Ole Miss has fought for this moment and this game tonight in Oxford.
The No. 10 Rebels (6-2, 4-2 SEC) have made the long climb to relevancy in college football, and Saturday’s visit from No. 2 Georgia (7-1, 5-2 SEC) has national and SEC implications in the race for a conference and playoff champion.
It hasn’t always been this way. Georgia would come to town heavily favored with Ole Miss fans praying and hoping to see an upset. These two teams however now have a back and forth trading wins in the last
four games in this series, all of which on the biggest of stages.
Last year’s Sugar Bowl is most remembered for the epic comeback Ole Miss made against Georgia in the most improbable of fashions. What is forgotten by the rest of college football is one scoop and score touchdown by the Bulldogs late in the first half that put the Rebels down nine points instead of potentially taking the lead before the break. It could have been an Ole Miss win by double digits, but the defensive touchdown masked that in the final score.
It is now the third time these two teams have played in the last 13 months, and it should be a prize fight between two very good football teams. Ole Miss fans will have all day in the Grove to prepare for this one, and the atmosphere should be unbelievable at kickoff.
To me though, the Rebels have shown it plays best with a lead and striking first against Georgia will have to be a priority. Ole Miss’ defense backed by 70,000 fans can be a force in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium where the Rebels have the nation’s second longest winning streak. That streak will be put to one of its toughest tests yet when the ball is teed up at 6:30 p.m.
