OXFORD — Ole Miss got two field-storming celebrations for the price of one.

The Rebels forced three turnovers and shut down No. 3 Georgia’s offense after an opening touchdown drive to earn one of their biggest wins in years, 28-10 Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

It was Ole Miss’ first win against a top-five opponent since 2015, and Georgia’s first regular-season loss to a team other than Alabama since 2020.

“There’s not been a signature game like this. We’ve been close. So I’m just really happy for our fans, to be able to enjoy this,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said. “I’m happy for our players, too, to play that way in a win that ends up being dominant. To win by three scores, that’s a lot of people doing a lot of things right.”

Ole Miss fans stormed the field when Georgia (7-2, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) turned the ball over on downs with 16 seconds left. Officials cleared the field so Ole Miss (8-4, 4-2) could take a knee and run out the clock, then the fans swarmed the field again.

Schools are fined $250,000 by the SEC when their fans storm the field, and the money goes to their opponent.

“That might be two fines because they actually stormed it twice. And that money goes to Georgia, because we got LSU’s money,” Kiffin said. “They were excited, they were passionate. I wish they would have waited, but sometimes I don’t think they knew it was fourth down and the clock stops. It is what it is. But an awesome environment. I’m sure this party in the ‘Sip will go on for definitely over 24 hours.”

Ole Miss rushed the field 16 seconds early against Georgia 😭 pic.twitter.com/kGusaXhcTD

— ESPN (@espn) November 10, 2024

Georgia’s Nate Frazier scored on a 2-yard run to cap the game’s opening possession, and then Ole Miss dominated from there.

The Rebels sacked Georgia quarterback Carson Beck five times, intercepted him once, and forced four fumbles — two of which came on strip sacks.

Ole Miss recovered two of the four fumbles and also had nine tackles for loss. Jared Ivey and Princely Umanimielen had two sacks and one forced fumble apiece, and linebackers TJ Dottery and Chris Paul combined for 19 tackles.

Georgia only had 245 total yards, its lowest output since 2017. Beck was 20-of-31 passing for 186 yards.

“We stopped the run and then we had some fun,” Ivey said. “After we were able to stop the run, we were able to get after the quarterback. Great job.”

Ole Miss’ offense was not overpowering, but kept piling up enough points to maintain some space once it got the lead.
Ulysses Bentley IV had a 9-yard touchdown run to tie the game in the first quarter and Jaxson Dart threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Juice Wells midway through the third. Beyond that, the Rebels settled for five field goals from Caden Davis.

Dart was 13-of-22 passing for 199 yards and one touchdown, and also ran for 50 yards.

Davis’ 32-yard field goal with 1:11 remaining gave the Rebels a three-score lead, at 28-10, and started the celebration in earnest.

“I told my team during the week I thought they were the most talented team we’d played,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “They really should be undefeated. I know people think that’s not true but they outplayed us tonight, outcoached us and did a great job.”

Besides being a signature win, the victory rekindled Ole Miss’ chances of making the College Football Playoff. It started the day ranked No. 16 in the Playoff rankings.

No. 4 Miami also took its first loss Saturday, 28-23 against unranked Georgia Tech, and No. 11 Alabama and No. 15 LSU played what likely amounted to an elimination game Saturday night that would give the loser a third loss. The combination of results should allow Ole Miss to take advantage and move into the top 12.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve put ourselves in position now — not just with beating Georgia, but beating them like that — to be in the playoffs,” Kiffin said. “I’m not worried about the rankings and all that. That’ll sort itself out. We have two more games to play and we need to go win those two games to be in that position.”