Clay Travis' Starting 11: Alabama, UNLV, OutKick Are The Big Winners This Weekend
With 2:33 to play in the fourth quarter, Georgia took possession, trailing Alabama 33-28. The Bulldogs, who had spotted the Tide a 28-0 lead, had fought their way nearly all the way back. Now they had the ball with a chance to take the lead for the first time all game, a sense of nervous apprehension had settled into Bryant-Denny Stadium.
And then, a bolt of football lighting -- a 67-yard touchdown strike from Carson Beck to Dillon Bell -- and the Bulldogs had the lead 34-33.
For just an instant, it was so silent you could only hear the Georgia Bulldog fans cheering in the stadium.
My 14-year-old son, who is perfect except for being an Alabama fan, had his hands on top of his head, mouth hanging open in stunned disbelief.
I'm not gonna lie, a part of me was gleefully thinking about sending a simple Tweet: "Nick Saban never gave up a 28 point lead," just to see the chaos in my mentions.
But then Ryan WIlliams saved the game for Alabama. Because on the very first offensive play of the very next series he made the best catch and run I've ever seen in person. It wasn't just the catch, which was spectacular enough, it was that Williams then managed to juke two all-star Georgia players out of their shoes and streak down the sideline for a touchdown. Watching in person, the catch was so good, I was already trying to do the yardage for the field goal in my head, when WIlliams somehow avoided going out of bounds and then juked and accelerated simultaneously en route to a scintillating touchdown, I couldn't believe what I'd just seen.
(By the way, Ryan Williams being just 17 years old is already the most over shared fact of the 2024 college football season. You aren't allowed to mention him without mentioning his age.)
Yes, Georgia had a chance to answer and win or tie the score, but the Tide extinguished the drive with an end zone interception and everyone was left in awe over how a game that started off looking like a snoozer turned into an absolute college football classic.
The best part?
It feels like Alabama and Georgia have a great chance to meet again later in the season, but for now, even a day later, I feel like I have to catch my breath from that frenetic finish.
Let's dive into the Starting 11 for the week.
1. Since the start of the 2021 season Georgia is 47-0 against every team in college football not named Alabama.
And 1-3 against Alabama.
Granted one of those wins was for a national title, but still, Alabama football is the only thing standing between Kirby Smart and one of the most dominant, dynastic runs in college football history. Sorry, Michigan fans, I really do think if Georgia had made the playoff, the Bulldogs would have won the title for a third straight season.
In fact, Georgia fans may have the late game defense from Auburn to thank for ending their national title runs.
So what explains Georgia's dominance against everyone but Alabama?
First, Alabama was just really, really good under Nick Saban and Kirby was the chaser as opposed to the champion for much of this era.
Second, did I mention Alabama is just really, really good?
Last night to me was really two different games. In the first 20 minutes Kirby Smart thought he could contain Jalen Milroe's legs.
He was wrong.
TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA - SEPTEMBER 28: Carson Beck #15 of the Georgia Bulldogs looks to pass the ball as he is pursued by Que Robinson #34 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the fourth quarter at Bryant-Denny Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Milroe was unstoppable, primarily making plays with his legs, and Alabama surged out to a 28-0 lead. So then Kirby decided he had to stop Milroe from running the football. And that's when Ryan Williams made two huge plays in the passing game, because Georgia was forced to pick a poison.
I think if Georgia plays Alabama again Kirby will do whatever is necessary to keep Milroe from running and take his chances again in the passing game. In fact, I think if you asked Kirby Smart, he didn't expect Milroe to gash his defense with his legs like he did. And I bet when he watches film today -- or last night on the flight home -- he was furious with what he saw from Georgia on defense. It looked like the Bulldogs took bad angles early, underestimating just how fast Milroe was. Heck, the fourth down touchdown run of 36 yards that Milroe scored on just shouldn't be possible. Georgia had four defenders who should have forced him out of bounds.
Instead they all got torched, they just didn't expect him to be as fast as he was.
Having said all of this, the Bulldog response from 28-0 down was phenomenal. I'm not sure any team in college football could have come back from a deficit and taken the lead in Bryant-Denny last night like Georgia did.
That bodes well for the Dawgs in a rematch, if it happens.
I feel like Georgia solved Alabama last night, it just dug too big of a hole for itself in the process.
I don't think a deficit like that will happen again.
2. The 12 team playoff changes the calculus of how fans respond to these games.
All weekend, I talked to Georgia and Alabama fans about how a 12-team playoff limits the sting of an early season loss.
Think about this, if Alabama had won this game for any of the last ten plus years when we had a four-team playoff in place, we'd all be talking about how Georgia has to run the table to make the playoff now.
If this was the BCS era, we'd all be saying Georgia needs help to make the title game.
In September!
Because early season losses could be completely devastating to a team's title chances.
But with a 12 team playoff most Georgia fans -- and Alabama fans -- still expect both teams to make the playoff and are already talking about how a rematch might go.
Even after a loss Georgia is still the fourth most likely team to win the title per Vegas odds.
It's just an entirely different era, and we all have to remember that.
College football fans have spent generations believing a single loss was devastating. Now some rival teams will end up playing three times in the same season! Enjoy the wins, but don't spend much time on that enjoyment, because a rematch is likely coming.
3. What a weekend in Tuscaloosa for me and for OutKick.
In the space of 36 hours, we did a Friday night bar crawl with Fox's Big Noon camera crew -- it was great meeting so many of you at Innisfree and Gallette's, y'all were fantastic.
The next morning at 8:45 I did Fox and Friends.
Then we did Big Noon at 9:45.
Then our OutKick social team was all over town getting videos. Caitlyn McDuffee came up with the idea to put out Kamala and Trump hats out on a table and let college kids announce their voting decisions like football recruits often do.
Here is one of them that went mega viral and has been viewed millions and millions of times.
Then later in the evening we did a halftime Trump interview.
The result? On Saturday alone OutKick posted videos from Tuscaloosa that were viewed tens of millions of times all over social media.
In just one day!
It's truly incredible to see how much we have grown over the past several years.
In 2019, I attended LSU-Alabama with my then nine-year-old son.
We got to our seats early because President Donald Trump was scheduled to attend the game. At some point during the game, Trump came out on the balcony of the suite he was in and waved to the crowd.
I posted this video then.
Earlier that year on my OutKick the Coverage morning radio show, I'd predicted Trump would come on our sports radio show at some point. And most people, including my own wife, said I was crazy to suggest it.
Five years later, on Saturday, Trump was back at Bryant-Denny Stadium and I interviewed him at halftime.
This was the 10th time since the summer of 2020 that I've interviewed Trump either for OutKick or on Clay and Buck.
Here I am with Trump and my middle son after the interview.
I get lots of questions about how my son ended up an Alabama fan.
The Travis boys all watch an absolute ton of sports, especially college and NFL football, which we spend all weekend watching. That's probably not a surprise given what I do for a living. And unfortunately, Tennessee didn't win many games when my 14-year-old was really young and watching games.
Now you can argue that I should have worked harder to get him to pick the same favorite team as me, but I didn't want to browbeat him for force him to root for the same team as the rest of our family. And I honestly thought he'd eventually grow up and have some common sense.
But so far it hasn't happened.
He's a great kid except for his taste in teams. So if this is the worst thing he puts me through, I can live with that I suppose.
On Sunday when we woke up in our Tuscaloosa hotel room, I asked him how he would rate the weekend.
He said it was a 10. And that even if Alabama had lost, it would still have been a nine.
And he said it was his new favorite game ever, replacing 2019 LSU at Alabama, which he remembers every single moment from even though he was just nine years old.
4. I don't understand how the Virginia Tech touchdown catch was changed to an incomplete pass.
Look, my understanding of instant replay review is that calls are overturned on the field only when you are 100% certain the call is wrong.
Do I think Virginia Tech caught the Hail Mary touchdown pass?
No.
But can you tell with 100% certainty from instant replay review that they didn't catch the pass?
No, again.
In that situation, I think you have to stick with the call on the field.
Or you have to change the instant replay review criteria to, "We're going to change the calls on the field if we think it's likely the officials got the call wrong."
Because otherwise many fans, like me, are going to ask whether it's a coincidence that a 5-0 Miami and 2-3 Virginia Tech is a much more valuable result to the ACC in the playoff era than a 4-1 Miami team and a 3-2 Virginia Tech would be.
Maybe that's unfair, but it's a natural point of discussion that fans across the country were having after the way this game ended with an unjustified instant replay change.
5. Kentucky upset Ole Miss on the road.
Congrats to Mark Stoops and the Wildcats for a massive road win.
Unlike against Georgia, Stoops went for it on 4th down instead of punting, got a huge conversion, and his team hung on for a huge road win.
The Wildcat defense stifled Ole Miss all day long, just like they did to Georgia.
Which is why I think it's fair to say Kentucky is a very good defense with a middling offense. So long as the Wildcats don't have to score many points and avoid turning the football over, they can compete at a top 25 level.
Good for them.
uSep 28, 2024; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin gives direction during the second half against the Kentucky Wildcats at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
So where does this leave us with Ole Miss?
This was supposed to be the year the Rebels marched into the playoffs and, maybe even, made their first ever trip to Atlanta for the SEC title game.
But after this loss to the Wildcats, the Ole Miss schedule, which looked so easy in the offseason, looks like it is filled with landmines.
The next two weeks for the Rebels aren't easy -- at South Carolina and at LSU. Then comes Oklahoma, at Arkansas, and Georgia. Can Ole Miss go 4-1 in these five games? Sure. But after what we saw against Kentucky does it feel likely to me?
No.
Why do I ask if they can get to 4-1? Because I think it's going to take 10-2 against this schedule to punch a ticket to the playoff. Maybe a 9-3 SEC team can put itself in the playoff mix too, but I think that's unlikely.
So Ole Miss has its work cut out for itself over the next five games. (The final two Rebel games are at Florida and Mississippi State, which I think are less difficult.)
6. The Big 12 standings are already a mess, and we aren't even to October yet.
There are only three 2-0 teams in the Big 12: BYU, Colorado and Texas Tech. Utah and Kansas State have both already lost and Oklahoma State is 0-2.
My prediction for the biggest controversy in the first year of a 12 team college football playoff? The four conference champions getting a bye.
I don't think the SEC or Big Ten conference champion will ever get a bye without at least being 11-2, but I think a three loss Big 12 or ACC champion is definitely possible.
Which is why I'm going to keep arguing the top four teams in the playoff rankings should get byes no matter what conferences they are in. This seems like a no brainer to me. If you still want to guarantee all four power conference teams a spot in the playoff, I'm fine with that, but you can't give them all a bye.
Think about this for a moment, you can argue the number five seed might get the best draw in the playoff.
Why?
The five seed will likely play the non power conference team 12 seed at home -- as a two or more touchdown favorite -- and then they will get the Big 12 champ in a neutral site venue, likely as a touchdown or more favorite.
Granted you get matched up with the one seed in the semifinals, but that might be a better draw than the one, two or three seeds get given they are likely to be match up against a strong power conference team, maybe from their own conference, on a neutral site field in the quarterfinals.
Now my ideal scenario is eliminating the conference title games completely and going to 16 playoff teams, but in the meantime these four automatic byes make no sense to me.
7. Clemson may well be the best team in the ACC.
I know, I know, many of us left the Tigers for dead after their poor performance against Georgia in week one.
But after Miami was lucky to survive against Virginia Tech, Clemson looks like it may still be the class of the ACC.
Since the 31 point loss to Georgia, Clemson has won by 46, 24, and 26.
CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 28: Ronan Hanafin #16 of the Clemson Tigers enters the field before the first half of a football game against the Stanford Cardinal at Memorial Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)
Next week Clemson looks likely to drop Florida State to 1-5 on the season and then comes at Wake Forest, Virginia, Louisville, at Virginia Tech, Pitt, the Citadel, and South Carolina.
There's no Miami on this schedule, which means the two teams could meet for the only time in the ACC title game and an 11-1 Clemson team in the title game doesn't feel crazy to me.
8. I don't even know what to say about Auburn.
Up by 11, 21-10 with 11:30 left in the 4th quarter, the Tigers took possession near midfield, at their own 45, in complete control of the game.
And then things got even better.
Auburn popped a 22 yard run here for a first down at the Oklahoma 33. At this point there's under 11 minutes left in the game and it looks like Auburn is poised not just to win, but to run away with the game.
Then come double incomplete passes and a run for no gain. The clock barely moves.
There's still 10:12 left and Auburn settles for a 51-yard field goal, which they miss.
Sep 28, 2024; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze watches his team warm up before the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-Imagn Images
Then Oklahoma hits a 60 yard pass play -- did I mention the Sooners are starting a true freshman quarterback and their top five wide receivers are out?! -- and suddenly it's 21-16.
Then with four minutes left, the turnover bug returned and the Tigers give up a 63-yard interception return for a touchdown that gives Oklahoma the lead.
I'm honestly shell shocked by all of this.
I had Auburn and the under and I was cruising all day on this bet and then, boom, I get to Alabama's stadium, check the score and can't believe what's just happened.
I don't think Auburn's an awful team, but its record is looking like it may well be awful.
9. UNLV crushed Fresno State 59-14 after a week of NIL drama involving their former starting quarterback quitting on the season.
Good for Barry Odom and UNLV.
It's hard not to root for the rest of the team when the starting quarterback just quits on the season and walks out on an undefeated team like this.
It's great to see the locker room rally around the new quarterback and the team come together.
But with the NIL era we're in, how long until the next UNLV situation emerges? My bet is not very long at all.
10. My OutKick National Top Ten and my OutKick Playoff 12
Reminder, I rank teams entirely based on what we've seen on the field. Not what I expect to see, what we've actually seen on the field.
Now that many teams have played five games, our rankings are starting to jump around less. But there can still be a great deal of variation week to week.
With that in mind, here we go out with my OutKick Top Ten.
1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Tennessee
4. Georgia
5. Ohio State
6. Penn State
7. Oregon
8. Miami
9. Missouri
10. Clemson
My playoff 12 -- reminder the top four teams have to be conference champions and there has to be at least one non-power conference team included in the 12.
These are my playoff projections based entirely on the games we've seen on the field so far.
1. Alabama (SEC champion)
2. Ohio State (Big Ten champion)
3. Miami (ACC champion)
4. BYU (Big 12 champion)
5. Texas
6. Tennessee
7. Georgia
8. Penn State
9. Oregon
10. Missouri
11. Clemson
12. UNLV
11. SEC power rankings 1-16
Ole Miss is the toughest case right now. On the one hand, they crushed each of their first four opponents, on the other hand, they lost at home to Kentucky, which got smoked at home by South Carolina. Ultimately I dropped the Rebels this far because if you compare one loss resumes, Ole Miss lost at home to a worse team than LSU, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Oklahoma did. So I have them at the bottom of my one loss teams. Yes, this means Kentucky is below them even though the Wildcats beat them. But Kentucky has two home losses, which cancel out the one road win, and I try to rank the overall team season performance as opposed to direct head-to-head.
1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Tennessee
4. Georgia
5. Missouri
6. LSU
7. Texas A&M
8. Oklahoma
9. South Carolina
10. Ole Miss
11. Kentucky
12. Arkansas
13. Vanderbilt
14. Auburn
15. Florida
16. Mississippi State