Hopefully you've recovered from yet another nail biter, and now you're ready for Georgia's first trip to Ole Miss since 2011.
The Rebels are 1-2 on the year, and have the dubious distinction of being the only team in history to blow two 21-point leads in the same season. (I'm hoping for three.)
Don't let the record fool you, though.
Ole Miss has talent, and there's a reason they had both Alabama and Florida State on the ropes in their respective games.
Now let's look a little closer.
The last time...
1) These teams met:
Ole Miss Head Coach Hugh Freeze was in his first year of NCAA compliance issues work as the head man in Oxford when he brought the Rebel Alliance to Athens.
Ole Miss jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead early in the second quarter, but then junior quarterback Aaron Murray went to work.
The most under-appreciated signal caller I can ever remember threw for 384 yards and four TDs on 28 attempts on that sunny afternoon.
The Bulldogs went on to win 37-10.
2) Georgia had a game decided by double-digit points:
The Bulldogs are riding an eight-game winning streak dating back to November 2015, a streak that opened with a 27-3 victory over Kentucky.
That game was the last time Georgia had a game that wasn't decided by single digits. We're looking at seven straight wins by nine points or less since that win over Kentucky.
| Nov. 14, 2015 — Georgia 20, Auburn 13 |
| Nov. 21, 2015 — Georgia 23, Ga. Southern 17 (OT) |
| Nov. 28, 2015 — Georgia 13, Ga. Tech 7 |
|
Jan. 2, 2016 — Georgia 24, Penn State 17 (Taxslayer Bowl) |
| Sept. 3, 2016 — Georgia 33, North Carolina 24 |
| Sept. 10, 2016 — Georgia 26, Nicholls State 24 |
| Sept. 17, 2016 — Georgia 28, Missouri 27 |
That's seven wins, with a scoring margin of 167-129, and an average margin of victory of 5.42 points.
It's scary to think about those numbers if a couple bounces go the other way.
3) Ole Miss beat Georgia:
The Rebels are one of only two teams in the SEC that never beat Mark Richt during his tenure in Athens.
The other is Texas A&M, which never played Georgia while a member of the SEC. (They did meet in a forgettable Independence Bowl in 2009, a game the Bulldogs won 44-20.)
Ole Miss went 0-6 against Richt-coached Bulldogs, so this creates a double stat for us! (Please hold your applause.)
The last time the Rebel Black Berries (or whatever they're called) beat Georgia was 1996, when none other than Kirby Smart was on the Bulldog roster.
Ole Miss came to Athens and knocked off the Dogs 31-27 in come-from-behind fashion.
So, here's your double-stat. A Rebel win would be the first loss for a Georgia head coach against Ole Miss since Jim Donnan's first season. (He won the next four meetings, leading into Richt's tenure.)
BONUS: Ole miss beat Georgia in Oxford:
I lied.
You get a triple stat. (Now you can applaud.)
Ole Miss hasn't beaten Georgia in Oxford since 1995, again a game where Smart was on the Bulldog roster, though he was a freshman at the time and probably getting hazed, or something. (It would explain his crankiness.)
The Rebels won 18-10 that year, led by Tommy Tuberville at head coach. Remember that guy?
It was Ole Miss' first victory over a ranked team since 1992.
(Ray Goff, ladies and gentlemen.)
4) A Georgia quarterback won his first three starts:
Names like Greene, Stafford and Murray might pop into your head as you rack your brain trying to figure out who this one is.
(But probably not Joe Cox, bless his heart.)
I'll give you a hint. None of those guys mentioned above started 3-0.
"D.J. Shockley?" you guess.
Ah, he did indeed start 3-0!
... But he's not the most recent.
That would be none other than the Whipping Boy, Greyson Lambert.
The Virginia transfer started 4-0 for his new team, before Alabama came to town and derailed all the fun. (We won't go down that road.)
So, a win Saturday would mean Eason would become the second straight quarterback to start 3-0 for Georgia.
In fact, he'd be the second quarterback on the Georgia roster to start 3-0.
(Looking at you, Ramsey.)
5) Ole Miss swept its SEC East opponents:
We need only return to 2014, when the Rebels swept the state of Tennessee as part of a 7-0 start that saw them rise to No. 3 in the polls.
Ole Miss beat Vanderbilt 41-3 (their cross-divisional rival) in Week 2, then knocked off Tennessee 34-3 in Week 7.
Since then, the Rebels have played two more games against the East in 2015, a 27-16 win over Vandy and a 38-10 loss to Florida.
More fun with numbers: 2014 is the only season since 2003 where Ole Miss swept its opponents from the SEC East.
And in case you're wondering, that included losses to Georgia in 2006, 2007, 2011 and 2012.
BONUS: Georgia swept the SEC West:
Like the Rebels, the last time this happened for the Bulldogs was in 2014.
That season Georgia beat Arkansas 45-32 and Auburn 34-7.
6) A Georgia wide receiver not named Isaiah McKenzie scored a touchdown:
So far Jacob Eason has accounted for all the passing touchdowns on the Bulldogs offense, five to be exact.
Four of them have gone to McKenzie, and the other went to fullback Christian Payne against Missouri.
The last receiver not named McKenzie to score a touchdown was Terry Godwin, who hauled in a touchdown pass late in the first half of the Taxslayer Bowl against Penn State on a lob from Lambert.
Since that play Georgia has scored 12 touchdowns: McKenzie (5 [1 rushing]), Nick Chubb (3), Sony Michel (1), Brian Herrien (1), Lorenzo Carter (1) and Payne (1).
7) Ole Miss lost a conference game that kicked off before noon local time:
A lot of fans (especially Georgia fans looking to experience The Grove) groaned when the noon EDT/ 11 a.m. CDT kickoff time was announced for this game.
(I applauded, since I have to work at 6 a.m. the next day.)
Coaches might argue it'll help the Bulldogs, since the crowd might still be a bit sleepy, but we'll see.
Anyway, the last time the Rebels lost a conference game that kicked off before noon local time was all the way back in 2011, when Houston We Have A Problem Nutt was roaming the sidelines of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Their last such loss was a 29-24 defeat at the hands of Bobby Petrino and Arkansas in a game that kicked off at the oddly specific 11:21 a.m. local time.
Since then, Ole Miss has played four games against SEC foes before noon, and won them all.
(It should be noted, however, that the Rebels lost to Memphis in 2015 in a game that kicked off at 11 a.m.)
8) Georgia lost a game on ESPN:
As far as TV networks go, ESPN has apparently been kind to Georgia, which hasn't lost on that network since 2013.
It was against Missouri, in a game we talked a lot about in this space last week — the 41-26 Tiger victory in Athens.
Since then, the Bulldogs are 8-0 in games televised by ESPN (which, incidentally, has this week's game, if you didn't catch the hint).
In case you're curious, here's a breakdown of how Georgia has fared on various TV networks since that Mizzou game.
- ABC (1-0)
- CBS (2-8)
- ESPN (8-0)
- ESPN2 (1-1)
- ESPN3 (1-0)
- ESPNU (2-0)
- SEC Network (10-1)
The Tennessee game is on CBS, if hadn't heard. Plan accordingly.
9) Ole Miss scored less than 34 points:
It's been awhile since the Rebels scored less than 34 points, all the way back to Halloween 2015, when they beat Auburn on the road, 27-19.
Since then Ole Miss has put up 52, 38, 38, 48, 34, 38 and 43 points.
The 52, it should be noted, came in that wild double-overtime loss to Arkansas that essentially won Alabama a national championship.
BONUS: Georgia scored more than 34 points:
For as good as the Rebels have been on offense, the Bulldogs have been equally underwhelming on that side of the ball.
Georgia hasn't scored more than 34 points since its 48-6 victory over Southern nearly a year ago (Sept. 26, 2015).
More fun with numbers: the Bulldogs scoring output since then has been 10, 31, 9, 3, 27, 20, 23, 13, 24, 33, 26 and 28.
And SOMEHOW, they are 9-3 across that stretch.
10) A Georgia head coach started 4-0:
That would actually be Joel Hunt, who coached a single season all the way back in 1938.
Hunt started 4-0, notching wins over The Citadel, South Carolina, Furman and Mercer before suffering his first loss at the hands of No. 14 Holy Cross, 29-6.
(Seriously, Holy Cross was 14th? For real?)
Times were different, though Smart has a chance to make them the same.
***
The betting line as of this writing has Ole Miss a touchdown favorite, ironically the same amount Georgia was favored over Missouri.
I'd say — like just about any game — the Bulldogs will live and die with the run game. I just don't think you can rely solely on Eason — good as he might be — in situations such as this.
It'll be up to the Georgia O-line to open some holes on a suspect Rebel defense (13th in the SEC in rushing, though it should be noted they've played Alabama, Florida State and Wofford, which runs the option.) and let Chubb grind out first downs to keep Chad Kelly on the sideline.
I predicted before the season that Ole Miss would win 28-17. I'd say that sounds about right, though maybe a little higher scoring, somewhere in the ballpark of 38-28.
Hope I'm wrong though.
