Greg McElroy pushes back on Kirby Smart's stance on SEC scheduling

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart raised an interesting point at the SEC spring meetings last week in regards to the SEC schedule and the College Football Playoff.

Smart isn’t concerned with an eight-game schedule versus nine-game schedule argument. Instead, he is worried that with the expanded playoff, it might benefit teams to not reach the SEC Championship game.

To Smart’s point, teams that play in the SEC title game will have an extra game of wear and tear. At the same time, it won’t be uncommon at all for an SEC team to miss out on the SEC title game but still advance to the College Football Playoff.

ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy was asked about Smart’s comments on the Always College Football podcast and pushed back on SEC teams that don’t reach the SEC title game having an advantage.

“I understand why this is fresh on Kirby Smart’s mind. Think back to 2017, Kirby Smart had his Georgia Bulldogs, they won the SEC Championship game. They beat Auburn in the SEC title. Alabama, at 11-1, stayed at home. Alabama ultimately got into the College Football Playoff, where they ultimately met up with Georgia and beat them for the national championship,” McElroy said.

“So I understand why this is a very pointed discussion, especially as it relates to Kirby Smart. Here’s where I disagree with him. One, I think a first-round bye is massive. And the only way you can get the first-round bye is by playing in and winning the SEC championship game. You have to win your conference. That’s the only way you can get that first-round bye.”

As McElroy points out, when the CFP expands to 12 teams, the top 6 teams will be conference champions. Four of those six will have a bye, and the SEC champion is sure to be in the top 4 each season.

That will be a big advantage heading into the playoff.

McElroy also believes that eventually the second round of the playoff could be a home game, which would make being a top 4 seed even more valuable.

“I wanna see the second round of the College Football Playoff be played at home. I’d love to see that,” McElroy said. “Now the first two years, that’s not going to happen. They’re going to be a part of the New Years Six. … But this is a two-year trial period. There’s two years where we’re going to look at everything. ‘Does it work, does it not work, let’s adjust this, let’s adjust that, let’s see how things work out.’ So you’re going to likely get to a point where you host a game on your home field.”

When McElroy was playing at Alabama, winning the SEC title was always a major goal. Even with the playoff expanding, he believes that it should continue to be a huge deal.

“I want conference championship games to be the end all be all. Why? Because that’s what it was when I was growing up. Winning your conference was like the biggest thing ever, and if you got a shot at the title, you got a shot at the title,” McElroy said.

“I’d also like to see something put into the College Football Playoff format that if you win your conference, even if you don’t get a first-round bye – because there’s six automatic qualifiers, if you win your conference, you’re ranked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, meaning that teams 5 and 6… you should add the very least get to host the first-round playoff game. … So if you win your league, you get a home playoff game, or you get a first-round bye. That, to me, would be a good way of making sure that conference championship games still remain really important here in the ecosystem of college football.”