Georgia has been at the forefront of an unfortunate new trend in college football. Instead of scheduling home-and-home non-conference series, Georgia is opting to play them at a neutral site instead. In some cases Georgia is even opting to cancel these series altogether and not even schedule a neutral site game in its place.
One of Kirby Smart’s reasons for making this change is the strain that adding a ninth SEC game will have on Georgia. But he still isn’t willing to put any of the blame on himself as he is pointing the finger directly at the College Football Playoff committee.
The committee does deserve blame for the lack of emphasis they have put on these non-conference games, but Smart can’t avoid all the blame.
"I'm more interested in the matchup than I am where it is,” Smart said via 247Sports.com. “I don't really care if it's neutral site or home-and-home. I just hate it. I feel like we're all gravitating away from these because of appearance to the committee. I've got to win, I can't have a loss, I can't play the schedule I want to play. I've got nine games and a conference, so now we're moving away. That concerns me more than where that game is. I could care less if it's home and home or neutral site."
Kirby Smart can’t escape all of the blame for increase in neutral site games
Smart is blaming the CFP committee for the increasing number of neutral site games because of their refusal to reward strength of schedule. The committee has shown they only care about the wins and losses and not the story behind those games, so that has left schools wanting to make their schedules as easy possible.
The best example of this is when Georgia lost to Ole Miss during the 2024 season. Georgia was ranked No. 3 before losing to a ranked Ole Miss team on the road, but the committee somehow didn’t take any of that into account and dropped them all the way to No. 12.
Some schools (like Indiana) are going to great lengths to not play a non-conference team with a pulse. Smart and Georgia haven’t reached that level yet, but they are avoiding playing a non-conference team on the road because it would increase their chances of losing.
Playoff expansion will hurt Georgia’s SEC rivalries
Smart won’t admit that though, but the truth is in the pudding after he cancelled the series with Florida State and replaced it with one neutral site game in 2028. The fact that game will be played shows Smart isn’t too worried about the SEC moving to nine conference games, but it does show that he wants to make Georgia’s life a little easier.
It’s unfortunate that Georgia has come to this because now fans will miss out on a high profile non-conference game in Athens. But what fans want no longer matters, so now they have to settle for spending a lot of money to go to these games or just staying home to watch instead.
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