No. 16 Ole Miss pull off upset over No. 3 Georgia in SEC thriller
By Homero De la Fuente, CNN
(CNN) — No. 16 Ole Miss pulled off their most high-profile victory in the Lane Kiffin era, strengthening their case for a spot in the College Football Playoffs with a upset 28-10 victory over No. 3 Georgia on Saturday at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.
Ole Miss fans rushed onto the field with 16 seconds left, celebrating prematurely as the Rebels notched their highest AP-ranked win at home in school history. The end of the game was delayed as the teams waited for the fans to be cleared off the field for the final play.
“Proud of our players, our fans, they’ve put a lot into this season, we screwed up two games so really pleased the way they played today,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said after the game. “Really clean game against the best team in the country.”
The Bulldogs’ loss is the first to another team outside of Alabama since November 7, 2020, when they fell to Florida, ending a 52-game streak.
Georgia got off to a great start on Saturday, forcing a turnover on Ole Miss’ first possession. After taking a sack and tweaking his left ankle, Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart threw an interception to Bulldogs defensive back Dan Jackson at the Rebels’ own 21-yard line.
Dart was seen entering the medical tent after the play, later making his way to the locker room with a noticeable limp.
The Bulldogs took advantage of the early turnover and short field, using their run game to score the game’s first points. Facing a 4th & goal on the Rebels’ two-yard line, true freshman running back Nate Frazier took the pitch and ran to the right, diving into the endzone to put the Bulldogs ahead 7-0 following the extra point.
Despite the early momentum in Georgia’s favor, Kiffin-led Rebels regrouped from the disastrous start, scoring 16 unanswered points, while the defense stymied UGA’s offense, to take a 16-7 advantage into halftime.
With Dart still being evaluated, freshman quarterback Austin Simmons guided the Rebels to a 10-play, 75-yard drive, ending with a Ulysses Bentley IV touchdown run to level the score at 7-7 with 6:53 left in the first quarter.
The game was paused momentarily early in the second quarter, after a squirrel made its way onto the field, drawing loud cheers from the crowd before it eventually made its way onto the Georgia sideline.
Dart would return to the game after the missed possession, leading the Rebels to three straight field goal drives. He finished with 199 passing yards, completing 13 of 22 passes, a touchdown pass and an interception.
Georgia managed to get a field goal on their opening drive of the second half but turned it over on their next three possessions to seal their second conference loss of the season.
“One year ago, we lost to these guys by like 30 and we made a decision, we got to go and recruit differently, we got to coach differently,” Kiffin said. “We planned for this game for a year, we game planned all offseason, schematically against their defense and offense and it paid off.”
Last season, Georgia dominated Ole Miss, defeating the Rebels 52-17 in Athens, while amassing over 600 total yards.
With the loss, the Bulldogs fall to 7-2 on the season, while Ole Miss improved to 8-2 to bolster their chance for a shot at the SEC Championship game and College Football Playoffs.
Earlier on Saturday, another top 5 team in the nation was dealt an upset loss, when No. 4 Miami lost to unranked Georgia Tech 28-23 at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta.
Seeking the program’s first 10-0 start since 2017, the Hurricanes failed to conjure up another second-half comeback.
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