An undefeated No. 5 Ole Miss headed to Athens, Ga., on Saturday, Oct. 18 to take on No. 9 Georgia. The Rebels suffered their first defeat of the season and dropped to 6-1.
First half
Georgia’s offense started off hot with 50 yards on their first three plays. They clearly watched the Washington State film because their third play was a flea flicker that had similar trickery to the Cougar’s play that allowed them to score their first touchdown. However, an offensive pass interference stalled their momentum and Georgia had to kick a field goal to start the game.
Lane Kiffin seemingly spent time game planning how to help Trinidad Chambliss get in his groove, as he called five straight pass plays to begin the game. Many of them were quick passes to the outside or good play designs that allowed receivers to get wide open.
A bad handoff to Kewan Lacy resulted in a third-and-seven on the goal line for the Rebels, but Chambliss was able to keep the ball and outrun a defender around the edge to score Ole Miss’ first touchdown of the day.
Georgia’s offense showed a lot of different formations and looks to keep the landshark defense on its toes. One play they might only have one or two receivers in a very heavy set, while another play there would be four players lined up out wide in a spread formation.
This caused miscommunication on the defense and several of Stockton’s completions were to wide open players, which included both a 36-yard completion to receiver Colbie Young and Georgia’s first touchdown on the day, where tight end Lawson Luckie was wide open in the back of the end zone.
Two errant kickoffs out of bounds from Georgia’s kicker Peyton Woodring gave the Rebels strong field position.
The 95-decibel crowd noise was definitely playing a factor in this game and caused Ole Miss to use their first timeout because of poor communication from Chambliss to the coaches. However, it clearly did not rattle Chambliss too much. A 23-yard catch from Winston Watkins gave the Rebels great field position, which they then capitalized on with a one-yard rushing touchdown by Lacy.
Despite starting slow, Georgia’s rushing attack heated up on their third drive. An explosive 17-yard rush by Chauncey Bowens and a Gunner Stockton 22-yard scramble touchdown helped the Dawgs go up 17-14 midway through the second quarter.
Although Chambliss started, quarterback Austin Simmons still made two appearances towards the end of the second half. He was used as a decoy for two plays close to the goal line, once as a receiver in motion, and another as a quarterback, but Lacy ended up taking a direct snap for a one-yard rushing touchdown.
With under two minutes left in the first half, Georgia was down 21-17. A 19-yard completion to tight end Oscar Delp pushed the Dawgs’ offense forward. Kirby Smart’s unorthodox clock management kept the Bulldogs from a touchdown.
Georgia ran the ball five times and let about 40 seconds drain off the clock unprompted. The Georgia offense kicked a field goal to end the second half down 21-20.
The first half featured efficient offenses. Neither team punted and combined for over 430 total yards. Four of the five leading receivers this half were all Georgia Bulldogs. Dae’Quan Wright was the sole Rebel receiver among the top five in the first half.
Second half
The Rebels started off the second half with a big play. Following a tight incompletion intended for Wright, Chambliss found De’Zhaun Stribling on a quick six-yard curl. Stribling was able to juke his defender and break free for a 75-yard touchdown.
While Ole Miss started out hot, Georgia responded with a calm, nine play, 75-yard touchdown drive. The touchdown came off of a play-action pass that tricked the defense into leaving Lawson Luckie wide open in the back of the end zone. Georgia tried a two-point conversion but failed. This kept the Rebels ahead 28-26.
Deuce Alexander had a physically impressive 32-yard catch in spite of defensive pass interference. On a fourth-and-two Kiffin called an interesting play: Lacy took a direct snap and handed the ball off to Chambliss, who then faked a pitch to a receiver and kept it for the first down.
Again, Simmons came into the game and lined up at receiver. He motioned in, but Chambliss took the snap and ran up the middle for his second rushing touchdown of the game.
Stockton’s plays continued the trend of the Ole Miss defense not being able to contain quarterbacks. He had two straight scrambles for eight yards and also had a nine-yard rush for a first down. All of these added to his total of over 50 rushing yards on the day. Stockton capped off the drive with a three-yard touchdown completion to Nate Frazier.
“I think he (Chambliss) handled it (his first FBS road start) really well to start through three quarters,” Kiffin said in his postgame press conference. He played amazing. Five drives and five touchdowns.”
As the sun began to set on Athens and the fourth quarter was underway, Ole Miss was only up 35-33 and desperately needed to continue their offensive efficiency. Neither team had punted yet and the defense could not be trusted to make a stop. The Georgia fans started to live up to their hype and a crazed fervor descended on Sanford Stadium.
Chambliss was clearly impacted by the environment and he looked very uncomfortable for the first time all game. He threw three straight incompletions and Ole Miss was forced to punt for the first time after the three-and-out.
“The crowd got a little louder, but we were focused, it honestly didn’t affect us,” Chambliss said in his postgame press conference. “I just have to be better. I have to have better ball placement. In the end, I missed some throws that were crucial.”
Georgia quickly took advantage of the stagnant Rebel offense. Stockton threw a touchdown pass to Luckie, his third receiving touchdown on the day.
“Just hoping we could get one stop, because it does happen sometimes,” Kiffin said. “We’ve all seen games where both teams score, both teams score and then all of a sudden neither team scores for a couple series. But, unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
After another Rebel three-and-out, Georgia started to drain the clock with several Frazier rushes. A deep, 36-yard completion to Dillon Bell pushed the Dawgs into Rebel territory. With about two minutes left in the game, Georgia’s Woodring booted a 42-yard field goal to put Georgia up eight points, 43-35.
With the game on the line, everything to play for and two minutes left, Chambliss did not rise to the moment. After a 12-yard rush by Lacy, Chambliss threw four straight incompletions to lose the game. In the fourth quarter, Ole Miss gained 13 total yards and were 1-10 on passing plays.
“I think this team is very resilient. All season we were 6-0, so we were perfect,” Chambliss said. “But you know that that’s not the case and you know that you’re gonna run into some bumps in the road. Georgia is a good team, credit to them. But this team, we’re not done. This isn’t going to define our season. We’re gonna bounce back, get ready for Oklahoma and play some good ball.”
What’s next?
Ole Miss will travel to Norman, Okla., to take on the Oklahoma Sooners on Oct. 25 at 11 a.m CT. They are coming off a 26-7 to win over South Carolina. ABC will broadcast the game.
