Ole Miss-Georgia
Thursday, January 1
8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific
ESPN
Ole Miss-Georgia is not the first time that two SEC teams have met in the Sugar Bowl. Two SEC teams played in a Sugar Bowl game twice in the 1960s. Nevertheless, you don’t see this kind of scenario every postseason. It’s a rare thing. The New Year’s Day CFP tripleheader concludes in New Orleans with an SEC team guaranteed to win … and lose. Only one can advance to the Fiesta Bowl and the following week’s playoff semifinal round against the Miami-Ohio State winner.
Ole Miss and Georgia played one of the best and most entertaining games of the 2025 SEC football season in October. Ole Miss bolted out to an early lead, but Georgia reeled in the Rebels in the second half, surging late for a 43-35 win. Georgia has been an exceptional second-half team this season. UGA has come back from numerous deficits to win late. The Dawgs did so at Auburn, at Tennessee, and against Florida as well. Georgia has been a “hard to kill” team, and Ole Miss directly experienced how tough Georgia is. That having been said, Ole Miss did hang 35 points on Kirby Smart’s defense, so the Rebels will enter this game knowing they can score on their Sugar Bowl opponent.
Ole Miss-Georgia is a game where coaches take the spotlight
Dawgs have to think they own the advantage with Lane Kiffin out
Ole Miss-Georgia occurs under a unique and very particular set of circumstances. Most coaches in the CFP are coaching their 2025 teams even if they have been hired for 2026 by other schools. Ole Miss is the exception which proves the rule. The Rebels were not about to let Lane Kiffin coach them when he had agreed to move to rival LSU. Kiffin wanted to coach Ole Miss in the playoff, but the school reasonably said no. Now Ole Miss goes into the Georgia game with new head coach Pete Golding, who has extensive SEC coaching experience and has gone up against Kirby Smart before this year. Golding isn’t new to this rodeo in the sense that he has coached plenty of years in the SEC, but he is new to this in terms of being a head coach, the man ultimately responsible for the game plan and for in-game decisions in high-leverage situations.
Georgia will have every reason to think that Kirby Smart, clearly a top-three head coach in college football, can find the right answers in this game, especially with multiple weeks off against an Ole Miss team whose game against Tulane did not meaningfully prepare the Rebels for a step up in weight class.
Ole Miss Rebels-Georgia Bulldogs Odds
Hear TJ Rives and Jason Powers break down this game on the 3Dog Thursday Podcast by clicking Play below:
Spread: Ole Miss +6.5 (+100), Georgia -6.5 (-120)
Total: 56.5 (Over -110, Under -110)
Underdog moneyline: Ole Miss +200
The Kirby Smart-versus-Pete Golding coaching matchup is a mismatch. Georgia allowed 35 to Ole Miss in the first game between these teams and still won. It’s highly likely UGA will be much better on defense in this game. Georgia minus 6.5 seems like the obvious thing to do here. Don’t overcomplicate the situation and ride with Kirby.