Clay Travis's Starting 11: Georgia, Texas A&M And Vandy Notch Huge Victories Edition

In the early afternoon hours of week one, social media lit up with a trending argument — the SEC was an overrated conference and NIL had forever destroyed the conference's competitive advantages.

The argument came on the heels of Texas's 14-7 loss at Ohio State and Alabama's 31-17 loss at Florida State.

The SEC, many college football partisans exulted online, was finished!

Rumors of the SEC's demise, it now appears abundantly clear, were exaggerated.

WIth out-of-conference play mostly completed as we finish week three, the SEC has notched the following conference wins: LSU beat Clemson at Clemson, Texas A&M beat Notre Dame at Notre Dame, Vanderbilt beat Virginia Tech at Virginia Tech, Oklahoma beat Michigan at Oklahoma, Auburn beat Baylor at Baylor, Tennessee beat Syracuse on a neutral field, South Carolina beat Virginia Tech on a neutral field, Alabama beat Wisconsin at Alabama, Mississippi State beat Arizona State in Starkville — resulting in a 10-2 mark in out of conference games, by far the best in power conference football.

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - SEPTEMBER 13: Max Gilbert #90 of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after missing a field goal in the second half during their game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on September 13, 2025 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

Here's the full breakdown:

The SEC is 10-2 (with one loss to a non-power conference team, South Florida over Florida)

The Big 12 is 6-6 (with two losses to non-power conference teams)

The Big Ten is 5-5 (with two losses to non-power conference teams)

The ACC is 4-10 (with three losses to non-power conference teams)

What now appears quite clear is the anti-SEC argument was just a timing quirk; both SEC losses came within seven hours of each other on the opening Saturday of college football. But other than those seven hours, the SEC has been absolutely dominant, setting the table for what I believe is a more accurate take: The SEC from 1-16 is the best and deepest the conference has ever been.

And I think Texas A&M's big win over Notre Dame has actually set up the SEC to get five teams in the playoff this year.

I'll explain why in greater detail below, but far from an overrated, dead conference, the SEC is actually, as we enter conference play across the country, in a stronger position than it has ever been in the history of college football.

1. Texas A&M's win over Notre Dame likely eliminated the Irish from the college football playoff.

Let's start with this angle because I believe it's the most significant outcome from week three right now: Notre Dame is now 0-2 and may not play a top 25 team on the remainder of its schedule.

That means even if the Irish run the table from here, I think it's going to be incredibly difficult for them to make the playoff even at 10-2.

This was, as I told you coming in, an absolute must-win game for the Fighting Irish.

SOUTH BEND, IN - SEPTEMBER 13: Marcel Reed #10 of the Texas A&M Aggies looks to pass while pressured by Junior Tuihalamaka #44 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during a college football game on September 13, 2025 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Now I actually think Arkansas on September 27th has a chance to end this debate once and for all by beating Notre Dame in Fayetteville, but for now, Notre Dame's best playoff hope is probably that Miami and Texas A&M are both conference winners and the Irish finish 10-2.

If that happened, there's an outside chance the Irish could be in the mix, but I just don't see that as very likely. In fact, I think the odds are very much against even a 10-2 Notre Dame team making the playoff because schedule strength is now such a strong component of the playoff criteria. There's just nothing there on the Notre Dame schedule.  

Okay, on the other side, Texas A&M got their biggest road win as a program since Johnny Manziel went into Tuscaloosa and beat the Crimson Tide back in 2012, year one of the Aggies in the SEC. Marcel Reed made the big plays when he needed to and at long last battered Aggie syndrome didn't steal the day.

Now the question is, how good is A&M?

Well, with Auburn, Mississippi State and Florida the next three on the schedule at home in College Station, the Aggies should — don't email me, Aggie fans! — should be 6-0 to start the year. Then comes this closing stretch: Arkansas, at LSU, at Missouri, South Carolina, Samford, at Texas.

I see a pretty clear path here to 10-2.  

Now, again, there's lots of work to do and the SEC this year, more so than most years, is going to be an absolute war, but get to 6-0 and that final stretch looks very doable at 4-2.  

And that would put the Aggies in the playoff.

2. Tennessee blew it against Georgia.

This loss still has me sick to my stomach as I write in the early morning hours after watching the Vols choke away this game in person.

While most of the attention, deservedly so, will go to the choke job on the final field goal, I think that misses the larger trio of errors in the final three minutes that occurred to allow this loss to happen.

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 13: Tennessee Volunteers place kicker Max Gilbert (90) reacts after missing a field goal during the college football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Georgia Bulldogs on September 13, 2025, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN. (Photo by Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Facing a 4th-andp-6 at the Tennessee 28-yard line, the Georgia Bulldogs trailed 38-30. Get a stop here and Tennessee becomes an overwhelming favorite to win the game. Instead, Gunner Stockton dropped a dime on a touchdown pass to London Humphreys — a freaking private school kid from down the street from my house, to make the salt in the wounds even more bitter — to make it 38-36.

Then, on the two-point conversion play, Tennessee had a busted coverage that allowed the game to be tied.

So those were two chances to potentially win the game that the Vols choked away.

But then credit where credit is due, Tennessee took possession of the ball with 2:32 left and ran 13 plays, executing nearly flawlessly, to place the ball at the Georgia 20. There were seven seconds left and the Bulldogs took a timeout.

Josh Heupel had it set up for the final play of the game to be a walkoff field goal.

Bedlam would reign in Knoxville, fireworks would go off, students would pour onto the field, it would be, essentially a repeat of the 2022 win over Alabama.

Joey Aguilar, who had played masterfully, would take the snap, center the ball, and then the Vols would take a timeout and trot on their field goal kicker to win the game on the final play.

But then a false start penalty happened and pushed the ball back to the 25.

At this point, Tennessee elected to kick on third down, not a bad strategy, but one that felt rushed.

And then Max Gilbert shanked the biggest kick of his life. (I'd love for him to have a bigger kick and nail it, but the chances don't seem high of this happening. And I know I'm getting older because my primary emotion, even the morning after as I write this, is one of sadness for him. I can't imagine how awful he feels. But, as I wrote above, Tennessee had three plays alone to win this game and didn't make it happen just in the final three minutes.)

So Georgia hit a trio of plays, the 26-yard touchdown on 4th-and-6, the two-point conversion, and then had their opponent shank a game winner from 43. That trio is highly improbable, but it happened, and the Bulldogs left the field the victor.

I could write thousands of words about this game, but here's my biggest takeaway: Josh Heupel has built Tennessee to the point where there is virtually no difference between his Vols and the best teams in college football when the games are played at Neyland. (The biggest criticism of Heupel, and it's nitpicking given where the program is, is that Tennessee hasn't been anywhere near as good on the road as they are at home. That's probably the next step he needs to take — beating an Alabama or Georgia at their place — if he's truly going to be a player to win a national title.)

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 13: Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver London Humphreys (16) celebrates with teammates after a touchdown catch during the college football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Georgia Bulldogs on September 13, 2025, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN. (Photo by Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

But the biggest takeaway I have is both Georgia and Tennessee are really good and Tennessee had this game completely won and choked it away.

And I hate to say it, but I think you'll look back on that missed kick as the reason Tennessee doesn't make the playoff.

Now, to be fair, it's still early in the season and there are a ton of games to play, but win this game and Tennessee would be favored in every game except Alabama the rest of the season. That means even with a loss to Alabama, Tennessee could have lost one additional game and gotten to 10-2.

Now the margin for error is essentially gone.

Barring an upset win at Alabama — again, Heupel hasn't been good on the road — Tennessee will have to beat everyone else on the schedule. Could they? Sure. Will they? I have my doubts.

As for Georgia, the Bulldogs should have lost this game.

But with the win, they're sitting pretty now.

If the Bulldogs can beat Alabama on September 27th in Athens, they'll be heavy favorites to advance to the playoff again.      

But, for now, what a game.

This was the toughest loss I have ever seen my team take in person, but if the Vols had made the freaking kick, it would have been the second-best game behind Alabama in 2022 that I've ever seen in person.

(By the way, I got the kids in the car and just drove home after this loss. I didn't want to stay in Knoxville. On the road back, we stopped at the Buccee's in Crossville and the entire place was mobbed with Vol fans headed back west, all just walking around in catatonic states. I posed for three photos by the brisket station and the guy beside me at the bathroom urinal — boy those bathrooms are clean — said, "Can you believe that fucking ending?" as soon as I walked up to the urinal.)  

3. Clemson has to win the ACC to make the playoff after Georgia Tech pulled off a huge win in Atlanta.

Dabo's Tigers are now 1-2 on the season and while they proved last year that you can't leave them for dead because of the ACC's automatic playoff berth, it's clear that Clemson and Notre Dame are both on playoff life support at this point in the year.

As for Georgia Tech, Brent Key has built a phenomenal culture and the Yellow Jackets don't play another top 25 team until Georgia to close out the season in Atlanta.

It's probably unlikely to expect an 11-0 Georgia Tech team to advance to that rivalry game, but it's not completely crazy.

And I think you definitely have to put Tech as the team most likely to derail a Florida State and Miami ACC title game.

(Also, these conferences are so big that a ton of the top teams don't play in the ACC and the Big Ten. Georgia Tech plays neither Miami nor Florida State.)

4. Vanderbilt smoked South Carolina on the road.

Coming on the heels of a 34-0 second half at Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt outscored South Carolina 17-0 in the second half in Columbia to pull away from the Gamecocks. This means that Vanderbilt — Vanderbilt! — has outscored opponents 51-0 on the road so far this season in the second half.

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 13: Sedrick Alexander #28 of the Vanderbilt Commodores in action during the game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Williams-Brice Stadium on September 13, 2025 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Brendan Ross/Vanderbilt University/University Images via Getty Images)

There's a strong argument that if we only ranked teams based on what they have accomplished that Vanderbilt should be the number one team in the country.

Who has two better wins through three weeks of the season than on the road at Virginia Tech and on the road at South Carolina, both by over 20 points?

Miami is the only answer, in my opinion, as you'll see below.

But, first, Vandy beating South Carolina 31-7 (I know LaNorris Sellers was injured, guys) ranks as one of my biggest surprises of the season so far. Not necessarily that the Commodores won, but that they smoked the Gamecocks like this at night in Columbia.

So how good is Vandy?  

Well, crazily, Vandy should be 5-0 when they head to Tuscaloosa for their rematch. (Georgia State and Utah State both come to Nashville in the next couple of weeks.)

And I think DIego Pavia will have this team expecting they will win in Tuscaloosa. (They won't, but he'll have them expecting to do it.)

It's early, but I think this is the best Vandy football team I've ever seen.

I'm not saying they're going to have the best record of any Vandy team — the SEC is the strongest it has ever been — but I do think this Commodore team looks the part. Diego Pavia gets all the attention, but this team has some dudes all over the field.

Clark Lea deserves credit for the team he's built. They're a unit.

5. Oregon coach Dan Lanning's comments after his team beat Northwestern were extraordinary.

It's been a hard week for a lot of us out there.

And while I try, generally speaking, to make the Starting 11 almost entirely focused on college football, the assassination of Charlie Kirk on Wednesday has, frankly, revealed a dark and evil soul dwelling in much of the nation. It's one thing for a single malcontent to engage in a dastardly and indefensible act of violence, but the millions of people who celebrated Kirk's killing stunned me.

It truly did.

I knew Charlie Kirk and leaving aside his politics — much of which I agree with — Kirk was much like virtually every one of you reading this right now, a huge college football fan with kids.

And, in particular, he was a big Oregon Ducks fan.

After Oregon beat Northwestern, Dan Lanning addressed Kirk and the deeper issues facing our nation and I thought he was absolutely fantastic in what he said.

If you didn't get a chance to watch it, please do.

6. The Nico UCLA era may end 0-12.

Many of you may not have noticed, but on Friday night in a virtually empty Rose Bowl, UCLA lost 35-10 to New Mexico.

The Bruins fell to 0-3 on the season and now face nine straight games in the Big Ten.

It's altogether possible that Nico's UCLA team may well finish 0-12.

And while Tennessee choked away the big win over Georgia, consider these stats through three games: Joey Aguilar has passed for 908 yards, tossing nine touchdowns and two interceptions. On Saturday against Kirby Smart's Georgia defense Aguilar passed for 371 yards and four touchdowns. (One of his two interceptions came because his receiver fell down, the other was a deep ball that effectively acted as a punt.) Meanwhile Nico, against much less quality competition, has passed for 608 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.

I think we're going to look back on Josh Heupel getting ten wins out of Nico last season as one of the greatest quarterback coaching jobs we've seen in recent history.  

At this point, there is zero doubt that Tennessee won the quarterback trade here.

By a ton.

PASADENA, CA - SEPTEMBER 12: UCLA Bruins quarterback Nico Iamaleava (9) looks over his shoulder during the college football game between the New Mexico Lobos and the UCLA Bruins on September 12, 2025, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

And I'll mostly leave Nico alone now because his team is so bad, they aren't even a story any longer.

But I do have one final thought on this trade to think about — what's the value of playing in front of 100,000 fans who come to love you for what you do on the field? Before the Tennessee game against Georgia, I was on the field with my son and we met a ton of past Tennessee football greats — Jamal Lewis and Al Wilson among them — these guys have a lifetime of connections they built to their school, and they still come back for games nearly 25 years after they graduated.

There's a love and an affinity and a deep and abiding passion that comes from playing college sports at a university. You're not just making a four year decision, you're making a life decision. How many kids understand that today? How many parents do?

I feel like all fans get this, but I'm not sure lots of players do.

What's more, how do you put a value on simply having the privilege of putting on a uniform and running out into a sold-out stadium to play in one of the biggest games of your life? Heck, everyone reading this column right now would pay a ton of money just to run on the field with their favorite team for one big game.

I'm disappointed that Tennessee lost to Georgia, but I'll remember this game for the rest of my life.

Will anyone remember anything from Nico's year at UCLA?

Twenty five years from now will he want to be on the sideline at the Rose Bowl watching the Bruins play?

I doubt it.

And that means something too, even if quantifying it into NIL dollars may be hard to do.

We should talk about that more.  

7. LSU outlasted Florida.

Brian Kelly is going viral for sparring with reporters after the game, but I think the bigger story here is just how bad Billy Napier's Florida Gator offense is in year four.

DJ Lagway, who was supposed to be the Gator savior, threw five interceptions and the Gator offense has basically been nonexistent the past two weeks.

Having said that, Florida actually outgained and out first downed LSU 23-10. If Lagway had simply avoided interceptions, the Gators could have won this game. Which is why the ultimate crazy outcome next week would be the Gators going on the road against Miami and shocking the world with a victory. (Would it really be that crazy given how well the SEC has done out of conference so far? I don't think so).

Yes, the LSU defense looks great, but this LSU offense isn't kicking into high gear so far. Unless it does, games at Ole Miss, at Alabama and at Oklahoma, all of whom have explosive offenses, look very difficult to win.

Meaning as good as the start of the season has been for LSU, this schedule is still loaded with landmines and, given Clemson's woeful start to the year, it's possible LSU still hasn't beaten a very good team.

8. Texas doesn't look like a playoff team.  

I know they are loaded with talent, but as you'll see below in my SEC rankings, I have them as the 12th best team in the SEC so far this season.

Arch muddled through a mediocre performance against UTEP and I have to be honest with you — Texas looks like an 8-4 caliber team to me right now.

Arch Manning #16 of the Texas Longhorns. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

With Sam Houston next week and then a bye, we won't get a read on Texas again until October, but right now I don't see Texas as a playoff team.

And honestly, it wouldn't stun me if Florida has a shot to beat Texas in Gainesville. And I'd pick Oklahoma to win the Red River Shootout right now too.

Again, it's still early and the schedule is favorable, but the Longhorns don't look like a playoff team to me so far.

9. I mentioned in my open the SEC is in line for five playoff teams.

How do I see that playing out?

I've got three from the Big Ten as likely: Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State. (I'm not buying Illinois, Indiana or Nebraska as playoff teams). I've got one from the Big 12, the conference champion. I've got two from the ACC: Florida State and Miami, most likely, and I've got a non power conference team. The SEC champ gets in, of course.  

So that leaves four more spots.

And I think the SEC will get all of them.

Now which will those five be? Buckle up. It's going to be a donnybrook all year long.

Sidenote before we get to the rankings: I will be debuting a new FS1 show on Wednesday of this week at six eastern.

It will just be a weekly show, but it should be a one-stop shop for all of you to get my college football and NFL takes, and I'm looking forward to its debut.

Also, I'll be in New York City for most of the coming week and on Tuesday afternoon I'm debating Stephen A. Smith on sports, culture and politics.

I'll share the link for all of you to check it out, but I think an open exchange of ideas from two people with divergent perspectives is more important now than ever, and I hope you guys will check that out this coming week.

One more note: I'll be at the Alabama-Georgia game on September 27th and I believe we'll have a public event at that game. There will be more details on that coming, but I met so many Georgia and Tennessee fans this past weekend and all of you were fantastic. As I said above, it has been a very tough week for many of us, and it was great to meet so many of you.  

10. My Outkick National Top Ten

As a refresher, I only rank teams based on their on-field performance. Right now I have Miami as my number one team in the country because I believe they have the two best wins of any team in the country. And, yes, objectively speaking Vanderbilt, with two road power conference dominant wins, has an argument to be number one overall. I just happen to believe the two teams Miami beat are better, even if both of those Hurricane wins came at home.

With that in mind, feast your eyes on a top ten rundown the likes of which no one else in college football will have.

But, as always, it's the most honest breakdown out there because it's only based on the games we've seen.  

1. Miami
2. Vanderbilt
3. Florida State
4. Ohio State
5. LSU
6. Texas A&M
7. Oklahoma
8. Georgia
9. Oregon
10. Georgia Tech

11. My SEC power ratings 1-16

These rankings are going to throw people's minds into a blender, but to reiterate, I only rank teams based on what they have done ON THE FIELD. That is, I'm not ranking based on recruiting class rankings or what I expect to see, just based on the on-field product.

With that in mind, Vanderbilt, yes, Vanderbilt, has the two best wins of any SEC team so far this season -- winning at Virginia Tech and at South Carolina and winning both games in dominant fashion. LSU, I believe, has the second best power conference wins, at Clemson and over Florida, and on down the list. I have Georgia and Tennessee side by side because if the Vols don't choke down the stretch, the Bulldogs lose.

Then I have Texas all the way down at 12.

Why?

Because, as I said above, if you just look at Texas's resume and performance so far and, say, the team was Mississippi State instead of Texas would Mississippi State be ranked right now?

I don't think so.

1. Vanderbilt
2. LSU
3. Texas A&M
4. Oklahoma
5. Georgia
6. Tennessee
7. Alabama
8. Mississippi State
9. Ole Miss
10. Missouri
11. Auburn
12. Texas
13. South Carolina
14. Arkansas
15. Kentucky
16. Florida