Ole Miss and Georgia play at 2:30 Saturday on ABC. You know the particulars by now and in every direction, so here are just a few added ponderings as we are now a day away. Remember for home games we'll have the MPW Digital Postgame Show, presented by Realtree, but there's no watch party for home games.
1. Can you pick on Georgia cornerbacks?
The Bulldogs almost exclusively play Julian Humphrey and Daylen Everette at the cornerback positions, and both are highly regarded, but teams have found success on them this season. PFF College rates Humphrey a solid 69.9 in coverage and Everette at 62.1 in the same category. By comparison, Trey Amos of Ole Miss is at 79.9, as he's been a true lock-down for Ole Miss on one side of the field. The Rebels have two other cornerbacks -- Jadon Canady and Isaiah Hamilton -- with higher PFF coverage grades than Everette. While Florida's quarterback issues made that comparison moot, Texas targeted the two Georgia cornerbacks a combined 16 times and turned it into 12 catches with only one pass breakup. Mississippi State had two touchdowns against the two cornerbacks, and Auburn hit Everette for seven catches on eight targets for 98 yards. Alabama completed eight of nine targets against the pair. You get the picture. Ole Miss heeds to be healthy though. On the latest availability report (I know, I know), Tre Harris is listed as doubtful, and Jordan Watkins and Cayden Lee are listed as questionable.
2. Georgia seems fallible in the run game
The Bulldogs still boast some of the nation's best players obviously and have a quality group of physical offensive linemen, but UGA is pedestrian in the run game this season. This isn't the usual lean-on-you set of Bulldogs. Georgia is ninth in the SEC in rushing yards per attempt at 3.9 and 14th in yards per game. One key note is UGA is second in touchdowns rushing, meaning they still do a nice job of red-zone run game which is something Ole Miss struggles with offensively. Overall for the season, Georgia is rushing for a yard less than a year ago per attempt, and more than half of that difference is from yards after contact. Last year Georgia picked up 3.2 yards after contact, and that's down to 2.8 this season. Trevor Etienne is back for UGA, and he's averaging 5.1 yards per carry with a whopping 3.62 of that after contact.
3. It's a middle of the field game
Georgia wants to use the middle of the field with athletic matchups in the passing game, and that's been one of Ole Miss' defensive liabilities this season. As noted on Monday, Ole Miss linebackers gave up 12 catches on 12 targets in matchup coverage to Arkansas. Georgia has excelled with the short middle of the field with taking advantage of linebackers when Carson Beck is playing well. The thing is, that's also the area of the field where Beck makes the most mistakes, and defensives can fool him. Can UGA exploit Ole Miss there? Can Ole Miss catch a couple balls Beck errantly throws? That may be the game. UGASports.com points out Beck, in his first 29 games, averaged 9.17 yards per attempt and threw eight interceptions. In his last five games, he's at 7.80 yards per attempt and has thrown 11 interceptions.
Quick add-on: Jaxson Dart was excellent last week with time to throw and go through reads and step up in the pocket, and the Ole Miss front has done a nice job with pass protection in recent games. Georgia blitzes around one-third of pass plays on the season, though that went up to about 45 percent versus Mississippi State. As Siskey was talking about earlier in the week, a key is Dart recognizes Georgia's exotic coverages and finding the right space at the right time. Ole Miss goes as he goes as far as his ability to diagnose and step up and throw. Have to think he's going to run, as well, considering the running back room. Again, as Siskey said, all hands on deck. FWIW: Domonique Thomas had really good pass protection grades last week. Maybe nothing, maybe something.
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