Ole Miss vs Georgia point spread: Picking Rebels vs Bulldogs

The spotlight, both in the SEC and nationally, will turn some of its attention to Athens this weekend when Ole Miss walks into Sanford Stadium to take on one of the top dogs in Georgia. However, with Vegas against them by double-digits, what are the chances that the Rebels could, at the very least, come home with a victory against the spread?

Andy Staples and The Athletic’s Max Olson shared their thoughts on this game during Monday’s episode of ‘Andy Staples On3’. To start, Olson dove into the recent background of this matchup. He first reminded everyone that this one could get a little extra juice from Kirby Smart.

“I was looking up the history on this one? Georgia has won 10 in a row if you don’t count vacated wins,” explained Olson. “The last game that they played was ’16. Ole Miss won that one, Ole Miss took a 45-point lead. That was Kirby Smart’s first loss as a head coach. Do you think he has ever forgotten that one?”

To get into this edition, though, much of the discussion came down to the Ole Miss offense vs. the Georgia defense. With two of the top units on their respective ends, something will have to give when it comes to points per game with the Rebels.

If nothing else, Olson was, at worst, enticed to take Ole Miss at +11.5. It would require the best of the best from Jaxson Dart but, based on Missouri’s performance there last week as well, he doesn’t see why the Rebels couldn’t post a similar performance in a losing effort.

“I do think that Ole Miss has the offensive firepower to make this very interesting. And I do think it’s, ultimately, going to come down to can Jaxson Dart be the best version of himself? Can he take care of the football, be very mature in this spot, and not be dangerous in the bad way?” Olson asked. “It’s a little bit tempting. I think Georgia will win but I’m a little tempted to say Ole Miss can cover this number.”

“On -11.5, though? Missouri, ultimately? It looked on paper like I’d bet the farm on Georgia last week. And Missouri was able to cover it, right? I think, at least, Ole Miss has the weapons to get, like, that late in the fourth quarter score so that they cover but they don’t win,” explained Olson. “That would be the one that would scare me a little bit if I was betting on it.”

In the end, Staples’ reasoning was very similar. On a scale of 1-10 regarding how shocked he’d be if Ole Miss actually won over Georgia, he said he’d be a 10, specifically due to the ‘Dawg’s defense. Even so, he does see the Rebels having enough on Saturday to keep it within reason.

“You know what? I’m going to take Ole Miss to cover in this one,” Staples said.

“It might be a backdoor cover. It might be that they’re down 18, they score, and they lose by 11 – something like that. But I just need to see this offense be successful against this defense more consistently than what we’ve seen so far,” explained Staples. “Georgia is now what they were defensively in ’21 and ’22. They’re still really good, they still have very good players.”