The College Football Playoff committee has proven time and time again that strength of schedule doesn't really matter to them. The SEC year in and year out plays the most difficult schedules in the country, but the committee refuses to reward them for that fact in their rankings.
So what motivation do teams have to schedule difficult non-conference opponents especially considering the SEC will begin playing nine conference games every year this fall?
Georgia, Kirby Smart refuse to listen to CFP committee's agenda
Georgia so far has shown that they don't care the CFP committee isn't rewarding difficult schedules as they continue to schedule challenging non-conference opponents. In fact, no other SEC team has more non-conference Power Four opponents on their future schedules than Georgia.
As it stands today, Georgia has 20 Power Four non-conference opponents on their future schedules. This includes Georgia Tech every season for the foreseeable future as well as home and home series against Florida State, Clemson (twice) and Ohio State.
But the committee has shown they don't really care about that. So why would Kirby Smart go out of his way to schedule all of these difficult games?
He likely believes that playing difficult scheudles will lead to their team being more prepared when they reach the meat of the SEC season and the playoff. And while that train of thought makes sense on paper it hasn't worked in the real world as Georgia hasn't won a playoff game three seasons in a row.
Georgia has already cancelled two future non-conference series against NC State and Louisville. There is also a chance they cancel on their other future non-conference Power Four opponents as well (outside of Georgia Tech), but for now Smart is prioritizing these big out of conference games even though the committee won't reward them for it.