OXFORD – Last year, Ole Miss received its wakeup call in a stunning 20-17 loss at the hands of unranked Kentucky at home. This season’s notice came Saturday afternoon in happier circumstances, although the underlying message afterward was similar.
If the Rebels are going to get where they believe they can go, they need to be sharper.
Ole Miss (6-0, 3-0 SEC) entered its matchup with Washington State (3-3) as a more than 30-point favorite. The Rebels struggled to find rhythm throughout the afternoon, and senior quarterback Trinidad Chambliss had his lowest yardage total (268 total yards) in his four starts. Trailing by three with just over a minute to play, the Cougars got the ball back but ultimately came up short, with a pass-and-lateral combination ultimately ending at the Ole Miss 38-yard line.
The Rebels won 24-21, but the mood postgame from head coach Lane Kiffin and his players felt more like a loss than anything. Ole Miss plays at Georgia (5-1 , 3-1 SEC) this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on ABC. The matchup will be featured for ESPN’s College GameDay.
Ole Miss defeated then-No. 3 Georgia in Oxford last season 28-10.
“You want every game to go smooth and to not face adversity and not see any bumps in the road throughout the whole game. But we know that’s going to happen for each game, and honestly it’s a wakeup call for us coming off a bye week,” Chambliss said. “And we know that if we play like how we played today, we’re going to get beat pretty badly. We have a tough conference – we play South Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma. So we just have to be prepared every week and just have a faster start. And like I said when we face adversity, just stay even-keel.”
Washington State entered its matchup at Ole Miss averaging about 78 yards rushing per game. The Cougars ended up with 127 yards on 4.5 yards per carry, and running back Kirby Vorhees ran for a season-high 88 yards. The Rebels entered the game with five sacks this season but got to Washington State’s Zevi Eckhaus four times. Eckhaus had five completions of at least 15 yards.
Offensively, the Rebels racked up a season-low 439 yards of offense, including just 176 in the second half. Chambliss finished with two passing touchdowns and one rushing, and sophomore running back Kewan Lacy ran for a season-best 142 yards.
Defending SEC champion Georgia is coming off a 20-10 win at Auburn. It will be the third-straight season the Rebels and Bulldogs will meet as ranked foes.
“Again, we survived. Maybe – you guys have heard me talk about reserve judgment of what’s bad and good – and maybe we’ll look back and say this was good to have this game to wake us up and stop reading where we’re ranked,” Kiffin said. “ … We’re ranked four, we looked about the 84th team in the country throughout that game.”
