Kirby Smart explains why there’s still honor in winning SEC in CFP era

There would appear to be bigger fish to fry for the Georgia Bulldogs. In fact, there’s bigger fish to fry for most of the teams in the College Football Playoff race. 

There will be 12 teams vying for the CFP championship, and that trophy means more than anything else in this sport. It’s even more important than winning a conference, even if that conference is the SEC.

For instance, both the Bulldogs and Texas Longhorns should be CFP teams even with a loss in the SEC Championship game on Saturday. For UGA, a loss would be the Bulldogs’ third, but all of the losses would come against highly-ranked opponents. For Texas, a loss would be only the Longhorns’ second, which means they’d still likely be a CFP lock.

For some, that takes away the stakes of the SEC title game, because even a loss wouldn’t be disqualifying. 

That’s not how Georgia head coach Kirby Smart sees it, though, even with the ultimate goal being the CFP.

Winning a conference like the SEC still means something, but he did admit that it depends on who you ask.

“When you ask a guy that’s been in the SEC for about 30 years, has only been a part of five or six of ’em, five or six national championships, it’s equal to that to me ’cause it’s just as hard, it’s just as elusive. It has been for us,” Smart recently said, according to On3.

“It’s an extreme honor to, No. 1, make this game with the schedule that you have to go through. Then with an opportunity to win it, I mean, we put the years of SEC Championship on a wall and it’s there forever. There’s not that many more of those than there are national championships,” Smart said. “It’s hard to attain. So I still find value in it.”

Alongside the pride of winning the SEC is the potential added benefit of getting a bye in the CFP.  According to the new format, the top-four ranked conference champions will get a first-round bye.

That’s valuable — extremely valuable — but keep in mind there will be CFP teams that make the 12-team field without the risk of having to play in a conference championship game. 

That’s what makes this whole thing so convoluted, for now. These are kinks that will likely be ironed out over the next few seasons, but in the here and now, there should still be plenty of pride associated with winning your conference. 

Look at it this way, it’s not as if Georgia, or Texas, will send back the trophy. It’s just ultimately the one that matters most.