Georgia football: Kirby Smart in favor of 12-team playoff that would benefit Bulldogs

Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart being in favor of College Football Playoff expansion is a surprise to absolutely no one.

One of the biggest proponents to the College Football Playoff expanding from four teams to 12 is none other than Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart.

“I think a lot of this is going to boil down to strength of schedule,” said Smart to ESPN’s Marty & McGee Saturday. “For a long time now we have been trying to build up our future strength of schedule, because it’s not the losses that are going to kill you; it’s not playing the best teams.”

“We’ve tried to go out and schedule major Power 5s across our scheduling system all the way out with the hopes that this would give us the opportunity to go play some really good teams. And losses won’t kill you when you start talking about top 12. You’ve got to have a powerful schedule and go play good teams.”

During Smart’s first five years back at his alma mater, the Dawgs have played in four New Year’s Six bowls, won three SEC East division crowns and made the 2018 College Football Playoff by winning the 2017 SEC Championship. Had the proposed 12-team format been in place since his Athenian arrival in 2016, Georgia would have made the field each of the last four college seasons.

Smart is not alone when it comes to being in favor of potential College Football Playoff expansion.

Georgia football: Kirby Smart favors 12-team College Football Playoff expansion

Fellow SEC head coach Ed Orgeron feels playoff expansion is inevitable. While his LSU Tigers did not need expansion to win the 2019 national title, expansion will allow the Bayou Bengals more opportunities to get in. Had this format been in place a year ago, Jamey Chadwell’s Coastal Carolina Chanticleers would have gotten in as a second Group of 5 team by winning the Sun Belt.

What potential College Football Playoff expansion does is it allows teams that typically recruit well, but don’t always win their conference (Georgia, LSU, etc.) a better opportunity to get in as one of six at-large teams. While the 2018-20 Georgia teams were not winning a national title, maybe one of them could have earned their right to play an Alabama or a Clemson in a national semifinal?

No Power 5 program benefits more from playoff expansion than Georgia, and Smart knows this.

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