ATHENS — What a difference a year makes in the Age of the Transfer Portal.
Ole Miss stands as Exhibit A in that respect. The No. 16-ranked Rebels (7-2, 3-2 SEC) will attempt to demonstrate that difference when they play host to the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1) on Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (3:30 p.m., ABC).
Coach Lane Kiffin felt like the Rebels were exposed a year ago when they came to Athens as the nation’s ninth-ranked team and lost 52-17. The primary reason for that, Kiffin lamented afterward, was the inability of Ole Miss to match the Bulldogs in the trenches.
As the teams reconvene a year later in Oxford, the Rebels not only have made up a ton of ground in that regard, but there’s reason to believe they might have an edge. That’s especially true on defense. Ole Miss enters Saturday’s contest ranked No. 3 in the nation against the run (89.3 ypg).
“Big humans. Large, fast humans,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart observed. “Immovable objects with twitch and twist. They’re fast and big. You want to see a good defense, look at fast and big, and they got both.”
The front seven that primarily is responsible for that all are transfers. Three of them showed up since last season.
“This really started in Athens, Georgia,” Kiffin said on the SEC coaches’ call Wednesday. “I think you guys sensed my disappointment after that game. ... I said, ‘Hey, we’re going to do everything in our power to change the way that we look as a team, especially defensively.’ We might not be very good, but we’re going to look a lot better in our uniforms. A lot of that was signing players that were already significant players in the SEC.”
Chief among the recent additions is 6-foot-3, 305-pound junior Walter Nolen. A former 5-star prospect – whom the Bulldogs recruited heavily when he was coming out of high school, and when he left Texas A&M – has 30 tackles and four sacks. Defensive end Princely Umanmielen, who Georgia faced in 2020-23 when he was at Florida, comes in with 7.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss.
“They’re really good,” Smart said. “I mean they’re the best defense in the country in terms of sacks, tackles for a loss, and it’s a product of their line-of-scrimmage play. They have upgraded all the way across the board.”
While the Rebels are better at defending the run, Georgia’s run game is not as productive as we’ve become accustomed to seeing. The Bulldogs, who gained 300 rushing yards against Ole Miss in that rout a year ago, have averaged 132 yards per game entering Saturday, which ranks 97th in FBS.
Long known as RBU, Georgia is down to three serviceable backs for Saturday’s game, including a freshman who could make his first career start and a former walk-on.
All eyes are on junior Trevor Etienne. The Bulldogs’ star back was sidelined with a rib injury for the second half of Saturday’s 34-20 win over Florida. He was not listed on the SEC’s availability report, but Etienne has been held out of contact in practice this week, and Smart said Etienne’s effectiveness could come down to his ability to tolerate pain.
“He’s toughing it out,” Smart said. “We’ll have to figure out all the things he can and can’t do.”
Georgia has lost two of its top three backs to injuries this year. Sophomore Roderick Robinson, a projected starter entering the season, likely is looking at a redshirt year after undergoing toe surgery in preseason camp. Branson Robinson, who started the season opener Aug. 31 a year after undergoing knee surgery, played in the first six games this season, but has missed the past two with an MCL sprain.
Against Florida, the Bulldogs turned to freshman Nate Frazier in the second half. He responded with 82 yards on a season-high 19 carries and a touchdown. Junior Cash Jones, a former walk-on, also played extensively and finished with 37 yards on three pass receptions, including a 22-yard touchdown.
“It was huge,” Georgia center Jared Wilson said of Frazier coming through Saturday. “Nate’s just so shifty. He’s kind of like a gnat, just a really good player who hits the holes hard. He’s emotional and he cares.”
Wilson’s return to the lineup is notable as well. He missed the end of the Alabama game and two games afterward with a lower-leg injury. It’s not a coincidence that the Bulldogs’ run game seemed to get back on track with Wilson’s return for the Texas game, when Georgia defeated the then-No. 1 Longhorns 30-15 in Austin.
Also notable was last week’s return of guard Tate Ratledge. A preseason All-American and 31-game starter, Ratledge was pressed into duty against Florida when Micah Morris suffered a leg injury early in the game. That was five weeks after Ratledge underwent TightRope surgery on his right ankle. Ratledge played 45 snaps, and Morris returned to play 44, and the Bulldogs head to Oxford as healthy on the offensive line as they’ve been all season.
Considering the challenge Georgia will face from the Rebels’ defense, that appears to be just in the nick of time.
Being exposed by UGA last season illustrated what the Rebels needed to shore up, and they have.
“We’re better defensively than we were a year ago, very different in the front six,” Kiffin said. “With the four D-linemen and two backers, we’re a lot different there. hopefully that will help us.”
Included on the Rebels’ front is Chris “Pooh” Paul, a 6-1, 235-pound linebacker from Cordele who transferred to Ole Miss from Arkansas. He leads the team with 65 tackles, has 10 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.
Defensive end Jared Ivey also should be a familiar name to Georgia fans. A 6-6, 285-pound senior, Ivey played for Georgia Tech before landing with the Rebels in 2022.
Certainly, that approach is different than the one used by Bulldogs, who prefer to develop talent recruited out of high school. But there is no denying the Rebels’ results. Their two losses have come by a total of six points to Kentucky and LSU, and neither could be blamed on defensive shortcomings.
Both teams should play with a desperate edge Saturday. For the two-loss Rebels, it might be a College Football Playoff elimination game. The one-loss Bulldogs can ill afford another slip-up, too.
“You know, Ole Miss is a tremendous team,” said Smart, who calls Kiffin a friend following their time together at Alabama. “The more you watch them, the more you respect them. When you look at offense and defense, both sides of the ball, they’re probably the best combination of those two things in our conference. They’re really good at both, and they’re playing really good football right now, so we got a great challenge over in Oxford.”
On that count, both teams agree.
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