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‘Need to win to keep pace’: Playoffs on the line (and Ole Miss knows it) vs. Georgia

Ben Garrettby:Ben Garrett•11/04/24•

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Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart and head coach Lane Kiffin (Photo credit: Ole Miss Football/X)

Third-year Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart said, in so many words, after LSU the Rebels had no option but to win out. 

Their College Football Playoff hopes all but depended on it.

So far, so good. Ole Miss has back-to-back wins over Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Rebels set multiple records against the Razorbacks. Dart, in particular, posted one of the very best games of his career. 

He was named SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week with his leading wide receiver, Jordan Watkins. He’s the AP’s National Player of the Week. TJ Dottery was Co-Defensive Player of the Week. Princely Umanmielen was Defensive Lineman of the Week.

None of it matters come Saturday.

Dart was right; the Rebels do have to win out. Next up for No. 16 Ole Miss (7-2, 3-2 SEC) is No. 2 Georgia (7-1, 5-1) in Oxford Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC.

“It’s a great challenge this week,” Ole Miss fifth-year head coach Lane Kiffin said. “We’re excited about playing at home. We screwed two games up earlier this year. When you do that, you put yourselves in stations. I don’t talk about playoffs normally and championships and all that. I think it really doesn’t matter. It’s how you prepare and how you play. 

“But I told our players, because they hear it all the time. You still have that stuff alive. In my opinion, anybody that’s going to win it is going to have to go through Georgia at some point. They’re the premier program in college football outside of Alabama. They won 51 straight games.

“They’re loaded, as always, and playing really well. Went into Texas and beat them. This is a big challenge for us. We’ve kind of put ourselves in a playoff situation for two games in a row. This would be the third one in a row that we would need to win to keep pace for that.”

Kiffin, Umanmielen and wide receiver Cayden Lee all met the media after practice on Monday. 

Here’s everything they had to say.

RELATED: Sudu’s Spirit Reunion: Ole Miss actually has a chance against Georgia this year

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