Ole Miss has never played in a SEC Championship game and if the athletic director for the school that’s played in the most gets his way the Rebels never will.
In an interview with USA Today, Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne said he thought it was time for the conference’s title game to go the way of the BCS.
“I think the ship has sailed. It’s run its course,” Byrne said. “It’s a great event. I don’t like the idea of it going away, but I think it’s reality, with an expanded playoff.”
It is a great event. It pits two of the best teams in the nation (most of the time) against one another and it gives us a clear conference champion. You can get one without a game, but there’ll be controversy about the tiebreakers at some point.
But there has been a growing chorus of important voices at least suggesting, if not outright calling for an end to conference title games. Lane Kiffin skirted around it back in 2024 when he suggested it might be better for Ole Miss to make the SEC title game.
A few months ago Texas AD Chris Del Conte talked about ending the SEC championship game and starting the playoffs then instead. Byrne is just the latest to voice his opinion.
But the ADs at Alabama and Texas aren’t nobodies. They’re in charge of two of the largest athletic departments and carry a lot of sway in college sports. When they agree that ending the SEC title game is the right choice, chances are that’s where we’re headed.
And it may be the right choice.
The end goal for teams is no longer going to the biggest bowl game possible. It’s about making the College Football Playoff and with the field only growing larger (not in 2026 but I’d be surprised if it’s still 12 teams in 2027), more teams will think they have a realistic chance at making the playoff.
Conference games are just another chance for a loss to ruin those chances. It’s also an opportunity for fate to intervene and cause an injury to a key player.
We’ve already seen how a title game can change a team’s postseason path. If Carson Beck doesn’t get hurt in the 2024 SEC title game do the Bulldogs still go on to lose Notre Dame in the CFP? Maybe. Maybe not.
The point is there are valid reasons to get rid of conference championship games, but there’s also at least reason to keep them.
The one thing that may keep the SEC Championship game alive is simple: money.
Conference title games generate a big chunk of revenue through TV deals and everything else around the game. The SEC isn’t going to get rid of the title game without some way to generate that money.
Unless, of course, the SEC and everyone else truly want college sports to be about the things they claim matter more than money. History says otherwise.
