Kirby Smart Weighs In on Big Ten’s Massive College Football Playoff Expansion Plan

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart shares his thoughts on the Big Ten's massive proposal to expand the College Football Playoff.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart speaks to the media on the first day of fall practice in Athens, Georgia, on Thursday, July 31, 2025. | Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart shares his thoughts on the Big Ten's massive proposal to expand the College Football Playoff.

One of the most polarizing topics in college football over the past few years has been the College Football Playoff and its proposed expansion. Some experts and analysts are in favor of expansion, while others are staunchly against it.

The flames of the expansion debate were restoked once again earlier this week, as the Big Ten conference recently proposed an idea to expand the playoff to a staggering 20+ teams. The proposal would nearly double current playoff format and would be a 20-team increase from the original four team model used from 2014-2023.

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart was recently prompted to share his thoughts on the Big Ten's shocking proposal. The Bulldogs' head coach provided an extremely detailed comment as to what he thought of the expansion idea.

"I'm probably like most people, where the majority of them would love to expand the playoffs if it were done the right way in terms of giving more teams an opportunity. I think that's what fanbases want," said Smart. "People are not excited about a mid-tier bowl game for some of these programs they're at."

While Smart seemed fairly open to the idea of expanding the College Football Playoff, the head coach also touched on the numerous nuances that would accompany such a drastic change, including adjustments to the conference championship game.

"I love the [conference] championship games. Can you have your cake and eat it too? Can you move the season up? Start it and get it done? If you can't, if you could only have one of those two, I don't know which one I would pick. Because it would probably depend on the format."

Smart and the Bulldogs will begin their quest to reach this year's 12-team College Football Playoff on Saturday, August 30th, when they host the Marshall Thundering Herd. Under Smart, the Bulldogs are undefeated in season openers and are on a more than 30-game win streak at Sanford Stadium.

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