Georgia Football: Coach Kirby Smart Favors Nine Game SEC Schedule
Pros
There are a few major arguments in favor ditching a non conference game in favor of another SEC matchup.
As coach Smart mentioned, you play against better competition. That’s extremely value to the eyes of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. Having an extra quality win, could make all the difference for the committee when they are comparing resumes for the final spot.
Another thing that Smart mentioned is that you get more rivalry games. The Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide have a good competitive rivalry, yet they only meet in the regular season about once every six years.
An SEC West team besides Auburn, only comes between the hedges at Sanford Stadium once every 12 years.
The Dawgs will play at LSU on Saturday. After that Georgia isn’t scheduled to return to Death Valley until 2030! That’s entirely too long of a wait for fans who couldn’t make the trip to Louisiana this year. Moving to nine conference games would cut that wait in half.
The yearly East vs West rivalries such as Georgia vs Auburn, Alabama vs Tennessee and Florida vs LSU would still stay in tact. The only change would be adding a second rotating West opponent.
Added revenue is yet another bonus to changing the SEC schedule. An extra college game would mean more revenue. There would be a high probability of six more sellouts. The television contract would certainly expand. Networks would be bidding heavily for the rights to air the extra SEC contests.
Con
The only negative I could see with the SEC changing to nine conference games, is the fact that it gives the top teams one more chance to get upset.
Tougher competition would certainly knock the SEC, out of a chance to get two teams in the College Football Playoff in some years. That is believed to be a major reason why many coaches, and athletic directors in the conference, are opposed to adding an extra SEC game.
Former Florida Coach and current Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer, is notorious for not adding strong non-conference opponents to his teams’ schedules. The thought process is the conference schedule is strong enough to get to the playoffs.
In fact Meyer cancelled a home and home series that Ohio State had scheduled with UGA, soon after taking the job there. Too bad that he robbed the fans of the experience of watching the Bulldogs take on Ohio State between the hedges.
On the contrary Alabama lead by Coach Nick Saban, play a tough non conference opponent to begin nearly every season. Kirby Smart and Georgia will play Notre Dame for the second time in three years next season.
The Dawgs are also scheduled to open with Oregon on the near future. Auburn and Gus Malzahn have played Clemson and Washington to open the last two seasons.