highest teams in the tournament, with second-round matchups moving to bowl games and neutral sites. Something Pittman would like to see changed while also keeping all bowl games alive.

“I think that would be the best way to do that until you get to the bowl situation. We cannot cut any of the bowls out, none. Those are those a way to get better and get your younger kids practice, and I don’t mean Orange, Rose and all that. I mean Liberty, [Duke’s] Mayo, we need to continue to keep them,” Pittman concluded.

The new 12-team College Football Playoff in it’s current state is already causing for a ton of excitement this year, but it will be fascinating to see if any changes are made to it in the future that can further enhance the postseason in college football.