Leave it up to Kirby Smart to go where no other SEC coach will go with a microphone in his face. After trying to explain to the guys on The Next Round why the Big Ten has had its recent run of dominance in the College Football Playoff, he then spoke to Josh Pate about why the playoff field should expand to some arbitrary number beyond just 12. A program like Georgia does not need it, but hear him out.
Smart first explained to Pate he is in favor of expansion, but not necessarily up to a certain number.
"I'm not pro 16 or 24, I'm pro more than 12. But what is your stance against the 24? Water it down? Regular season? ... I agree with all those. I just don't know where that line of demarcation is."
He then used Miami's unexpected run to the national title bout as justification for more expansion.
"For Miami, who legitimately ... could have won the national championship. They could have won it. They had two losses to teams that are really competitive. They're competitive to them in their conference, but maybe they're better than. They shouldn't lose those games. They had two games they shouldn't lose. And I feel like, for 10 years that I've been here, if you lost two games you shouldn't lose, you're gone, you're out. But they were good enough to win it!"
Smart finished by saying his program operates above the fray, but he wants to see more good teams.
"I think in our model, our program ... we've had a model of consistency. We lose games, but we haven't lost a lot of games we're not supposed to. And so, if you're that kind of program, you want that thing nice and tight. You don't want these outsiders getting in that could get hot. I always told people, some of these teams, they can play with anybody on any given Saturday, but they might not get up for every Saturday."
Here is everything Smart said to Pate about the nature of further College Football Playoff expansion.
I simply refuse to lose Kirby to the CFP Expansion Cult. ROBUST CONVERSATION today... pic.twitter.com/5UBWbNFanR
— Josh Pate (@JoshPateCFB) May 4, 2026
This is a very complicated and multi-pronged issue, but Smart seems to have a few great points here.
Kirby Smart advocates for even more College Football Playoff expansion
While Smart is the latest SEC head coach to talk about playoff expansion, Mike Elko sang a different tune than him over at Texas A&M. Although he coaches a program that is nowhere near as consistent as what Smart has at Georgia, he does not want this to become college basketball. That being said, Elko is well aware that it probably serves every head coach to advocate for as many bids as possible.
If we wanted to read between the lines on what Smart had to say to Pate, it seems as though he has started to come to grips with the reality that having an SEC Championship Game is doing Georgia more harm than good. Yes, it is great to win one's league, but at what cost? 2025-26 Miami did not. Neither did 2024-25 Ohio State. Notre Dame does not play in a league. Not everyone can be Indiana.
Furthermore, Smart's biggest point on there being more teams who can actually win a national championship than expected is probably why expansion feels like an inevitability at this point. Ohio State won it all as a No. 8 seed. Notre Dame finished as national runner-up as a No. 7 seed two years ago. Miami played for a national title as a No. 10 seed. There may be some method to this madness...
For now, with Smart being on board for further expansion, it does seem like it is trending that way.
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