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Published Nov 8, 2024

Saturday Set-up, presented by Comer Heating and Air/Southern AC & Heating

Neal McCready • RebelGrove

Publisher

OXFORD -- No. 2 Georgia and No. 16 Ole Miss square off Saturday afternoon in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in a must-win game for the home team's College Football Playoff chances.

The Rebels (7-2 overall, 3-2 in the SEC) and the Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1) kickoff at 2:30 p.m. CDT. The game will be televised nationally by ABC.

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Teams: No. 2 Georgia (7-1 overall, 7-1 SEC) at No. 16 Ole Miss (7-2, 3-2)

Where: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (64,038)

Series: Georgia leads, 33-12-1

Time: 2:30 p.m. CST

Where to Watch: ABC (Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy, Molly McGrath)

Live Stream: ESPN App/SEC Network+

How To Listen: SiriusXM: 81 -- 162/190, Ole Miss Radio Network,

Live Statistics/Matchup/Preview: https://www.secsports.com/scores/football?start_date=2023-08-25&end_date=2024-01-08

Odds: Georgia -2.5, Over/Under 54.5, Money Lines: Georgia -130, Ole Miss +110 (per DraftKings)

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Team Leaders:

Passing:

Georgia -- Carson Beck, 2,302 yards; Ole Miss — Jaxson Dart, 3210 yards

Rushing:

Georgia -- Trevor Etienne, 453 yards; Ole Miss — Henry Parrish, Jr., -- 678 yards

Receiving:

Georgia -- Arian Smith, 503 yards; Ole Miss — Tre Harris -- 987 yards

Gameday Schedule

Coca-Cola FanFest Opens – 11:30 a.m.

Walk of Champions presented by Mid South Ford Dealers – 12:25 p.m.

Pre-Game Radio Show presented by Guaranty Bank – 12:30 p.m.

Gates Open – 12:30 p.m.

Pride of the South Grove Show – 1:15 p.m.

Oxford Ortho Letterman's Lounge Guest Interview (Kendrick Lewis/Mike Hilton) – 1:20 p.m.

Pride of the South Pregame Show – 1:49 p.m.

National Anthem – 2:20 p.m.

Lock the Vaught – 2:26 p.m.

Hotty Toddy – 2:29 p.m.

Kickoff – 2:30 p.m.

Grove Closes – Approx. 9:30 p.m.

Notes:

-- This is the 48th meeting between the schools, with Georgia holding a 33-13-1 advantage all-time on the field, including wins in 11 of the last 12 tilts. Ole Miss won the first meeting in 1940 in Athens, and the lone tie in the series came the following year, also in Athens. The teams met 13 times in Athens, Memphis, Atlanta and Jackson before first meeting in Oxford in 1975.

-- Georgia's Achilles Heel this season has been ball security. The Bulldogs rank No. 13 in the SEC and No. 82 nationally with a -0.13 turnover margin per game. Their 11 interceptions lost are tied for the worst in the league and No. 117 in the nation.

-- The Rebels’ run defense is the best in the SEC, giving up just under 85 yards of rushing offense per game, although in five conference games, SEC foes have fared a bit better, averaging 120.4. Ironically, Georgia is averaging 120.5 yards rushing in its six conference games, with Trevor Etienne responsible for most of the yardage.

-- Georgia is currently averaging 33.1 points per game. That’s the fewest since the 2020 season, which was former offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s first in Athens.

-- The first College Football Playoff rankings have dropped, with Georgia coming in at No. 3. Georgia is the highest-ranked SEC team and sits only behind Oregon in the rankings. Ohio State is at No. 2 and Miami is No. 4. The teams slated to earn the first-round byes as conference champions are Oregon, Georgia, Miami and BYU. The Cougars are the highest-tanked Big 12 team and come in at No. 9 in the first poll. Boise State is the highest-rated Group 5 of champion, which would earn them the fifth auto-bid. The seven at-large bids are: Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Tennessee, Indiana, Notre Dame, Alabama. Ole Miss opened the CFP rankings at No. 16.

-- On the season, Georgia's Nate Frazier has run for 286 yards on 60 carries. His two most impactful games have come with Trevor Etienne either out or hobbled, as Frazier’s career-high for carries came against Florida and his career-high for rushing yards came against Clemson. Etienne is listed as probable for Saturday despite a rib injury suffered versus Florida.

Injury Report (as of Thursday night)

Georgia:

RB Branson Robinson - Out

WR Anthony Evans - Out

RB Roderick Robinson - Out

DL Joseph Jonah-Ajonye - Out

LB Smael Mondon - Questionable

OL Micah Morris - Questionable

DT Jordan Hall - Probable

Ole Miss:

WR Izaiah Hatrup - Out

RB Henry Parrish Jr. - Out

RB Logan Diggs - Out

RB Matt Jones - Doubtful

WR Tre Harris - Doubtful

WR Jordan Watkins - Questionable

OL Jayden Williams - Questionable

OL Caleb Warren - Questionable

WR Cayden Lee - Questionable

DE Jared Ivey - Probable

S Yam Banks - Probable

S Jadon Canady - Probable

OL Jeremy James - Probable

CB Cedrick Beavers - Probable

TE Caden Prieskorn - Probable

What they said:

-- "It's a great challenge this week, one we're excited about playing at home. We screwed two games up earlier in the year, when you do that, you put yourself in this situation. I don't talk about playoffs normally, but I told our players—because they hear that all the time—you still have that stuff alive. In my opinion, whoever wins it is going to have to go through Georgia at some point. They're a premier program in college football." -- Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin

-- “Hard to compare. I don't like doing those comparisons because they're different offenses, different style offenses. They're both very talented, and [Steve Sarkisian] Sark and Lane [Kiffin] have a lot of history together. You don't watch the two offenses and think they look the same. Different style, passing game. They have really good wideouts at Ole Miss. They've been through injuries, and yet they've still continued to throw for lots of yards. They’re one of the top passing teams, in my mind, in the country in terms of statistics, passing, throwing. They've done it with tight ends. They've done it with backs. They’ve done it with wideouts. It doesn't matter who it is with Lane. He's going to plug somebody in there. They're going to figure out where your weaknesses are, find matchups, and look for coverages and find ways to beat those coverages. They've got a guy [Jaxson Dart] that can do it. This guy's playing uncanny football when you talk about the accuracy, the completion percentage, the yards he's throwing it for. He's not throwing dink and dunk passes now. This guy's throwing the ball vertical down the field, shots. Then, when you do that, let's say you cover all that, and you do that, he can take off and run. You watch a quarterback run reel on this guy, and you don't have enough people in the box. So, the reason they're successful is because of the scheme and the players that are in the scheme.” -- Georgia coach Kirby Smart on comparisons between the offenses at Texas and Ole Miss

“He knows scheme. Lane's been around a lot of football. His dad (Monte Kiffin) was one of the greatest defensive minds there ever was. When you start talking about Lane being around him, talking ball, being with him, he knows how to attack defenses, probably at a higher rate than most offensive coordinators. He just experienced with that. He knows the difficulties that come with it.” -- Smart on Kiffin

-- “That game didn’t go very well a year ago, but every game and season is independent, so yeah, I think we’re in a better place. But again, these guys get the best high school players every year. They’ve got more draft picks than anyone else because they do a great job recruiting and a great job developing players once they’re there. They’re all over the field, as always, when you look at the tape. Really, other than that one program with a miracle half where Michael Vick showed up — I just watched the film this morning — and it looked like on a field where everybody was big and fast, (Jalen Milroe) was faster than everybody. So that’s the only game they lost, and with all of that happening, they still came back and took the lead at Alabama. So this is a great football team with great coaches and great personnel. It’s why they’ve won 51 straight games. The last time they lost, besides Alabama, was Covid to the Florida Gators. That says a lot about what a great job (Kirby Smart) has done.” -- Kiffin on last year's loss to Georgia and the gap closed since then

-- “Well, I mean, the biggest difference is their defense. I mean, they're really good. They’re arguably the best defense in the country in terms of sacks, and tackles for a loss within the SEC. And it's a product of their line-of-scrimmage play. I mean, they upgraded across the board,” Smart said. "I mean, last year was the first year and he didn't have the personnel to play like he wanted to. He was having to do it with smoke and mirrors. Now he's got really good players. Players make schemes better. They haven't had to rely totally on their offense. With the defense, if anything, they've leaned on their defense, and that defense has really kept them in games and almost won games for them. They could very easily be undefeated.” -- Smart on difference between 2023 Rebels and 2024 Rebels

Post-Game Coverage:

MPW Digital PostGame Show, presented by Realtree (Chase Parham hosts, joined by Jeffrey Wright, Tyler Siskey, Brian Rippee and Neal McCready from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium)

https://www.youtube.com/@mpwdigital6243