The No. 16 Ole Miss Rebels find themselves on the outside looking in at a College Football Playoff spot, and blocking the doorway is a perennial national heavyweight and Southeastern Conference powerhouse, the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs.
The teams meet Saturday in Oxford, Miss., with the Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1 SEC) looking to strengthen their bid for a fourth straight conference championship appearance. Following Tuesday's release of the season's first CFP rankings, Georgia landed within the top three for the fourth straight year.
Ole Miss (7-2, 3-2) has appeared in four consecutive initial CFP rankings as well, as high as 10th in 2023. "It's a great challenge this week, one we're excited about," Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said. "I don't talk about playoffs and championships normally, because I think it's more about how you prepare, but I told my players that you still have all of those things alive.
In my opinion, anybody that's going to win it is going to have to go through Georgia at some point." Rebels quarterback Jaxson Dart leads the nation with 3,210 passing yards and a 192.4 passing efficiency rating, to go along with 21 touchdowns to just three interceptions.
Dart leads an Ole Miss team that wants to avenge last year's 52-17 loss to the Bulldogs in Athens, Ga. The Rebels were 8-1 going into that game. "That game didn't go very well a year ago," Kiffin said.
"But every game and season is independent and different. I think we're in a better place." Georgia's defense enters the.
