Steve Sarkisian not minimizing SEC Championship despite expanded College Football Playoff

The expanded 12-team College Football Playoff is right around the corner as the regular season gets closer and closer to its end. An exciting and unprecedented postseason that has shifted the dynamics of competing for a national championship.

The latest CFP has drastically changed the stakes of conference championships, punching a ticket and first-round bye to the playoffs for the winners of the highest-ranked conference champions. But 12 teams in the postseason versus four also means that conference championship losers and other top teams in the country will still likely be able to compete for a national title.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was recently asked if the expanded access of the College Football Playoff has decreased the significance of conference title games. A notion that he clearly disagreed with, especially in the SEC.

“Not around here,” Sarkisian said. “Our goal, our first goal, is to go win an SEC championship and that’s what we’re striving for. When that day comes and goes, then we’ll recalibrate and get ourselves prepared for what the next part of the season could be, if we’re fortunate enough to get in there.”

An SEC title win would be particularly significant for the Longhorns this season in their first year in the conference. Winning the Big 12 title last season for the first time since 2009 and making it to the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.

“But it’s an honor if you’re a team that can hoist that trophy in this conference, knowing the rigors of the opponents and how difficult it can be. I think that’s a heck of an honor for our players and for our staff, if we’re able to do something like that,” Sarkisian explained. “I think you could probably ask Kirby (Smart), or Mike Elko, or all the guys, all the coaches, all the teams in our league. That’s a heck of a challenge and that’s a heck of an honor if you can achieve it.”

“So I don’t think in the Southeastern Conference it’s minimized at all, everybody knows that’s a heck of an honor if you can if you can do that.”

The challenge of winning an SEC title is hard to minimize in a conference widely regarded as the most competitive in college football. But that perception also comes with more teams in the postseason, with the first College Football Playoff Rankings placing seven teams from the conference currently in the top 16. A majority of whom will likely be able to compete for a national title regardless of how the SEC title game shakes out.

It will be fascinating to see how the SEC Championship game specifically impacts the first expanded College Football Playoff and others in the future. A matchup where the winner, runner-up, and several other teams outside the game but inside of the conference will still have a shot at winning a national title.