Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart said that the SEC should consider playing by their own rules. He went so far as to say that they could play their own College Football Playoffs without the other Power Four conferences. He is following up on a statement Georgia President Jere Morehead recently made that an SEC- only playoff would be awesome. Smart and the SEC have struggled recently on the field as the Big Ten has won three straight National Championships. They also had a terrible bowl record, going 4-10 last season.
NEW: Georgia's Kirby Smart on the SEC breaking away if national rules can't be agreed upon:
— On3 (@On3) May 26, 2026
"I've said this for a long time to our president, I've been a huge advocate that if we can't find rules that everybody plays by, then we should play on our own. I'm not afraid of that.… pic.twitter.com/wH0QfRmpue
Smart's comments are about a coach who is frustrated that the game has changed around the SEC while the conference has struggled to keep up. No longer is the SEC the dominant conference, and he and his counterparts do not like it. Georgia can no longer stack rosters with 4- and 5-star prospects because of NIL and the transfer portal. Those two reasons are why the talent has spread out and created some parity in the sport.
Case in point, Indiana. Indiana is one of the worst programs in College Football History, and head Coach Curt Cignetti found a formula to win a National Championship last season. Look at the team that beat Georgia in the College Football Playoff. Ole Miss is another SEC team, but it has never been considered one of the top programs. They used the transfer portal a ton under former Head Coach Lane Kiffin, and they beat Smart last season.
Smart previously was the Defensive Coordinator at Alabama. He helped create a dynasty under former Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban. Saban retired largely because he was frustrated with the new world of College Football. Smart knows how strong the SEC used to be. He understands that before the NIL and the transfer portal, Alabama and their backups were better than most teams' starters.
It makes no sense that the SEC would not hold a College Football Playoff with the other conferences; it is just him insulating himself if he struggles again on the field. He can blame the system and how the SEC is doing a disservice compared to the Big Ten.
Smart did win two titles in 2021 and 2022, and he is now the elder statesman in the conference. He is still one of the top Head Coaches in the sport. He just probably wishes he could turn back the clock to when the SEC was the best conference. Smart wants SEC coaches to figuratively take their football and go home and play their own playoff.
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