As Kirby Smart noted this week, there are a lot of topics up for debate when it comes to college football.

Scheduling, an expanded College Football Playoff, the transfer portal and roster limits are all some of the hot-button issues being kicked around this week.

You can bet that when it comes time to vote and lock in an official stance, Georgia will be in lockstep with the rest of the conference. Almost all of these decisions will be unanimous when the time comes.

But what if Smart and Georgia President Jere Morehead and Athletic Director Josh Brooks got to do what is actually best for Georgia, as opposed to making compromises?

Below is how we think Georgia should feel about the various issues being kicked around in league meetings this week.

The transfer portal: A 10-day window in January

Kirby Smart made this about as obvious as you can with his passionate speech on the transfer portal and how it is impacting programs. Smart very clearly would like it to be limited to January, for a variety of reasons.

He made it clear he doesn’t want to have to deal with players possibly leaving in April. He wants to know what his team will look like as soon as possible. And putting the window in January means that teams aren’t dealing with it during a College Football Playoff run.

The January solution does have some drawbacks but of the options available, Smart feels the best about that option.

The College Football Playoff: 16-team field, 5 automatic qualifiers, 11 wildcard bids, straight seeding

This model seems to be gaining traction this week and could ultimately be what the conferences agree to when it comes to the College Football Playoff starting in the 2026 season.

The straight seeding method is obvious, which is why it will be in use for the 2025 College Football Playoff.

It appears that we will be expanding to 16 teams, though a 14-team option is in play. As for the teams that make up that field, the five highest-ranked conference champions help keep some balance. The 11 wildcard bids would go the highest 11-ranked teams.

Georgia has finished ranked in the top seven of each AP Poll dating back to 2017. Even in a more difficult SEC, the Bulldogs should never have to worry too much about finishing outside the top 16. If they do, Georgia has bigger problems than making the College Football Playoff.

A 16-team field with four automatic bids to the SEC has been kicked around. While that would remove some subjectivity, the 11 wildcard bids would give the SEC, and Georgia, more at bats.

Conference scheduling: 8 SEC games

In past years, the answer to this might have been going to a nine-game conference schedule. There are certainly some who would like to see Texas A&M, Oklahoma and LSU on the schedule more often.

But there are drawbacks to that, as Smart laid out this week. The Big Ten plays nine conference games, but the Big Ten is not as deep as the SEC, nor does it have teams that invest on an annual basis as the SEC does.

Keeping the league schedule at eight SEC games also allows Georgia to continue to be aggressive when it comes to non-conference scheduling. Georgia is going to play Georgia Tech every year. Smart seemed to indicate this week that he liked playing big non-conference games, such as Clemson, because that helps to show the strength of the SEC. Georgia has games against Louisville, Florida State, NC State, Clemson and Ohio State on the schedule.

It remains to be seen if the league will stick at eight conference games or move to nine. Greg Sankey indicated on Wednesday night the SEC may make a decision regarding conference scheduling before College Football Playoff plans are finalized.

Given how things played out for Georgia last season, more SEC games does not exactly equal more success.

Roster limits: None

This is an issue that may not seem like a big deal to all but it clearly is to Smart.

The Georgia head coach values what walk-ons mean not just to the Georgia football program but to the fabric of college football.

Yet should the roster limits in football be lowered to 105 via the House settlement, walk-ons would be gone.

The House settlement does create new scholarships, but those would largely go to other sports. Football already commands such a high scholarship count.

Per DawgNation’s count, last year’s team had 131 players on it. One of those was Dan Jackson, who became one of the feel-good stories on a team loaded with draft picks.

The current group of walk-ons may be able to stick around should Judge Claudia Wilken sign off on the House settlement. But once they’re gone, they will in likelihood be the last of an important part of college.

Smart and Georgia will find ways to adapt to the changes, but it’s not something he’ll be in complete favor of.

Conference Championship games: Keep it as is

Last season proved just how much an SEC championship means to Smart and Georgia. While the season may not have ended how Georgia wanted, that SEC championship win over Texas will always mean a lot to those in the locker room.

There are some drawbacks to playing in another high-stakes game, as Carson Beck can attest. And with the removal of divisions, the game may not have the same feel from a conference-wide standpoint.

But getting to Atlanta is an achievement. Whether the game is the difference between getting into the College Football Playoff or not hasn’t always mattered to Georgia. But winning it always will and no matter how the SEC changes, that will still be the case.