SEC adjusts scheduling starting in 2027, bids farewell to ‘Cupcake Weekend’

“There’s too many issues to say where it (discussions on rules) should start,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “My biggest concern is the health of the game and the health of the student-athletes and what’s best for them.”

Smart most notably voiced support of nonrevenue sports and the ability of collegiate football to be able to continue to support them amid rising costs that have led to football rosters costing more than $40 million.

There was much more on the table even as action has been limited to the league athletic directors voting on the schedule adjustment.

“There’s so many things that you want to talk about and so many things we want to share, and say this is our stance as a league,” Smart said. “But within the league, there’s not perfect uniformity. Everybody’s not in agreement of what’s best for their program.

“I think as long as we acknowledge differences and can give an opinion as a league and say, ‘this is our stance.’”

But as Smart noted, that doesn’t guarantee any hard and fast decisions, so much as conjecture on possible solutions to challenging issues.

Texas A&M coach Mike Elko made the point that the coaches’ opinions on collegiate athletic issues, as interesting and insightful as they might be, aren’t often overly influential and are most often self-serving.

“I don’t know why you ask us, it doesn’t matter what we think,” Elko said, asked about the College Football Playoff field expanding beyond 12 teams.

“I don’t know why we’re trying to become a trophy sport, (but) what does Mike Elko want? Forty. Then I won’t get fired … none of us are answering for the good of the sport. We are answering for the good of ourselves.”