No. 6 Ole Miss will face off against No. 3 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl/College Football Playoff quarterfinal in nine days.
In that time a lot of opinions and analysis will be made about the rematch, who should do what to win and who will win predictions.
In fact, that’s already happening. So, might as well start paying attention to what football experts are saying about both the Rebels and Bulldogs.
One expert talked about rematch recently and considering his accomplishments at Georgia, he knows a thing or two about the Bulldogs.
ESPN analyst David Pollack, an all-time great Bulldog, appeared on Brad Logan’s podcast to talk about Ole Miss.
“I like that Ole Miss understood the way to beat Georgia and they did it,” Pollack said. “A lot of people would go, ‘Wait a minute, Trinidad Chambliss, why would we throw the football and put the game on him?’ Well, it’s because we had the biggest advantage out there and the ball came out quick and they understood coverages. Georgia played off, they threw the ball short. Georgia played tight coverage, they took advantage of it with Trinidad scrambling.”
Pollack also emphasized that in order for the Rebels to win, they don’t exactly need a huge game from Lacy. It’d help, but isn’t required based on the previous meeting this season.
“If you’re going to beat Georgia, you’ve got to make sure you don’t run it right at them,” Pollack said. “[Kewan] Lacy wasn’t a factor in that game. A lot of times if you say Lacy’s not a factor in the game, one of the best running backs in the country, you’re like, ‘Ole Miss is probably not doing real well. Ole Miss is going to lose.’ No, they were very much in the game. Scored on their first five possessions. Five drives, five touchdowns. Everything went their way.”
Defensively, Pollack repeated some of things Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said during Monday’s press conference about getting third down stops.
“If I’m going to give a critique, the other side, it’s going to be the defense and not getting stops. Zero stops. That will be Pete Golding’s challenge. Can they physically meet the demands that Georgia puts on you for a whole game? They don’t make no bones about it. They’ve got a QB that’s going to run it. They’ve got running backs that are going to run it. The passing game is mostly revolved around screens, which is more runs. Physically, you’ve got to strap your big-boy pads on and be ready to play a full game, because they are going to give body blows, body blows and body blows. Are you going to give out? That’s the Georgia way.”
Of course, no conversation about Ole Miss is complete without some talk about Lane Kiffin’s departure.
“You can only do what you can do,” Pollack said. “Lane is a guy that’s different and his personality is different. The situation stinks. That’s a college football problem. The fact we can hire a coach for a new job when he’s coaching his team is stupid. Everybody in the world would agree with that. Fix it. This isn’t hard.
“Everybody needs to finish their season. Coaches can’t do it because of the calendar. We’re robbing the sport. We’re robbing Ole Miss of an opportunity of something they’ve never been able to do in this College Football Playoff era. I didn’t love how it was handled. I wouldn’t have done it. Would have probably chosen a different path. I love that Lane found happiness. I’ve been proud of his sobriety journey and his faith continuing to grow. Ole Miss is the reason that happened. The way it went was not the best look for college football.”
Pollack won’t find many people who disagree with him, excluding those in Baton Rouge. It was messy, ugly and didn’t have to go down the way it did.
