The College Football Playoff format will move to a 12-team system in 2024, and scheduling projections say the first-round game will be held before Christmas.
Teams that play in the Southeastern Conference Championship, held in the first week of December, might have a playoff game shortly after battling in Atlanta.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart gave his thoughts in his Tuesday press conference at SEC spring meetings.
“I’m looking at it from a competitive disadvantage of, you might have to play one or two weeks later after just playing that (SEC Championship) game,” Smart said, “which will be the most physical game the whole year.”
Smart has a point here. Teams ranked in the top 12 might have an advantage in not playing in their respective conference championship if the playoff decision makers schedule games as projected.
We’ve seen this play out before in the current four-team playoff format. Alabama didn’t play in the 2017 SEC Championship but made the playoff and eventually beat the Bulldogs in the national championship.
“You need to be in the SEC championship, that’s a lot better topic for me, is somebody going to get an advantage by not going to the SEC Championship game but making the expanded playoff.”
This is one of the many challenges college football faces with the expanding playoff and expanding conferences. Keeping teams incentivized to play in conference championships is one of those hurdles.
