Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart heavily praised Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss during his weekly press conference. Smart is quite familiar with Chambliss and Ole Miss. Georgia played Chambliss twice last year including in the Sugar Bowl, which the Rebels won 39-34. Georgia won the regular season meeting in Athens, 43-35.
Georgia (7-1, 5-1 SEC) and Ole Miss (6-2, 4-2 SEC) are both in the thick of the SEC championship and College Football Playoff hunt. The winner on Saturday night (7:30 p.m. ET on Nov. 7) will find themselves in a much better position while the losers will find themselves much worse off. Specifically, Ole Miss could be facing playoff elimination with a loss to Georgia since the Rebels have an ugly blowout
loss to Florida.
We're likely looking at another high-stakes shootout between Georgia and Ole Miss. Here's what Georgia coach Kirby Smart said about Ole Miss with most of the media's questions focusing on Chambliss.
Smart's opening statement on Ole Miss
"It's on to Ole Miss, a really good football team," Smart said at his weekly press conference. "Pete (Golding) has done a tremendous job since taking over.
"Obviously, we know the two games last year with them were both really hard-fought battles, hard games, a lot of ebb-and-flow in both games. They've done a tremendous job this year. They probably have the best quarterback in the country who plays at a high level. He is extremely hard to defend and a great player.
"I have a lot of respect for their staff. I know a lot of those guys and the team, the way their team competes and plays. They're playing really well right now. At home, they've been exceptionally well. Our guys will be excited for the challenge. Another opportunity. Another week in the SEC, as it always is. It'll be a great atmosphere."
On how to defend Chambliss
"How long do you have?" Smart said. "We could talk for an hour about it, but it's not even that.
"I wrote down, so I watched every game, wow plays. It's not the wow plays. The wow plays are what you guys love and what America loves. He had some wow plays against us last year in both games, but especially the second.
"It's the down-in, down-out decision making that he's really elite at. The accuracy that he's elite at, the release, the decision. His pinpointing. He has an anticipation of windows that's probably unmatched. I don't know if that was God-given or the fact that he played a lot of football before he got to Ole Miss. He has played a lot of football and experience helps.
"You throw all that in, and you have a tremendous athlete. He goes forwards, backwards as fast as he goes sideways. He can back up and go for it. He's just a great athlete that is a great quarterback."
On Chambliss' pre-snap and post-snap ability
"I can't get inside his head and say what he's doing pre-snap, post-snap," Smart adds. "He's elite at both, in my opinion. He surveys the field. He knows what he's going to do. He's been in this offense long enough that he knows what he's basing his decisions on, and then after the play's snapped, he goes through his progressions and does a great job.
"He knows how to navigate a pocket. I think his pocket presence people don't give him enough credit for it. This guy's not just like a take-off-and-run guy. He steps up in the pocket. He goes through the pocket. He's made some of his best 'wow' plays working through the pocket."
On Ole Miss' red zone success
"You have to play well in the red zone," Smart said. "A lot of that has to do with the quarterback extending plays and running the game. The quarterback run game in the red area really shows up with every team. He's a tremendous decision maker in terms of what he wants to do with the ball.
"There's two, three plays in the red area this year that you would say, 'He's never even supposed to pull that ball.' He does it and makes huge plays. He's doing that against SEC teams. That makes him hard to defend in the red area. They got really good skill players, and he's got really good touch and accuracy to make throws. All those things combined to be a good red zone player.
"It's hard to say, 'What do you do in the red zone?' You have to play well. You have to play disciplined football, and you have to make it hard to run it in on. That's what most people that are good in the red zone can do."
On containing Chambliss and the Ole Miss offense
"You have to be successful at a lot of things," Smart notes. "You have to be able to pitch and catch, not just do one thing. There's nothing we're going to do that he hadn't seen. You're not tricking the guy. I think that's what people get infatuated with, is, 'How can I trick him and do that?' You can't do that.
"You have to go play good sound football. You have tackle the man that catches it. No yard after catch. You have to create some turnover. You have to bat some balls. You have to make plays and get off the field when you have a chance on third down. There's not a perfect remedy. If there was, somebody would have done it."
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This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: Georgia football coach Kirby Smart previews Ole Miss game
