No. 9 Ole Miss Travels to Athens for a Top-10 Showdown at No. 2 Georgia
OXFORD, Miss. – No. 9 Ole Miss travels to Athens, Georgia on Saturday to take on the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs in a top-10 matchup on the gridiron. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN.
Ole Miss (8-1, 5-1 SEC) is riding a five-game winning streak after a 38-35 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies last Saturday in Oxford. The Rebels’ offense put up 518 total yards of offense as senior wide receiver Tre Harris recorded 11 receptions for 213 yards and a touchdown.
Harris is the only FBS receiver this season with both a 200-yard game and a four-touchdown performance. On the season, he has recorded a total of seven touchdowns.
The Ole Miss receiving corps leads the FBS with three 600-yard wideouts: Harris (749), Jordan Watkins (627) and Dayton Wade (602).
The Rebels lead the conference and rank 10th nationally in turnover margin (+8).
Georgia comes into the weekend undefeated at 9-0 and 6-0 in league play after a 30-21 victory over then-No. 12 Missouri last Saturday.
The Bulldogs have won 26 straight games and are the two-time defending national champions. Georgia ranks in the top half in the SEC in nearly every statistical category. Offensively, the Bulldogs rank No. 6 nationally in total offense (493.0) and No. 10 in scoring (39.3).
Junior quarterback Carson Beck is ninth in the FBS averaging 301.8 yards passing per game. Beck has completed 72 percent of his passes with 16 touchdowns and just four interceptions. Daijun Edwards carries the load at running back, averaging 90 yards rushing per game with eight rushing TDs.
Tight end Brock Bowers, the 2022 John Mackey Award winner and first team All-American, leads the Bulldogs with 41 catches for 567 yards and four touchdowns, but has missed the last several games due to injury. The Georgia defense leads the SEC in total defense, allowing just 282.6 yards per game.
The Bulldogs are limiting their opponent to just 26.5 percent conversion on third down, third-best in the country. Senior defensive back Tykee Smith ranks No. 9 in the FBS with four interceptions.
Saturday’s game will be the 47th all-time meeting between the two programs. Georgia leads the series over Ole Miss, 32-12-1. The original record is 32-13-1 in favor of the Bulldogs, with Ole Miss’ 2016 win in Oxford vacated due to NCAA ruling.
Adam Brown
Adam Brown joins The Rebel Walk as the Managing Editor after being on the Ole Miss beat as a Sports Editor for over 11 years. He is a lifelong Oxford resident. Brown graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Prior to The Rebel Walk, Brown was the sports editor of HottyToddy.com covering every Ole Miss sport and local high school sports in the community.
