The Ole Miss Rebels took down the juggernaut Georgia Bulldogs and shook the college football landscape. After the game, the Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin made a big admission on his desire to take down Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs.
The Rebels have been one of the best teams in the NCAA, this season. Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss has put on a strong campaign in the jam-packed SEC. However, Kiffin admitted there was one particular game circled in red on the calendar. And when the time came, the Rebels were ready for it.
“Even though we won 11 games last year, we wanted to beat Georgia,” Kiffin said. “Georgia beat us pretty good there a year ago and the feeling of seeing that, the feeling of how that game went and being bullied around in really the line of scrimmages, classic Georgia, what they do to a lot of people.”
This time around, Ole Miss got the better of Smart and Georgia. It wasn’t luck. In fact, it was a win one year in the making. Kiffin admitted the Rebels changed their whole look after the Dawgs humbled them last season.
Won the battle on the trenches
After the Bulldogs crushed the Rebels 52-17 in 2023, Kiffin made a pivotal decision. Ole Miss faced two options, either reshape themselves or stay under Georgia’s heel. They wisely chose the former, and one year later, the results are clear.
“We changed the size of our line of scrimmages, the twitch of our defensive ends in order to pass rush against them,” said Kiffin. “But we also game planned against Georgia a lot in the off-season. So it wasn’t a speech, it wasn’t even stuff that was done that week. We spent a lot lot of time leading up to this game schematically as coaches to prepare for it also.”
The changes to the line of scrimmages paid dividends. Kiffin’s defense sacked Georgia QB Carson Beck five times, while Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart was only sacked once.
The tables turned: Ole Miss embarrassed Georgia and caused them to fall off the Top-10 on the AP Poll. To add insult to injury, the No. 10 Rebels now look at the No. 11 Dawgs from above in the standings.