Watch Kirby Smart get brutally honest with Paul Finebaum over College Football Playoff expansion
By John Buhler
Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart shares his thoughts with ESPN’s Paul Finebaum on potential College Football Playoff expansion.
It comes as no surprise that Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart had some interesting things to say with ESPN’s Paul Finebaum on the idea of potentially expanding the College Football Playoff from four teams to upwards of maybe even 16.
For the last four years, Smart has guided his alma mater to four straight New Year’s Six bowls. Georgia has competed in three of the last four SEC Championship games and made the College Football Playoff in his second season in charge in 2017. However back in 2018 and 2019, his Dawgs were among the first two teams out of those respective College Football Playoff fields.
It is totally understandable that a talented head coach like Smart would be in favor of expansion.
Kirby Smart offers his current thoughts on potential @CFBPlayoff expansion:
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) April 28, 2021
"You're on the outside looking in a couple times because of one game, you certainly would like to see that opportunity grow." pic.twitter.com/hekaCl5lde
Kirby Smart would welcome College Football Playoff expansion down the line
Had there been a 16-team playoff a season ago, Georgia would have made the field as a No. 9 seed and would have had to play the No. 8-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats out of the Group of 5 on the road. While 16 teams is a bit much, expanding to six, eight or even 12 teams feels both a bit more realistic and completely inevitable. Expansion is all about one thing above all else: Money.
Given that Georgia routinely has a top-five recruiting class, the Dawgs can regularly compete for playoff berths. Teams like Georgia that have major fanbases would add even more intrigue to the potentially expanded tournament. However, it will come at a great cost by completely devaluing the single best part of the college season in that every single regular-season game matters a ton.
While Smart is in favor of expansion, he and the rest of college football should be careful here.
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