Kirby Smart’s ‘bold’ SEC Championship opinion proven true after boring CFP start

One of the biggest debates in all college football right now is if conference championships still matter. To some it is an opportunity to win another championship that has been held in high regard for all of college football history. To others though it is another game where players may get injured before the College Football Playoff begins.

Kirby Smart has made it clear that he still thinks playing in the SEC Championship game and winning the title is still extremely important, but others as mentioned are not quite sure. But the TV viewership from the first round playoff games shows that the average fan still values the SEC conference championship game just as much as the CFP.

CFP viewership totals prove Kirby Smart right

It isn't fair to compare the viewership from Georgia's win over Alabama in the SEC Championship game to the two playoff games featuring Tulane and James Madison. The outcome of those games was known the second the bracket was released, so it isn't surprising that fans did not tune in.

The other two matchups were far more intriguing and were very close games, so they brought in close to 15 million viewers on average each. Georgia's win over Alabama however averaged just under 17 million viewers.

So college football fans are proving that the conference championship games still matter to them. If they didn't care about then then they wouldn't watch, but that clearly is not the case.

Opinions however could change as time goes on, but hopefully that doesn't happen. The last thing anyone should want is for conference titles to no longer matter. Conference championships have always played a big part in determining whether a team's season was successful or not, so if all it comes down to is National Championship or bust then that is far less enjoyable for the average football fan.