Three months after Alabama narrowly despite a Southeastern Conference title game loss, athletic director Greg Byrne is calling for an end to the 34-year tradition.
鈥淚 think the ship has sailed. It鈥檚 run its course,鈥� Byrne said in a recent interview with USA Today.
Alabama in its poorest showing since . With a 10-3 record, the Crimson Tide left Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the impression that their last game of the season could have already been played.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great event,鈥� Byrne said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 like the idea of it going away, but I think it鈥檚 reality with an expanded playoff.鈥�
Expansion is likely coming, but the College Football Playoff .
Last year, the selection committee turned to Alabama’s regular-season success as evidence that the Tide were a playoff-worthy team. Alabama was ranked No. 9 and in the first round before losing in the second round in the Rose Bowl.
Byrne’s opinion isn’t necessarily an unpopular one. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte suggested moving the playoffs up to the week of conference championship games. Lane Kiffin called the game 鈥渁 pretty big risk鈥� in 2024 while saying that coaches didn’t want to play in it.
Georgia coach , who has led his team to an SEC title game victory in three of the past four seasons, said he can see both sides of the argument.
鈥淚’d want to know the parameters of it before we did anything,鈥� Smart said Thursday in an interview with On3. 鈥淲here we are right now with 12 teams, I don’t necessarily agree that it needs to quit being played. But if it gets to 16 or 24 and we’ve got to move the end of the season up and we’ve got to get everything done by the second week of January, then I’d say it probably has to go.鈥�
Smart went on to say that the most important thing is that something is gained from the removal of the game, whether that’s an expedited timeline or an expanded playoff.
But regardless of its future, being a four-time SEC champion is one of his proudest accomplishments.
鈥淚 will never apologize for winning an SEC title,鈥� Smart said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 the hardest thing to do in sports, winning the dang SEC title in almost any sport, because our conference is so hard.鈥�
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