Georgia's Kirby Smart Has Pointed Response to Vanderbilt’s Unusual Try at 13th Game for CFP Push

The Commodores are on the outside looking in of the College Football Playoff, ranked No. 14 without another game on the schedule.

Georgia’s Kirby Smart was asked about Vanderbilt’s attempt to schedule a 13th game as the Commodores try to push for a College Football Playoff berth. / Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

If Vanderbilt had its druthers, it would be suiting up this weekend—in the SEC championship, yes, but even in our current reality, where the Commodores finished outside of the conference title picture and sit at No. 14 days before the College Football Playoff bracket is decided.

Without a chance to win the SEC or add a final data point to impress the selection committee, Vanderbilt is effectively frozen out of the CFP field. The SEC is well-represented, with Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Oklahoma being treated as virtual locks and Alabama close to that status at No. 9 with a chance to beat the Bulldogs to win the league. Vandy certainly has an argument, especially after an impressive season-ending performance against Tennessee, but there are simply not enough at-large spots left for there to be a pathway for the Commodores. Coach Clark Lea and his staff attempted to change the math, looking to schedule a 13th game for this weekend, but “logistics and legislative constraints” prevented them from doing so.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart was asked about the attempt, and while he didn’t dismiss the idea outright, as someone whose 11–1 team is firmly in the field, he didn’t seem to back the idea.

Kirby Smart was asked about Vanderbilt's interest in an extra game to add more data for the Playoff committee:

"Everyone on the outside looking in wants another game.

"People would argue you had plenty of games.

"Everyone on the inside looking out would say, 'I'm good.'" pic.twitter.com/a4URrsjsaf

— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) December 4, 2025

Kirby Smart’s comments on Vanderbilt’s proposed 13th game ahead of the final College Football Playoff rankings

“It all depends on the seat you sit in, right? Everybody on the outside looking in wants another game,” Smart said with a chuckle. “And people would argue, You had plenty of games. Everbody on the inside looking out say I’m good, I’ll stay where I’m at, I played well enough.”

According to Smart, other coaches have debated similar moves, including the official addition of play-in games. As Smart points out, this would amount to de facto playoff expansion:

“I think it’s been talked about, I think its one of those things that was tossed around early on last year, the possibility of playing within your conference or cross-conference, have some play-in games,” Smart said “... We’ll still debate about who’s in those play-in games, and who would have the right to play in those games to advance and move on. But there was speculation about that early on, and I think there are coaches who think that’s a better model because it gives their fan base something to hope for and wish for outside of the 12. Everybody’s trying to get a piece of the 12, and it’s very elusive, it’s very hard, so if it gives more people an opportunity, that’s good for some, and there’ll those who might’ve made it in another year who might lose and wish they didn’t have that opportunity.”

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CFP expansion is likely coming, and would have helped Vanderbilt this season

Before the dust had even settled on the current 12-team format, the powers that be began debating an even larger format. Currently, most of the sport is keyed in on a 16-team field with five automatic bids remaining for the highest-ranked conference champions, as we have now, Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Fischer has reported. The Big Ten, however, favors a 24-team event with even more baked in automatic bids for the power conferences.

Assuming a 16-team model is more realistic, using Tuesday’s CFP rankings with the higher-ranked conference championship participants plugged in for the ACC and American, here is how the field would look:

How the College Football Playoff would look with 16 teams. / Dan Lyons/Sports Illustrated

The back-and-forth certainly makes that theoretical Georgia-Vanderbilt matchup even more enticing.

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