No. 16 Ole Miss scored its biggest win of the Lane Kiffin era and boosted its College Football Playoff hopes with a 28-10 win over No. 3 Georgia on Saturday.
Georgia’s comeback hopes flickered out with 7:22 to go when Carson Beck was intercepted on fourth down. The Bulldogs went for it on fourth-and-10 at the Ole Miss 27-yard line but Beck’s pass was tipped before John Saunders Jr. intercepted it and wisely slid to the turf with Georgia players closing in on him.
The Ole Miss offense then sealed the game as Jaxson Dart stepped up despite playing much of the game with a left ankle injury. Dart broke a 28-yard run on the ensuing possession as the Rebels put the game away with a field goal to put Georgia behind 15 and out of timeouts with 3:22 to go.
It’s the first home victory over a team ranked in the top two in the AP Top 25 in Ole Miss history, and the first time Georgia (7-2, 5-2 SEC) has lost to an SEC team outside of Alabama since a loss to Florida in 2020.
Ole Miss fans were so excited about the win that they stormed the field a bit to early. Students and fans flooded the field with 16 seconds to go as the Bulldogs still had the ball. The conclusion of the game had to be delayed for fans to be cleared off the field ahead of a final play.
At last, fans did get their chance to celebrate on the field.
Ole Miss defense dominates
The Rebels (8-2, 4-2) were embarrassed in Athens in 2023. A season ago, Georgia racked up over 600 total yards and ran for 300 yards in a 52-17 win over an Ole Miss team that was ranked seven spots lower than the Bulldogs at No. 9 in the CFP rankings.
That game was an offseason focal point for Ole Miss. Lane Kiffin made it a point to beef up his defensive line through the transfer portal and added players like Princely Umanmielen from Florida and Walter Nolen from Texas A&M.
The offseason improvement up front was evident. The Rebels entered the game leading the SEC in sacks and added five more to their tally on Saturday. The pass rush was consistently in Beck’s face — especially off the left side of the Georgia line — and the Bulldogs were unable to get anything going on the ground either.
Less than a year ago, Georgia averaged nearly 10 yards a carry in this matchup. Saturday, the Bulldogs rushed 33 times for 59 yards after the sacks were taken into account.
Jaxson Dart’s comeback
The game couldn’t have started much worse for Ole Miss. Dart was sacked on the second play of the game as his left foot turned outward when he was tackled. On third down, Dart had a defender in his face and didn’t step into a throw that sailed into the arms of Georgia’s Dan Jackson after Dart’s arm got hit.
The senior QB limped off the field and into the locker room as Georgia took a quick 7-0 lead.
Freshman Austin Simmons replaced Dart on the second drive of the game and led Ole Miss to a TD. But Dart returned from the locker room and played the rest of the game.
He played well, too, despite being clearly limited. Dart ended up as Ole Miss’ leading rusher and was 13-of-22 passing for 199 yards and a TD to Juice Wells.
Just how good is Georgia’s offense?
A surface-level look at Georgia’s offensive stats will show an offense that hasn’t been bad by any means. The Bulldogs are still averaging over six yards a play this season and its quarterbacks have completed two-thirds of their passes.
But Georgia’s offense has struggled against the top teams in the SEC outside of an explosive second half against Alabama. And it’s been especially turnover prone.
The Bulldogs turned the ball over four times against the Crimson Tide and committed three turnovers against Texas. The Bulldogs turned over three times again on Saturday as Beck had a fumble to go along with that interception and running back Nate Frazier also fumbled.
Beck has failed to live up to his preseason Heisman candidacy and it’s clear that the Georgia offense could use an explosive playmaker or two. There’s no Ladd McConkey or Brock Bowers or George Pickens to catch passes, and Frazier and Trevor Etienne haven’t replicated the mauling ground game we’ve seen from the Bulldogs in recent seasons.
But the playoff is still well within the Bulldogs’ sights if Georgia can rebound with a home win over No. 7 Tennessee in Week 12.