A bad night in Athens: Ole Miss falls to Georgia in a rout

A blowout was always a possibility whether you’re a reasonable Ole Miss fan or not.

Georgia (10-0, 7-0 SEC) has not lost a night game in Athens in about 15 years, and Ole Miss (8-2, 5-2 SEC) did not play its best football for two thirds of the game. The Bulldogs dominated in a 52-17 game that was close for about the first 20 minutes of play with both teams exchanging touchdowns on opening drives.

Quinshon Judkins and the Ole Miss rushing attack seemed to be clicking early on, and Judkins finished with two touchdowns to increase his season total to 14. The Rebel offense overall struggled especially with the departure of quarterback Jaxson Dart who left with what looked like a shoulder injury.

Backup QB Spencer Sanders went four of seven passing for 61 yards while Dart passed for 112 yards on 10 of 17 passing and one interception.

The Rebel defense was gashed time and again by the Bulldogs run game, which totaled 300 yards, five touchdowns and averaged 8.6 yards per carry. I could be wrong, but it didn’t seem like Georgia was trying to run up the score - Ole Miss just could not stop them early or late in the game.

Any time the Rebels lose there’s going to be frustration, and I think most fans were not thinking Saturday would be a win. In fact, in the preseason I would expect most Ole Miss fans to have looked at the schedule and say, “Road games at Bama and Georgia? That’s two losses.”

The bar of expectations can certainly be raised in future seasons, and head coach Lane Kiffin wants to build a championship program. But on Saturday, the talent gap seemed a lot larger than many expected.