There’s an argument to be made that Saturday’s game against Georgia is the most important regular season game for the Ole Miss football program in the last 20 years, and maybe the most important conference game of the modern era. The other one that comes to mind is the LSU game in 2003, in which the Rebels would’ve won the SEC West and played in the SEC Championship game had they beaten the Tigers that day.
I am pretty averse to hyperbole in this space. I don’t think anyone comes here to read over-the-top opinions designed to stoke a reaction. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say this is the biggest conference game of the last two decades for Ole Miss. I’ll outline the case.
We are thrilled to share that Rippee Wrights is now brought to you by Resolute Wealth Strategies. Founded by Ole Miss alum Phil Burnett, Resolute helps families pursue their financial goals through personal relationships and thoughtful planning. As fiduciaries, they put their clients’ interests first.
Ready to get organized or get a second opinion? Visit theresoluteadvisor.com or call 601-952-8850 in Jackson or 615-647-5448 in Nashville.
The path to the College Football Playoff is clear with a win
If Ole Miss is able to beat Georgia on Saturday, its remaining schedule is as follows: at an Oklahoma team that just fired its offensive coordinator and cannot complete a forward pass, Wofford, and a Mississippi State team that is currently starting a walk-on from Jackson Prep at quarterback and has scored two offensive touchdowns in its last 13 quarters of football. Ole Miss is pretty close to a shoe-in for the playoff if it can beat Georgia on Saturday.
It’s extremely difficult to win on the road in this league. Ole Miss has played three true road games this year (and, respectfully, Vanderbilt barely qualifies as one), and has looked wholly unprepared and fallen into a 21-point deficit in two of them — at Florida and at Texas. So calling Oklahoma a sure thing seems a little bit premature, but this version of Oklahoma is as easy of a late-November road game as you could possibly ask for. And if Ole Miss can’t beat a Sooners team that cannot score on offense, then this conversation is pointless. The point is this: if Ole Miss wins on Saturday, it will be 98 percent of the way there in terms of punching a second consecutive playoff berth.
The Cowboy Country Club JUST DROPPED ITS LICENSED OLE MISS COLLECTION. It is a brand that was founded on the basis of building a community that you can not only feel proud to be a part of, but also one that you can make yours. Go to CowboyCountryClub.com and go buy the best merch on the market. Use the promo code “HottyToddy20” for a discount just for being a subscriber to Rippee Writes.
Ole Miss is still fighting a perception war post-Lane Kiffin
When you think about everything that has happened with this football program over the last 11 months, from the Kiffin saga, to the hiring of Pete Golding due to a lack of any other realistic options (not a knock on Golding, just reality), to the playoff run last January and getting revenge in a win over LSU this year, the program has endured and overcome a lot. To this point, it has also mostly avoided affirming the narrative that the program would fall off a cliff and fade into irrelevance once Lane Kiffin stopped gracing it with his presence. Perception can change in a hurry, and likely will if Ole Miss loses this game on Saturday.
But if the Rebels can beat Georgia on Saturday, finish the job over the final three games and return to the College Football Playoff a year after its head coach left the program because he didn’t think success could be sustained at Ole Miss, would be a massive validation for the program and an enormous perception win for the Rebels and the long-term future of the program. To return to the playoff in the first year of the nine-game SEC schedule, with a first-year head coach and an offensive coordinator in his first year calling plays at the power four level, would validate what most of you reading probably already know — that Ole Miss is a program set up to thrive in this modern era. That the reason the program has flourished in the NIL era goes far beyond one person. The whole thing would be a massive perception victory in a sport in which perception is the most valuable currency in the economy aside from literal cash.
Even beyond the perception portion of this story, Ole Miss has one of the two best quarterbacks in the sport in Trinidad Chambliss (Miami’s Darian Mensah being the other). It’s rare for Ole Miss, or any program for that matter, to be in that position. To have one of the two best players in the sport, at the most important position in the sport. It’s imperative that Ole Miss capitalize on this moment by giving Chambliss and the Rebels one more shot at competing for a national title by cementing a berth into the tournament. This is a moment of opportunity for the program, and missing the playoff would squander it. That’s what makes Saturday’s game against Georgia so important.
The opponent being Georgia is fitting, too. It seems each of the four previous times these programs have met over the last three seasons, its come at a moment in which it felt like Ole Miss was about to either learn something about its program or prove something about its program.
If you’ll remember, in 2023, Ole Miss went to Athens with an 8-1 record and ranked 9th in the country. While no one realistically expected the Rebels to win the game, Ole Miss was technically in the hunt to make what was the last year of the four-team playoff. Had Ole Miss won that game, it would’ve almost certainly earned a playoff berth. The Rebels were blown out 52-17. That was the moment Kiffin and the coaching staff realized they had to find a way to recruit a different class of athlete at the lines of scrimmage, particularly on the defensive side of the football.
They did just that, landing Walter Nolen, Princely Umanmielen and others, which led into the November 2024 matchup, a game in which Ole Miss was a two-loss team that squandered two games against inferior teams. The Rebels were a team with their back up against a wall. It was now or never for them — beat the premier program in the sport to rectify those two losses and get back on the fast track to make the newly-expanded 12-team playoff, or squander an expensive roster and a season with the highest preseason expectations in a generation. Ole Miss throttled Georgia 28-10 that day by being the more physical football team on both lines of scrimmage. At the time, it was a validation that Ole Miss could recruit a caliber of player good enough to beat the best in the sport. Of course, the Rebels squandered the opportunity that program-defining victory brought by losing at Florida two weeks later as double-digit favorites, but that’s beside the point for now.
Then you have last year’s game(s) against the Bulldogs. In the regular season, Ole Miss went to Athens with a 6-0 record. The Trinidad Chambliss era was three games old at that point and no one really knew at the time what the Rebels had in Chambliss. He was an undersized guy with great mobility and seemed to make his best throws on the most crucial downs. Ole Miss had beaten Arkansas, Tulane, LSU and Washington State with Chambliss. It was unclear just how good Ole Miss was. Chambliss and the Rebels went into Athens that day and put on an offensive masterclass in what I still contend is the best offensive performance I’ve ever seen by an Ole Miss offense from a scheme and play-calling standpoint. The Rebels took a nine-point lead into the fourth quarter and couldn’t hold it because the defense couldn’t stop Georgia. Even in the loss, it became clear what Ole Miss had at quarterback was potentially elite.
Then, you had the rematch in the Sugar Bowl. Ole Miss avenged the regular season loss, advanced to the CFP semifinal and ultimately came one win shy, and really one defensive stop shy, from playing for a national title. I don’t think we need to rehash why that win was validating and important. You all lived it and know why.
Can Ole Miss do it again on Saturday? Can it capture another program validating win against the program that’s been the gold standard in the sport over the last eight years? We’ll soon find out.
A look at Georgia
The Bulldogs are 7-1 this season. They’ve beaten Alabama on the road, pummeled Florida 27-8 in Atlanta last week and have beaten their other three SEC opponents by 28, 27 and 24 points. Georgia’s only defeat is an inexplicable home loss to Auburn three weeks ago in which it turned the football over three times and allowed 192 yards rushing mostly because it could not contain Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown. Brown carried it 26 times for 115 yards and a touchdown. For reference, Georgia ranks 2nd in the SEC in run defense, allowing just 86 yards per game. LSU is first at 85.4. It was an outlier of all outliers. The Bulldogs are the best team in the SEC. Ole Miss is going to have its hands full on Saturday evening.
A quietly efficient offense
The best way to describe Georgia’s offense is effective and efficient without one player standing out. For example, the Bulldogs are third in the conference in rushing offense at exactly 200 yards per game, yet they don’t have an individual rusher inside the top-11 in the SEC in total yards this season. Now, some of that is due to injury. Georgia has two pretty good running backs in Chauncey Bowens and Nate Frazier. Frazier suffered a rib injury in the third game of the season against Arkansas and missed a couple of games. Bowens hurt his foot against Vanderbilt on October 3 and has been out since. He is listed as questionable for this game.
It’s a lot of the same faces as you saw last year in the Georgia offense. Bowens and Frazier were the two main running backs last year. Gunnar Stockton returns at quarterback. He’s a crucial piece of the running game and adds an element that the Ole Miss defense has sometimes struggled with this year — containing a mobile quarterback.
The main difference with Stockton this year is that he is throwing the football down the field more than he did a year ago. Georgia ranks second in the SEC yards per pass attempt (9.12), slightly behind Alabama (9.20). Ole Miss is at 7.38, for reference, primarily due to the way Ole Miss utilize screens on the perimeter.
The question for Stockton is whether he connects on the now more frequent throws down the field. This was the gripe Georgia fans had after the Bulldogs’ win over Florida. Stockton finished just 13-of-23 for 101 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He missed a few opportunities down the field.
Georgia’s offense is effective and efficient. It’s not explosive, but it can methodically move the football down the field, control the tempo of the game and keep the opposing offense off the field. I have to imagine that will be the plan for the Bulldogs against a Rebels defense that has struggled to stop the run this season. Georgia will likely try to put together long drives at a slower pace and keep Chambliss on the sideline.
Georgia found a pass rush
Last year, Georgia was a pretty good defense overall, but one of the uncharacteristic aspects of the 2025 Bulldogs defense was the fact that the unit couldn’t rush the passer with consistent success. Georgia ranked near the bottom of the SEC in sacks a season ago.
Georgia has rectified that. The Bulldogs enter this game tied for third in the SEC in sacks at 26. Much of what Georgia does to rush opposing quarterbacks is rely on its defensive line to open up holes for the inside linebackers to aggressively pressure. Chris Cole is one of the best linebackers in the country, along with Raylen Wilson. Georgia appears to be healthier and a little bit more talented on the defensive line and it has opened things up for a pair of inside linebackers to wreak havoc on opposing quarterbacks. The Ole Miss offensive line has been really good in protecting Chambliss this season. This will be a tough test for the Rebels offensive line.
Five things to watch: Ole Miss vs Georgia
This is a game with incredibly important stakes. If Ole Miss wins, what is the path? If the Rebels lose, why did they fall short? Here are five things I’ll be thinking about at kickoff that might explain both.
1. Can Ole Miss run the football effectively again?
Last Saturday was Shekai Mills-Knight’s introduction to SEC Football. With Kewan Lacy on the shelf for the foreseeable future with a shoulder injury, Ole Miss essentially had no choice but to turn to Mills-Knight, a redshirt freshman from the Baylor School in Chattanooga. He’s originally from Canada. Mills-Knight was a high profile recruit and is immensely talented, but it sounds like the coaching staff didn’t fully trust him yet. This offense puts a lot of responsibility on the running back position, far beyond just toting the football. It’s a lot to learn and retain. It’s worth noting Mills-Knight didn’t play American high school football until his junior season.
“Becoming an every-down player, especially at that position, there’s just so much more to it than just running the football. I think Frank [Wilson] has done a really good job with him, and JDB has a good plan for him,” Pete Golding said “But his development at the position and playing without the football, understanding protections and route concepts, and all the other things that you have to do, is important. Because when you put a 6-foot-3, 235-pound kid out there, they will expect you to run him, and you will be seeing some different looks. Really proud of his development.”
Mills-Knight carried the football 16 times for 71 yards. He gave the offense a physical element it doesn’t have, particularly in the absence of Lacy. Makhi Frazier totaled 17 carries for 56 yards. Ole Miss ran 49 times for 224 yards in total. It wasn’t explosive, but it was more than sufficient.
With Lacy out for at least this game (and, just my opinion, probably the rest of the regular season), I think last week gave you a glimpse at what the Ole Miss running game is going to look like: the Mills-Knight and Frazier show. It worked last week, but Auburn is the worst rush defense in the SEC. It’ll be an entirely different test this week against Georgia.
Can Frazier and Mills-Knight produce enough against this front to keep the offense somewhat balanced? They don’t have to carry Ole Miss to a win. But asking Chambliss to manufacture everything against Georgia leaves very little room for error.
2. Which version of the Ole Miss run defense shows up?
The Ole Miss defense has earned plenty of criticism this season. It has also been a confusing group to evaluate.
If you just watched the LSU game to evaluate this defense, you wouldn’t think you were looking at one of the SEC’s worst run defenses. Watch the Florida game a week later, and you might wonder whether this team could tackle anyone.
The home-road split captures that inconsistency pretty well.
In four games at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Ole Miss has allowed 104.3 rushing yards per game. In four games away from home, including Louisville, that number jumps to 193.5. Isolate the three true road games, so remove Louisville and it rises to 204 yards per game in the three true road tests the Rebels have played.
For context, the home number would put Ole Miss around the top five when compared with the SEC’s overall rushing-defense averages. The road number would put them comfortably last by over 40 yards — Auburn is the worst rush defense in the conference at an average of 155 yards allowed per game.
Needless to say, Ole Miss needs the home version of this rush defense to show up on Saturday. The Rebels also need to tackle better. I struggle to decide how much to harp on this because I don’t really think a team can get significantly better tackling at this point in the season. It just kind of is what it is, but missed tackles have killed this Ole Miss defense when it has been bad this season because it often occurs on third down conversions, particularly third and long. You saw this in the game against Auburn last week. Not being able to get off the field on third down, and particularly third-and-favorable scenarios in this game will be a death sentence for the Rebels.
Watson Turnipseed is a proud Rippee Writes sponsor. Have you been injured in a car accident or at work? Have the insurance companies denied your claim? Get more than one call with Watson Turnipseed. Call 504-636-8217
3. Can the offense look connected from the start?
From an offensive standpoint, the first half against Auburn was disjointed. Deuce Alexander dropped a wide-open touchdown on the double pass from Traylon Ray, then had another ball go off his facemask and turn into an interception. Those were costly mistakes, and against an opponent with a better offense, Ole Miss could have been in real trouble.
The frustrating part is that Alexander is also the Rebels’ most explosive offensive player outside of Chambliss. They need him. They also need him to finish the opportunities this offense creates.
This goes beyond one receiver, though. Can Ole Miss avoid the false starts, missed throws and drops that have made the early portions of games more difficult than necessary?
I’m not saying the Rebels have to score on their opening possession. We’re all aware of Ole Miss’ opening-drive struggles, and while I think that’s significant, I don’t think it’s a core indicator of how a game is going to go. But the point is that, against an opponent like Georgia, Ole Miss cannot afford to spend much of the first half trying to find a rhythm against this defense. When opportunities beckon, the Rebels must capitalize on them. Georgia is too good for the Rebels to miss opportunities for explosive plays early in the game and expect to overcome those gaffes.
Think back to LSU. After the opening possession, Chambliss and this offense were nearly flawless. He was dotting throws all over the field, and the offense looked sharp and executed with a sense of urgency I am not sure we’ve seen since that game. Ole Miss needs something closer to that on Saturday. Georgia is too good to give away possessions while settling into the game.
A-Stock’s mission is to provide our customers with the power to name their price. Our inventory changes weekly, allowing you to browse products for all occasions. We’ll let you in on our little secret: We buy in bulk from major retailers, which helps us, help you name your price. These items tend to be overstocked, returned, or closeout products. With convenient locations in Tupelo, Memphis, Nashville, East TN, & KY, you can buy from A-Stock in two ways:
1. At one of our many bin stores
2 at AStock.com / A-Stock Bids App. All items online start at just $1. Explore our inventory of items grouped by location and sale events. Each sale has a specific end date and time, so you know exactly when bidding closes. Place your bids on items you want. No shipping or transfers available, all items must be picked up at the specified location.
4. Does Chambliss keep using his legs?
One encouraging part of the Auburn game was how involved Trinidad Chambliss was in the running game, both on designed runs and when the pocket broke down. He looked more willing to take off and get what was available. I think Ole Miss needs more of that against Georgia.
That was part of what made him so difficult to defend last year. You could cover everyone, get pressure and seemingly do everything right, only for Chambliss to escape and turn a well-defended play into a first down. His ability to extend plays also forced defenders to choose between staying with a receiver and coming up to stop him, putting opposing defenses in constant conflict.
With Lacy on the shelf, Chambliss’s legs become even more important. The designed quarterback runs give Georgia another threat to account for, but I’m just as interested in him extending plays with his feet when passing plays break down. If Georgia takes away the first read and leaves space in front of him, can he consistently make a Bulldogs defense that loves to unleash its inside linebackers pay?
Ole Miss doesn’t need him taking unnecessary hits. But it does need the version of Chambliss who uses everything available to keep the offense moving. Against a defense this good, a couple of scrambles on third down could be the difference between another punt and a possession that ends in points.
5. Is this Trinidad Chambliss’ moment?
I brought this up before Texas, but it bears repeating.
When you think about Chambliss becoming a national name last season, you think about the Sugar Bowl. You think about that stretch of three absurd plays he had in the fourth quarter on the drive that gave Ole Miss the lead.
Do we get a moment like that Saturday?
There was an opportunity in Austin. Ole Miss climbed out of a 24–3 hole, tied the game and then got the ball back after an Arch Manning interception. It felt like the setup for Chambliss to take the Rebels down the field and finish a remarkable comeback. It didn’t happen.
That wasn’t entirely his fault. But this offense had an opportunity to deliver a season- defining drive in that game and didn’t capitalize. Delivering in those moments was such a large part of what made Chambliss special late last year.
Do we get that moment on Saturday?
Maybe Saturday brings one possession that everyone remembers. Maybe it’s an entire night in which he looks determined to drag Ole Miss across the finish line.
Football isn’t as simple as a quarterback deciding he won’t lose. Georgia gets a say, and its defense is pretty good. But I have a hard time seeing Ole Miss winning without a tremendous performance from No. 6.
If Ole Miss gets back to the playoff, is this the night we look back on as the reason?