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ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit named Georgia college football’s team to beat last weekend, and he says the No. 2 Bulldogs’ trip to No. 10 Ole Miss is the Week 10 game he refuses to miss.
Herbstreit, who’s calling an afternoon game Saturday, told ESPN’s Get Up on Friday he’ll sprint home to flip between Georgia-Ole Miss and Miami-Notre Dame. “Ole Miss and Georgia, the way that game ended last year in New Orleans at the Sugar Bowl, I cannot wait to watch that game,” he said.
Herbstreit made that pick on College GameDay on Oct. 31, two weeks after a 27-24 home loss to Auburn knocked Georgia from No. 1.
“I said Georgia,” Herbstreit said. “And they were just coming off of a loss against Auburn. Gunner Stockton had three turnovers. Didn’t look good.”
Stockton’s final giveaway, a fumble with 58 seconds left, set up Auburn’s winning field goal. But Georgia beat Florida 27-8 later that Saturday, running for 217 yards and forcing four turnovers, and Herbstreit credits the Bulldogs’ work up front.
“If you’ve watched Georgia, again, going back to the line of scrimmage on both sides, it reminds you of some of those Kirby Smart teams and what they can do at the line of scrimmage and control the flow and the tempo of the game,” he said.
Herbstreit singled out the Rebels quarterback. “You have to deal with him and his accuracy, and he’s very decisive,” he said. “[He] does a great job of stepping up and making you have to respect his legs, and then always has his eyes downfield and makes plays.”
The former Ferris State star leads the SEC with 2,189 passing yards and 18 touchdown passes and has run for seven more scores. But his eight interceptions through eight games are five more than he threw all of last season, and he’ll play without All-America running back Kewan Lacy, who dislocated his left shoulder against Texas.
“It’s a work in progress, but we’re not expecting to have him this week,” Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said Monday.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart, whose defense faced Chambliss twice last season, said the 6-foot passer has “an anticipation of windows that’s probably unmatched.”
Ole Miss knocked Georgia out of the College Football Playoff 39-34 in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal on Jan. 1, when Chambliss hit De’Zhaun Stribling for 40 yards on third down to set up Lucas Carneiro’s tiebreaking 47-yard field goal with six seconds left.
Georgia (7-1, 5-1 SEC) sits No. 2 in the first College Football Playoff rankings, a top-four spot that would earn a first-round bye. Ole Miss (6-2, 4-2 SEC) is No. 10, a placement that fueled SEC favoritism claims, and Georgia is likely the last ranked team left on the Rebels’ regular-season schedule.
The Rebels also bring a 16-game home winning streak, the longest active run among Power Four programs, into what Herbstreit called “a massive one in Oxford.”
Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ABC, the same window as Miami-Notre Dame on NBC.