Lane Kiffin has had success at Ole Miss, but nothing like he experienced on Saturday night at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
The No. 16 Rebels took control of their College Football Playoff destiny, in Kiffin’s estimation, by dealing the No. 3-ranked Georgia program its worst loss in five seasons, winning 28-10.
“I’m not worried about the rankings and all that, that will work itself out, we have two more games to play and we need to win those games to put ourselves in that position,” Kiffin said “The playoffs, to me, were going to go through Georgia.
“I thought about this week, coming off four non-winning seasons they made a decision to bring us here, and a lot of really good things have happened,” Kiffin said. “But there’s not been a signature game like this, been close when Alabama was here, just really happy because I know we’ve been close with games.
“That’s a great Georgia team, outside of Alabama, they’d won 51 straight games against other people since Covid (2020).”
Kiffin swelled with pride when asked about his defense piling up 24 sacks over the past three SEC games, and holding Georgia to just 59 yards rushing.
“That doesn’t happen where you put Georgia in that sentence vey often,” Kiffin said. “To be at the end of the game and they’re throwing screens to stay away from our rush was pretty cool.”
Georgia got to Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart early, sacking him on the opening series and knocking him out of the game temporarily.
But Dart recovered enough to return to the game -- finishing 13-of-22 passing for 199 yards and a touchdown and interception -- and the Rebels offensive line and play calling stepped up.
13-of-22 passing for 199 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
“I think the offensive line has done a good job the last few weeks in pass protection, they had to do it today,” Kiffin said. “We said it would be tough to run the ball today, our starting running back was out, (and) they are really big and long.
“We called a lot of pass plays on purpose, a lot of controlled passing to say this will be our , extended run game, because those are tough matchups out there.”
The Rebels are off this week before closing their regular season at Florida and at home against Mississippi State.
Ole Miss, obviously, owns the head-to-head tiebreaker should it come to that, while LSU would own the head-to-head against the Rebels having beat Kiffin in overtime earlier this season.
SEC LEADERS RECORDS
(top two play in SEC Championship Game)
Tennessee 5-1 SEC (8-1 overall)
Beat Miss. St. 33-14; Next: at Georgia, vs. UTEP, at Vanderbilt
Texas A&M 5-1 SEC (7-2 overall)
Idle; Next: vs. New Mexico St., at Auburn, vs. Texas
Texas 4-1 SEC (8-1 overall)
Beat Florida 49-17; Next: at Arkansas, vs. Kentucky, at Texas A&M
Georgia 5-2 SEC (7-2 overall)
Lost 28-10 Ole Miss; Next: vs. Tennessee, vs. UMass, vs. Georgia Tech
Ole Miss 4-2 SEC (8-2 overall)
Won 28-10 Georgia; Next: idle, at Florida, vs. Mississippi State
Alabama 4-2 SEC, (7-2 overall)
Beat LSU 42-13; Next: vs. Mercer, at Oklahoma, vs. Auburn
Missouri 3-2 SEC, (7-2 overall)
Beat Oklahoma 30-23; Next: at South Carolina, at Miss. St., vs. Arkansas
LSU 3-2 SEC (6-3 overall)
Lost to Alabama 42-13; Next: at Florida, vs. Vanderbilt, vs. Oklahoma
