Is this week's task too big for Ole Miss? Our picks are in.
Ole Miss plays perhaps its biggest game in years Saturday when the Rebels travel to Athens to face the Georgia Bulldogs. Ole Miss (8-1, 5-1 SEC) battles Georgia (9-0, 6-0 SEC) at 6 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPN.
At stake for Ole Miss is pecking order in the College Football Playoffs Poll. The Rebels are ranked No. 9 this week, while Georgia is ranked No. 2. The game could also decide the races in both the SEC East and West divisions. A Georgia win would lock up the East Division for the Bulldogs and an Ole Miss loss coupled with an Alabama win would wrap up the West for the Crimson Tide.
You know it's a big game when it will play out against the backdrop of College Game Day.
The Inside the Rebels staff picks are in for the game. Here is how we see it all playing out, and admittedly, we have our Red and Blue glasses on for this one...
It could be the biggest Ole Miss football game of my lifetime. I wasn't around for the heyday of the 1950s and 1960s under the late, great John Vaught, but this one is HUGE. Right now, it seems bigger than Fourth-and-25 and the Laquon Treadwell goal line injury. It might not, if the Rebels lose. Right now, it kind of feels like it is.
Georgia, though, owns an amazing 36-game, regular season win streak. I stand impressed, but all I know is that it has to end some day against someone. Why not now?
The national media nor Vegas gives the Rebels much of a chance. The Vegas line casts Ole Miss as double-digit underdogs. All Greg McElroy could talk about on the CFP Playoff show the other night was No.'s 6-8, and his beloved Alabama stands at No. 8. No talk about No. 9 and the fact they play No. 2 this week? None.
So, it's easy. Play the best game they've played all season and leave Athens with a big ol' "Kiss My #@$!"
It won't be easy.
Ole Miss has to play smarter, faster and better than the two-time defending national champion. And no one has really done that lately.
I would, however, proffer that this is the toughest game UGA will play all season, at least until the SEC title game. I will, too, proffer that Georgia has looked less than unbeatable in some games this season.
There's no need to mess around with stats and stuff here. It might be smart and the easy thing to, but I ain't picking against my boys. If not now, when? If not us, who?
OLE MISS 23, GEORGIA 20
JARED REDDING
Did anyone give Ole Miss a prayer in hades to win this Georgia matchup during the preseason?... I didn't think so.
A lot has happened since then.
Now, Ole Miss has perhaps its biggest game in the last two decades of the program. They might have an outside chance to make the College Football Playoff if they win out.
That's a lot easier said than done, facing college football's newest juggernaut in Athens, at night, with the home team on a 26-game winning streak, in a stadium no road team has been able to win in since before the pandemic.
Even with Brock Bowers' questionable status and Jamon Dumas-Johnson likely being out Saturday, this Bulldog roster is still ridiculously stacked with talent. The questions at quarterback during the preseason seem overblown, with Carson Beck having numbers that mirror Jaxson Dart, both in being productive and taking care of the football. They have multiple guys that can carry the football behind another strong offensive line and Beck's targets simply have gotten the job done.
Maybe this isn't the most dominant or impressive Georgia team of the last three seasons, but championship programs find different ways to win, no matter what. This Georgia team has done just that.
That said, Ole Miss has done just that too this season.
Ole Miss has had to overcome several quarter lulls and have found a way when they've needed to. This team's resilience and grit is the reason why they're in this position to begin with. It's going to take a full 60 minutes to slay this dragon.
So what has to be done? Take care of the football, stay on schedule, get creative offensively (especially with the recent injury on the offensive line and the shuffles to follow), and play the most aggressive game all season. This is probably the best defense Ole Miss has faced all season. Defensively, have to own the line of scrimmage. It's as simple as that. If Ole Miss can hang in there in the fourth quarter, look out. If Georgia hits them in the mouth early with a two to three score lead, it might be over then.
I firmly believe in this Ole Miss team, more than any Ole Miss team I've witnessed perhaps over the last decade, maybe even further back than that. I think Ole Miss can do it. But will they? I just don't know.
How about this? Remember the last time I picked against Ole Miss? LSU? Yeah, it's time for some reverse psychology.
I'll be a sacrificial lamb this week. Y'all can thank me later.
GEORGIA 27, OLE MISS 21
TYLER KOMIS
Week 11 is here and the Ole Miss Rebels have made it to their ‘Super Bowl’ playoff type game after years of waiting. Not many teams get the opportunity Ole Miss will get on Saturday in Athens. They get the chance to defeat the back-to-back national champs who have not lost a home game in over four years. What more could you ask for when you’re measuring if the program is ready to take the next leap?
All that to say, despite the odds being nowhere near in favor of the Rebels, I like the way Ole Miss matches up here. I must admit, I’m absolutely buying the narrative that Georgia is the one with pressure in this game, not Ole Miss.
The Rebels were (externally) never expected to make a legitimate College Football Playoff push at this stage in mid-November. It’s also the last year of the Playoffs before it is extended to eight more teams eligible to qualify, and it’s hard to believe that the Rebels won’t be back in the thick of things next year in that aspect. So, one could make the argument that they’re over achieving this season anyway. Ole Miss’ strength of schedule has been and continues to be among the hardest in the nation. That matters and tells me that Ole Miss has a quality group this year.
While Georgia entered the season as, once again, championship favorites. They better win this game. They better defend home field. They better make the College Football Playoffs, right? They would certainly shock people if they didn’t accomplish any of those things.
But if any team could shoulder that amount of pressure, it’s Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs.
Ole Miss’ defense line, the strongest component of their new-look upper echelon defense, has been having a party in the backfield all season long. They will now face the toughest challenge up front they’ll see this season. Georgia quarterback Carson Beck is the least sacked quarterback in the SEC and that’s largely in part to the guys protecting him up front. Beck does also have a good habit of getting the ball out quickly.
The Rebel offensive line proved that they are capable of doing some incredible things themselves. They handled the elite group Texas A&M brought to Oxford, but this time they’ll have to do it without their starting right tackle in Micah Pettus. The Rebels are fortunate to have Jayden Williams, who has been a regular game participant this season, in the chamber. If Williams had less experience, it would be more of an area of concern in my mind, but he has enough size and talent to hold his own.
At the end of the day, I believe Saturday’s game will come down to who wins within the trenches. Both teams have the quarterback and other skill positions on both sides of the ball that almost evens out in a way. Even then, I think the Rebels have the slight edge at the quarterback position.
The 2023 Rebels have shown me no reason to not believe that they can go in there, hold their own up front and pull out another tight victory like they have so many times this season. They’re a battle tested group that I’m predicting will be ready for one of the biggest moments in program history.
