Greg Bryne and Kirby Smart chime in as conference championship game debates heat up

Three months after Alabama narrowly squeaked into the College Football Playoff despite a Southeastern Conference title game loss, athletic director Greg Byrne is calling for an end to the 34-year tradition.

"I think the ship has sailed. It's run its course," Byrne said in a recent interview with USA Today.

Alabama lost to Georgia 28-7 in the SEC championship game in its poorest showing since a Week 1 setback against Florida State. With a 10-3 record, the Crimson Tide left Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the impression that their last game of the season could have already been played.

"It's a great event," Byrne said. "I don't like the idea of it going away, but I think it's reality with an expanded playoff."

Expansion is likely coming, but the College Football Playoff will stay at 12 teams for the upcoming season.

Last year, the selection committee turned to Alabama's regular-season success as evidence that the Tide were a playoff-worthy team. Alabama was ranked No. 9 and knocked off Oklahoma in the first round before losing in the second round to Indiana in the Rose Bowl.

Byrne's opinion isn't necessarily an unpopular one. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte suggested moving the playoffs up to the week of conference championship games. Lane Kiffin called the game "a pretty big risk" in 2024 while saying that coaches didn't want to play in it.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who has led his team to an SEC title game victory in three of the past four seasons, said he can see both sides of the argument.

"I'd want to know the parameters of it before we did anything," Smart said Thursday in an interview with On3. "Where we are right now with 12 teams, I don't necessarily agree that it needs to quit being played. But if it gets to 16 or 24 and we've got to move the end of the season up and we've got to get everything done by the second week of January, then I'd say it probably has to go."

Smart went on to say that the most important thing is that something is gained from the removal of the game, whether that's an expedited timeline or an expanded playoff.

But regardless of its future, being a four-time SEC champion is one of his proudest accomplishments.

"I will never apologize for winning an SEC title," Smart said. "I think it's the hardest thing to do in sports, winning the dang SEC title in almost any sport, because our conference is so hard."