Kirby Smart opened his Ole Miss week press conference with a line Ole Miss fans will remember. Georgia’s coach said Ole Miss has “probably the best quarterback in the country who plays at a high level.”
“He is extremely hard to defend. And a great player. And a lot of respect for their staff. I know a lot of those guys. And the team, the way their team competes and plays. They’re playing really well right now. And at home, they’ve been exceptionally well.”
He also said Pete Golding “has done a tremendous job since taking over,” and called last season’s two games between the programs “really hard-fought battles” with “a lot of ebb and flow.”
“How long you got?”
Asked what makes Trinidad Chambliss so hard to defend outside the pocket, Smart started with a question of his own.
“Yeah, how long you got? Because, I mean, we could talk for an hour about it.”
Smart said he watched every game and wrote down the “wow plays,” and that Chambliss “had some wow plays against us last year, really in both games, but especially the second.” But he said the highlight plays are not what makes him dangerous.
“It’s the down and down out decision-making that he’s really elite at, the accuracy that he’s elite at, the release, the decision. I mean, he’s just pinpoint accurate. He has an anticipation of windows that’s probably unmatched.”
He added that Chambliss “goes forwards, backwards as fast as he goes sideways.”
The part people miss
Asked whether Chambliss is better before or after the snap, Smart said he is “elite at both,” and then pointed to the piece of his game he thinks gets overlooked.
“He knows how to navigate a pocket. I think his pocket presence, people don’t give him enough credit for because it’s not like— this guy’s not just like a take off and run guy. I mean, he steps up in the pocket. He goes through the pocket. He’s made some of his best wow plays, you know, working through the pocket.”
In the red zone
Ole Miss has scored on 30 of 31 red zone trips this season. Smart said a lot of that comes from the quarterback.
“There’s 2, 3 plays in the red area this year that you would say he’s never even supposed to pull that ball. And he does it and makes huge plays. And you’re not doing that against the sisters of the poor. He’s doing that against SEC teams.”
“You’re not like tricking the guy”
Asked how Georgia makes Chambliss uncomfortable, Smart said the answer is not a trick.
“There’s nothing we’re going to do that he hadn’t seen. So you’re not like tricking the guy. I think that’s what people get infatuated with is, well, how can I trick him and do that? You can’t do that. You got to go play good sound football.”
“You got to tackle the man that catches it, no yards after catch. You got to create some turnovers. You got to bat some balls. You got to make plays and get off the field when you have a chance on 3rd down. There’s not a perfect remedy. If there was, somebody would have done it.”
Georgia’s pass rush
A reporter noted Georgia has 26 sacks this season after 20 all of last season. Smart credited inside linebackers who blitz well, Chris Cole’s ability to play on the edge and inside, and his defensive staff mixing up the pressure.
“It’s a collective effort. I mean, you don’t get a sack because of you. You get a sack because of the pocket push on one side or the other, or scramble, or flush, and just different ways to create pressure and confusion for quarterbacks.”
Ole Miss leads the SEC in fewest sacks allowed and has not given up a sack in its last 137 pass-blocking snaps, according to the school’s game notes.
The road, at night
Asked about his program’s biggest challenge, Smart said staying healthy, then named this week’s.
“Challenge is going on the road and playing in an atmosphere that’s extremely hard to play in. But that’s this week, which is my single focus.”
He was also asked about Georgia’s run of road night games under the league’s TV deal. “I don’t speculate on it,” Smart said. “I don’t really get into the conspiracy theories. Everybody else does. I worry about playing the games.”
On injuries, Smart said Ellis Robinson “looks good” and that Georgia hopes he will be good to go.
Ole Miss and Georgia kick off Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC.
Photo: Trinidad Chambliss, October 31, 2026, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images.
Quotes from Kirby Smart’s Ole Miss week press conference, November 2, 2026. Ole Miss red zone and sacks-allowed figures via Ole Miss Athletics game notes.