Ole Miss does not need a reminder of how thin the margin is against Georgia. Pete Golding said this week that if the Rebels cannot stop the run, it will be a long night on Saturday at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss., where the teams meet with the kind of stakes that usually turn small mistakes into big losses.
That message is landing now because Ole Miss is coming off a 45-15 win over Auburn, Georgia just beat Florida 27-8, and both teams enter the game with records that keep the CFP picture in view. Georgia is 7-1, 5-1 in the SEC and No. 2 in the CFP Rankings, while Ole Miss is 6-2, 4-2 in the SEC and No. 8 in the Sagarin computer rankings. ABC will televise the game, and the rematch has a different feel after Ole Miss won the teams’ most recent meeting 39-34 in the CFP Sugar Bowl quarterfinal.
Golding’s message was built on details, not slogans. He said Georgia coach Kirby Smart has been in the league for 20 years, including nine as an assistant, and praised the way he builds toughness and discipline into his program. He also pointed back to the regular-season loss in Athens, where Ole Miss did not tackle well or communicate well, and contrasted it with the Sugar Bowl game, when the Rebels handled the base down run game better, created more negative plays and forced turnovers. Trinidad Chambliss was at the center of that win, passing for 362 yards and two touchdowns and leading Ole Miss on the game-winning field goal drive in the final minutes.
That is why the run game matters so much here. Ole Miss has improved lately, holding Missouri to 39 rushing yards in a 31-3 win on Oct. 17 and Auburn to 63 rushing yards on Saturday, but its season-long run defense still ranks 76th in the nation. Georgia, meanwhile, has made fast starts a habit, outscoring opponents 94-14 in the first quarter and 202-57 in the first half, a pace that can bury a team before the game settles into its rhythm. Against Florida, Georgia raced to a 24-0 halftime lead and scored off three turnovers, while Chris Cole returned a fumble 66 yards for a touchdown.
Golding said turnovers and big plays will matter again, and that is where the game can tilt. He said Ole Miss cannot turn the ball over or give up explosives on offense against a Georgia team that already knows how to turn short fields into points. The Rebels beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal by forcing the Bulldogs to play from behind, and Georgia led 21-12 until 4:51 remained in the third quarter before Ole Miss answered with three straight touchdown drives. Gunner Stockton completed 18 of 31 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown in that game, but Georgia never fully shook the pressure once the game turned.
Ole Miss is not facing a mystery. It is facing a test of whether the improvement it showed against Missouri and Auburn can hold up for four quarters against a team that starts fast, defends well and rarely gives away momentum. If the Rebels cannot win the run game and keep the ball clean, Golding’s warning will sound less like a pregame line and more like the script for Saturday night.
