{"id":6983,"date":"2023-06-06T17:35:52","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T22:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=6983"},"modified":"2023-06-06T17:35:52","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T22:35:52","slug":"greg-mcelroy-pushes-back-on-kirby-smarts-stance-on-sec-scheduling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/greg-mcelroy-pushes-back-on-kirby-smarts-stance-on-sec-scheduling\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg McElroy pushes back on Kirby Smart\u2019s stance on SEC scheduling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Georgia<\/a> head coach Kirby Smart<\/strong><\/a> raised an interesting point at the SEC spring meetings last week in regards to the SEC schedule and the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n

Smart isn\u2019t concerned with an eight-game schedule versus nine-game schedule argument. Instead, he is worried that with the expanded playoff, it might benefit teams to not reach the SEC Championship game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To Smart\u2019s point, teams that play in the SEC title game will have an extra game of wear and tear. At the same time, it won\u2019t be uncommon at all for an SEC team to miss out on the SEC title game but still advance to the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n

ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy was asked about Smart\u2019s comments on the Always College Football podcast <\/a>and pushed back on SEC teams that don\u2019t reach the SEC title game having an advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand why this is fresh on Kirby Smart\u2019s mind. Think back to 2017, Kirby Smart had his Georgia Bulldogs, they won the SEC Championship game. They beat Auburn<\/a> in the SEC title. Alabama<\/a>, at 11-1, stayed at home. Alabama ultimately got into the College Football Playoff, where they ultimately met up with Georgia and beat them for the national championship,\u201d McElroy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I understand why this is a very pointed discussion, especially as it relates to Kirby Smart. Here\u2019s where I disagree with him. One, I think a first-round bye is massive. And the only way you can get the first-round bye is by playing in and winning the SEC championship game. You have to win your conference. That\u2019s the only way you can get that first-round bye.\u201d<\/p>\n

As McElroy points out, when the CFP expands to 12 teams, the top 6 teams will be conference champions. Four of those six will have a bye, and the SEC champion is sure to be in the top 4 each season.<\/p>\n

That will be a big advantage heading into the playoff.<\/p>\n

McElroy also believes that eventually the second round of the playoff could be a home game, which would make being a top 4 seed even more valuable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanna see the second round of the College Football Playoff be played at home. I\u2019d love to see that,\u201d McElroy said. \u201cNow the first two years, that\u2019s not going to happen. They\u2019re going to be a part of the New Years Six. \u2026 But this is a two-year trial period. There\u2019s two years where we\u2019re going to look at everything. \u2018Does it work, does it not work, let\u2019s adjust this, let\u2019s adjust that, let\u2019s see how things work out.\u2019 So you\u2019re going to likely get to a point where you host a game on your home field.\u201d<\/p>\n

When McElroy was playing at Alabama, winning the SEC title was always a major goal. Even with the playoff expanding, he believes that it should continue to be a huge deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want conference championship games to be the end all be all. Why? Because that\u2019s what it was when I was growing up. Winning your conference was like the biggest thing ever, and if you got a shot at the title, you got a shot at the title,\u201d McElroy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d also like to see something put into the College Football Playoff format that if you win your conference, even if you don\u2019t get a first-round bye \u2013 because there\u2019s six automatic qualifiers, if you win your conference, you\u2019re ranked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, meaning that teams 5 and 6\u2026 you should add the very least get to host the first-round playoff game. \u2026 So if you win your league, you get a home playoff game, or you get a first-round bye. That, to me, would be a good way of making sure that conference championship games still remain really important here in the ecosystem of college football.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Greg McElroy pushes back on Kirby Smart\u2019s stance on SEC scheduling<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart raised an interesting point at the SEC spring meetings last…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}