Kirby Smart suggests SEC could leave the NCAA

Chaos creates consequences.

And the ongoing chaos in college football could cause one of its most important conferences to ditch the NCAA entirely.

Via ESPN, Georgia coach Kirby Smart recently suggested that ongoing issues regarding playoff expansion and NIL could result in the SEC seceding from the NCAA.

"I've said this for a long time to our president," Smart said Tuesday. "I've been a huge advocate that if we can't find rules that everybody plays by, then we should play our own. I'm not afraid of that. I'm not afraid to break away and say that our conference is strong enough to go out and play."

Smart's comments come on the heels of Georgia president Jere Morehead referring to the situation in college football as "anarchy." And Morehead seems to be on board with the possibility of a college football civil war.

"I think that would be fantastic," Morehead told The Athletic last week. "I can't imagine the ratings if that happened. Georgia-Alabama SEC championship last year had ratings through the roof. Imagine if that had been for the national championship? I think our fanbase is strong across the country. I think we'd have tremendous interest in a situation of that nature. But, again, I'm going to be listening to the commissioner."

Smart is on board with the possibility.

"I mean, if we could actually function, and it financially would make our programs more stable and we could support things financially — I'm talking about all the sports — and do by our own rules, I'd be all for that," Smart said. "I mean, I've been to this meeting now 10, 11 times, and it's frustrating at times to say, 'Well, we can't do this because of litigation, we can't do this because of litigation, we can't do this because we'll get sued, we can't do that.'"

The laws that have left the NCAA largely toothless would still apply to the schools of the SEC. Conference-wide rules could potentially be viewed as antitrust violations.

Regardless, the inability of the NCAA to control college football could easily rip it apart, with those that can attract the most money going it alone.