Georgia Game Week

I’m excited about the Georgia game coming up this Saturday afternoon. Last season, Georgia demolished Ole Miss, and I mean it was ugly. Very memorable game, at least to me. Ole Miss had the one loss to Alabama, but had won at home against LSU and Arkansas. It had lost Micah Pettus at right guard to injury in practice the week before, and that was to an already thin offensive line. I knew in my rational thinking that Ole Miss didn’t stand a chance, but this one was ugly, as I said. At one point in the game, Jaxson Dart sitting out after getting slam-tackled into the turf, backup quarterback Spencer Sanders had to leap up to grab the ball because the guy playing center had no idea how to long-snap a football, because the offensive line was pieced together that much. It was a disaster.

This year, this ought to be a different game. Georgia represents the pinnacle of college football, this blueblood program that can recruit pretty much any player it wants. I actually like their offensive scheme. It’s a power scheme that takes advantage of the offensive line. The quarterback has great touch on the ball, and you’ll see him drop these mid-ranged passes right into the receiver’s bread basket. It likes to set up the pass with the run, and it has a couple of good running backs. It’s a complete offense to boot. It doesn’t really have a weak link. Whereas last season Georgia ran roughshod over Ole Miss’ defense, I don’t think we are going to see that this Saturday. The Ole Miss defensive line is very good, and it has gotten a push against every offensive line it has faced this season. They really are brutal.

Ole Miss’ offense broke out at Arkansas last weekend, and for the record I had been predicting a break-out game like that going back to LSU. After Oklahoma, I was thinking it just wasn’t going to happen, that Ole Miss was going to have to win with its defense. It happened against Arkansas, though, so does that carry over into this upcoming scrimmage with Georgia? I think so, yes. I see no reason why not. The running situation is weird, and for whatever reason the coaches don’t like Bentley at running back and seem to have elevated the third-stringer Thomas to second string behind an injured Parrish. The running corps is sort of a mess. That’s what Dart scrambling for 50 yards at Arkansas was exactly what I had called for in my pregame ramblings. Ole Miss needs to gain 150 yards on the ground, give or take. If Dart can generate about a third of that, Ole Miss can beat anybody.

So, I would say, Ole Miss has a legitimate shot of defeating Georgia. What you do is choke off its running game and force Beck to beat you with the passing game. With any luck, you collect an interception or two out of that. On offense, you have to use the run to set up second and five and third and three situations, that or the short pass. As we saw at Arkansas, if Ole Miss also completes a few of its deep balls, the score can add up fast. I feel pretty optimistic about this game, especially comparing it to last year.