It’s Georgia week, and Tuesday’s show was all about one question: how do you actually beat these guys? Pete Golding basically stood at the podium and handed over the blueprint, Kirby Smart spent fifteen minutes telling everybody that Trinidad Chambliss might be the best quarterback in the country, and the news we were dreading on the running back room finally got confirmed. Here’s everything that mattered from the Tuesday episode. Hotty Toddy.
Pete Golding handed over the blueprint — and confirmed the Kewan Lacy news
Golding stood up Monday and, without giving away a single play, gave away the whole plan. He told us exactly why Ole Miss lost to Georgia in Athens a year ago and exactly why it won in the Sugar Bowl: in Athens the defense didn’t communicate, missed tackles, gave up explosive plays and could never get Georgia off rhythm. In New Orleans it was the opposite — better on the run on early downs, Georgia behind the chains, negative plays, takeaways and a couple of huge fourth-down stops. The line that belongs on the defensive meeting-room wall: if you can’t stop the run against these guys, it’s going to be a long night. That’s the recipe — stop the run on first and second down, don’t give up explosive plays, win the critical downs, take the ball away and make Georgia drive the length of the field.
Then the news nobody wanted: Kewan Lacy is not expected to play Saturday. We all assumed it, but that’s confirmation — he’s still grinding through the shoulder, and this isn’t an overnight thing. So the plan is the group that just ran for 224 yards and four touchdowns against Auburn, led by Shekai Mills-Knight. The catch is that Georgia isn’t Auburn — they held Florida to 54 yards rushing. If you’re looking for hope, it’s this: 11 of the last 12 quarters, this run defense has been elite, not just good. The flaw that has to get cleaned up is third down — the first-half struggles against Auburn are the kind of thing that will get you beat against Georgia’s screen game.
Chambliss stopped chasing the hype — and that’s the version Ole Miss needs
The most interesting thing Golding said Monday wasn’t even about Georgia — it was about his own quarterback. Asked what changed for Chambliss in the second half against Auburn, Golding said the staff designed some runs at halftime to get his legs going, and that some of the first-half misses were just drops. But the real answer was the mindset: quit trying to live up to the expectation and all the hype, and just do your job. A week after three interceptions at Texas, that’s the tell — he’d been pressing, trying to earn the Heisman on every snap. Once he let that go, he went 13-of-19 for 163 yards and two touchdowns after halftime. That’s the guy Ole Miss needs Saturday night. Not the hype version — the free version.
And the receivers keep rotating the hero. Golding said it feels like a different dude every week, and credited Chambliss for working through his progressions instead of force-feeding one guy. Even with Deuce Alexander — the most explosive weapon on the roster — having a quiet day, other guys stepped up, and Caleb Cunningham is turning into exactly the kind of receiver this program has churned out for 15 years.
Kirby Smart on Chambliss: “How long you got?”
Smart spent about fifteen minutes on Ole Miss on Monday and did not sound like a coach looking past anybody. He opened by calling Chambliss probably the best quarterback in the country. Asked how you defend everything he does outside the pocket, his first words were, “how long you got?” He said he watched every game and wrote down the wow plays — but it’s the down-to-down decisions that scare him, called Chambliss pinpoint accurate, said his anticipation throwing into windows is probably unmatched, and made a point people don’t make enough: his pocket presence is underrated. He’s not just a take-off-and-run guy.
Smart’s plan was all respect and no gimmicks: tackle well, create turnovers, get off the field on third down — and if that was a perfect remedy, as he put it, somebody else would have done it already. He also flagged the matchup to circle. Georgia already has 26 sacks this season after 20 all of last year; Ole Miss leads the SEC in fewest sacks allowed and hasn’t given one up in 137 pass-blocking snaps. Something has to give. And Smart admitted the thing he’s most worried about is going on the road into an atmosphere that’s extremely hard to play in — Ole Miss has won 16 straight at home, and the Georgia coach knows it.
The number: a coin flip Vegas doesn’t quite believe yet
Here’s where it gets fun. Vegas has Ole Miss as about a 3.5-point underdog, and a good bit of the money and the bets are on Georgia — but the line isn’t moving. Meanwhile the Loom model, which is finally live, calls this one a true coin flip: a tenth of a point between the two teams. Georgia has the sacks and a steady game manager in Gunnar Stockton; Ole Miss has the quarterback the other coach just called the best in the country, plus the crowd Smart is openly worried about.
And the stakes are simple. This is host, not host, or miss it entirely. Win out — and that starts with Georgia — and a first-round playoff game could land in Oxford. Lose, and you’re left hoping, and they’ll find a way to leave you out. The road runs straight through Saturday night.
Also on the show: John Fourcade stopped by
Ole Miss legend John Fourcade joined the show to break down the Auburn win and look ahead to Georgia, and he didn’t hedge: “I like the Rebels in this game.” He loved finally seeing a bigger back carry the load — Shekai Mills-Knight’s second-quarter running was a big part of unlocking that offense — and he thinks Ole Miss has the edge at quarterback and receiver. His key to Saturday is keeping Georgia’s quarterback in the pocket and making him throw it; contain the legs, he said, and the Rebels can take care of business at home. It shapes up as the kind of game where a disruptor up front — a Suntarine Perkins type of night — can swing it.
Join the Everydayers on Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC