The SEC is already widely considered to be the top conference in college football after winning four of the past five national championships. The addition of Texas and Oklahoma is only going to make the league more difficult, according to Georgia coach Kirby Smart.
Smart was recently asked what the former Big 12 powers will bring to the SEC, beginning in 2024.
“It’s extremely tough. I mean the fact that they’re in our conference, they’re further away, they’re a powerful football team. They’ve got a great state to recruit in. Both of their coaching staffs are really good – Sark and Brent both have SEC-kind-of-experience,” Kirby Smart said. “And Brent being over in the ACC at Clemson, he’s played SEC teams kind of forever. So they both know the climate they’re jumping into, and we think it makes our conference better.”
In addition to helping out on the field, Smart believes the SEC will also get more exposure by adding Texas and Oklahoma. Overall, he feels like it’s an excellent move for the conference.
“Our brand extends further West. Two tremendous programs. When you add those two in, it makes the scheduling much tougher,” Smart said.
Kirby Smart on missing the CFP in 2023 season: ‘We had our opportunity on the field’
Of the four national championships the SEC has won in the past five years, Georgia brought home two of them.
The Bulldogs won back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022 and were contenders again in 2023, before falling in the SEC Championship Game to Alabama.
There were some who felt Georgia should have made the College Football Playoff, despite falling in the SEC title game. However, Kirby Smart isn’t upset with the CFP committee.
“No, not surprised at all,” Smart said at the SEC Meetings. “We had our opportunity on the field. That’s what you can ask for, not cry over it. I think we had a good football team.”
Smart was asked a follow up question if he thought Georgia was one of the four best teams. The general consensus was the Bulldogs very well could’ve been.
“I don’t know, not for me to decide,” Smart said. “We didn’t get to play the others.”
Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama were last year’s CFP contestants, with Michigan beating Washington in the title game.
Georgia will look to get back to the College Football Playoff again in 2024, and the Bulldogs are expected to do just that. Smart’s team will open the season against Clemson in Week 1.
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