No. 9 Ole Miss (8-1, 5-1 SEC) travels to No. 2 Georgia (9-0, 6-0 SEC) Saturday to take on the two-time defending national champion Bulldogs. Georgia is 32-13-1 all-time against Ole Miss, including 18-4-1 at Sanford Stadium. The teams last played in 2016, a 45-14 Ole Miss win in Oxford.

Here are five keys for Ole Miss to upset Georgia.

 

Stay loose

This weekend will be the first time Ole Miss and Georgia have ever squared off in a top-10 bout. Georgia has won 26 games in a row overall and has taken everyone’s best shot the last few years. The Bulldogs have emerged victorious almost every single time.

The Rebels are 70-171-2 all-time against ranked teams; these sorts of games have not historically gone well for Ole Miss. But this is a new Ole Miss team that has proven itself in big moments this year. The Rebels can’t let the gravity of this game or the name of the school on the opposing jerseys beat them.

 

Remain confident in the tough moments

Speaking of those big moments: Ole Miss has won four games this season where it was tied or trailed in the fourth quarter. The Rebels have thrived with the odds stacked against them this season. They proved that once again last weekend against Texas A&M, when the Rebels fell behind for the first time all game with 4:34 left in the fourth and calmly went down the field to score the game-winning touchdown. Ole Miss then came through again at the buzzer, blocking the Aggies’ game-tying field goal try. The Rebels have proven resilient time and time again this year. They know what they’re doing when the chips are down.

 

Feed Tre Harris

The senior wide receiver had a career-high 213 yards last weekend against the Aggies. If a ball was thrown anywhere near him, he almost certainly came down with it, making jaw-dropping catch after catch. Ole Miss has three receivers with at least 600 yards this season, the only FBS program who can boast that. Harris is the one that makes it all go; when he’s drawing double coverage, he’s either going to open up seniors Jordan Watkins and Dayton Wade or make the catch in traffic anyway.

 

Play clean

The worst thing a team can do when it’s already a fairly big underdog is commit unforced errors. Fumbles and interceptions are the worst nightmare of a team trying to pull off an upset. Ole Miss has committed just six turnovers this season — tied for fifth-best nationally — and is tied for tenth in the FBS in turnover margin at plus-eight. Georgia has forced 12 turnovers this season, 11 coming via interception (tied for 13th nationally). Giving the Bulldogs free opportunities for points is a recipe for disaster.

 

Win special teams

Georgia has great punt and kick return units; coverage on the latter hasn’t always been stellar for the Rebels in 2023. Senior kicker Caden Davis has largely excelled this season, while senior punter Fraser Masin has had his ups and downs. Sophomore defensive tackle Zxavian Harris was one of the heroes of last weekend’s game with his blocked kick. Will the Rebels be the ones to make the big special teams play on Saturday, or will Georgia capitalize?