Ole Miss hosts Georgia on Saturday night in Oxford, with its path to the Southeastern Conference championship game running through it. Georgia brings the SEC’s top-ranked defense, graded ahead of the Texas front Ole Miss saw in Austin. The Rebels counter with the conference’s best pass protection: five sacks allowed all season. Georgia’s body of work is thinner than its billing: Auburn ran for more than 200 yards on it in Athens.
Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis described his own read as an uneasy confidence. Willis said he told LSU fans in July that Ole Miss had the better team and was proved right, and will not make that claim about Georgia. He is confident anyway: Georgia managed a modest total against Florida despite four Florida turnovers and a run of short fields.
Former Ole Miss offensive lineman Todd Wade arrived in the same place by another route. Wade said he has not seen Georgia produce the dominant week-after-week showing he expected, pointing to an easier schedule. He contrasted the LSU buildup, when LSU had just beaten Clemson and looked unbeatable, and Ole Miss won anyway.
Wade’s mechanism is the run game, specifically Shekai Mills-Knight. Where Kewan Lacy finds space around a wall, Wade said, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Mills-Knight goes through it, and Ole Miss will need him Saturday. Wade said a downhill back has already changed how the line plays, lower and driving rather than chopping, his own complaint earlier in the year.
Wade does not expect comfort. He said the game will be close at halftime and that Ole Miss will not drop 21 points on Georgia, predicting 27-24 off two field goals and three touchdowns. Willis landed a point away. Both tied the margin to clean football and a loud Oxford crowd.
Photo: Terez Davis, October 31, 2026, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images.
Adapted from the November 6, 2026 episode of Locked On Ole Miss, hosted by Steven Willis, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Watch the full episode.