No. 3 Georgia (12-1, CFP No. 3 seed) vs. No. 6 Mississippi (12-1, CFP No. 6 seed), Thursday, 8 p.m. EST (ESPN)
BetMGM Sportsbook College Football Odds: Georgia by 6 1/2.
Series record: Georgia leads 33-13-1.
The winner carries on to a CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 8. Georgia can be found in on the heels of an SEC championship and one year after a loss to Notre Dame in a quarterfinal at the same bowl video game. Now they'll try to beat Ole Miss a second time in one season. These two teams met in Athens on Oct. 18, with the Bulldogs winning 43-35. The was the Rebels' only loss. They earned a rematch by routing Tulane 41-10 in the opening round of the College Football Playoff on Dec. 20, about 3 weeks after their coach for the majority of this season, Lane Kiffin, left for LSU and was changed by former defensive coordinator Pete Golding.
Georgia tight end Lawson Luckie was a major match issue for the Ole Miss defense in the last meeting. He captured 3 TD passes from Bulldogs QB Gunner Stockton. Rebels linebackers and safeties will try to have a better strategy this time for covering Luckie, who was a crucial security valve for Stockton, particularly at a loss zone. All 3 of Luckie's touchdowns began snaps inside the Ole Miss 15-yard line.
Mississippi: QB Trinidad Chambliss has supplied one of the most engaging story lines in all of college football this season. The transfer from Division II Ferris State started the season as a backup and performed so well as an early season injury replacement that he kept the starting job for the rest of the season. Along the way, the dual-threat QB has passed for 3,298 yards and 19 TDs to choose 506 backyards and 8 TDs hurrying.
Georgia: Stockton also is a danger as both a passer and a runner, and enhanced throughout his first full year as the Bulldogs' starter. He's finished 70.7% of his passes this season for 2,691 backyards and 23 TDs while likewise rushing for 442 yards and eight TDs.
The 50th conference on the field between these SEC enemies will be their first in the postseason. It'll likewise be the eighth time they've played when both were ranked, with the Bulldogs having actually won five of the previous 7 such matchups. ... Georgia and Mississippi have never previously played twice in the very same season. ... Ole Miss' CFP opener was Golding's only video game as a college football head coach. ... Mississippi remains in its 11th Sugar Bowl, having gone 6-4 in its previous 10. The Rebels' last trip to the Sugar Bowl followed the 2021 season and they lost to Baylor 21-7. ... Ole Miss led the SEC this season in overall offense with 498 lawns per game and passing offense with 312.4 backyards per game. ... Georgia is making its 13th appearance in the Sugar Bowl, having gone 5-7 in its previous 12. ... The Bulldogs are in their fifth CFP, all under coach Kirby Smart. They are 5-2 in CFP games, including nationwide titles in 2021 and 2022. ... The Bulldogs won their 16th SEC champion with a 28-7 success over Alabama on Dec. 6. Georgia has actually now won 2 straight SEC titles for the very first time given that winning three in a row from 1980-82. ... Georgia has gone 65-6 because 2021, the finest record of any Football Bowl Subdivision group throughout the previous half decade. ... Last year's Sugar Bowl was delayed by a day because of the killing of 14 individuals on Bourbon Street by an attacker who drove a truck into a crowd and after that died in a shootout with police in the morning hours of New Year's Day.