Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Georgia head coach Kirby Smart suggested the SEC could break away from college football to play by its own rules if unified national standards aren't found.
- Smart argues secession helps athletes navigate NIL and scheduling, but critics note it follows a shift where Big Ten teams are winning more national titles.
- The move signals a deepening civil war over revenue and parity, threatening to fracture the traditional college sports landscape permanently.
The SEC's villain arc just continues to soar upwards with very little chance of ever coming back down to Earth. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart's latest suggestion on the conference's future made sure of that.
"I've been a huge advocate that if we can't find the rules that everybody plays by, then we should play [by] our own. I'm not afraid of that. I'm not afraid to break away and say that our conference is strong enough to go out now and play [on our own]," he told reporters at a news conference Tuesday that hit a wide range of topics.
Smart was expounding upon the possibility the SEC would need to secede from the rest of college football given the supposed infringement upon its right to schedule however it deems fit. The conference, if you ask the powers that be, was forced to move to a nine-game slate among members just as the other Power Four do.
Barring an all-out college football civil war (whatever that would look like), the sport appears to be on track to hit an inflection point once a decision has been made on College Football Playoff expansion. For the history buffs out there, that could prompt a Fort Sumter moment in which the SEC just breaks away entirely. Quite appropriate considering the conference's geography.
Kirby Smart's SEC secession idea only adds to CFB's problems rather than solve them
On top of the issues of in-conference scheduling and the College Football Playoff, Smart being a proponent of SEC separation also stems from the advent of NIL payments and eligibility restrictions. He claimed Tuesday an independent SEC would only help student-athletes and their wading into the free market.
"I'm not advocating that they make less money. I'm fine with what student-athletes make. I'm trying to make it where it's as equal and it's comparable footing for everybody and it's not a race to the bottom, as they say," Smart explained.
That campaign-style answer sounds fine and dandy until you dig a bit deeper into what likely is prompting it. Since the legalization of NIL, the Big Ten—the SEC's arch-rival—has won four of the last five national titles. Before that, Smart's Bulldogs as well as other conference stalwarts like Alabama benefitted from the under-the-table version of NIL that existed for years prior.
Now that the finances are all out in the open and the Midwest schools are embarrassing the South by out-fundraising, out-spending and reaping the trophies as a result, does the SEC want to have a discussion about ethics and rules? It just means more. Sure, it meant more because your conference was dominating. Now that the new landscape encourages parity across leagues, it supposedly has cheapened the game.
The SEC made this greenback bed across decades of shady pay-for-play dealings, and now it's got to lay in it and do what every other conference had to do—even the life support-dependent Pac-12—adapt and survive.
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