The No. 12 Ole Miss football team hosts No. 2 Georgia this weekend in what could be one of the most significant matchups in the history of the series.
Click here for our first look at this year’s matchup on the field, and scroll on for a look back at the series history between the Rebels and Bulldogs, including the lone meeting of the Lane Kiffin era last season in Athens.
Series Snapshot
This is the 48th meeting between the schools, with Georgia holding a 33-13-1 advantage all-time on the field, including wins in 11 of the last 12 tilts. Ole Miss won the first meeting in 1940 in Athens, and the lone tie in the series came the following year, also in Athens. The teams met 13 times in Athens, Memphis, Atlanta and Jackson before first meeting in Oxford in 1975.
Series in Oxford
Ole Miss won the first two meetings of the series in Oxford in 1975 and 1976, but UGA leads 10-6 all-time at the Vaught. After those two wins, Georgia reeled off a 12-game win streak in the series before the Rebels snapped it with a 17-13 victory in Oxford in 1989.
Last Meeting in Oxford
Ole Miss emphatically won the last meeting in Oxford in 2016. The Bulldogs brought a No. 11 ranking to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium but were never in it. The Rebels led 17-0 after one, 31-0 at the half and 45-0 before Georgia scored its first points with 5:00 left in the third quarter as the Rebels cruised to a 45-17 win, which was later vacated due to NCAA ruling. Chad Kelly had 335 total yards and three TDs in the victory.
Last Meeting
Visiting Ole Miss hung tough early at Sanford Stadium in Athens last season, scoring the game’s first points and playing to a 14-14 tie into the second quarter, but the Bulldogs took control with 31 unanswered points. The Rebel defense had no answer for a Georgia rush offense that amassed 300 yards on the ground in a 52-17 defeat.
Motivation in Defeat
Lane Kiffin said this spring that last season’s loss in Georgia was one of Ole Miss’ greatest recruiting motivators this offseason. The Rebels were dominated up front in Athens last season, prompting Kiffin and his staff to transform their team in the trenches. As a result, Ole Miss is leading the nation in sacks. Now, the new Rebel lines have their toughest tests of this regular season.
