Andy & Ari On3 - Ole Miss DOMINATES Georgia and keeps its College Football Playoff hopes alive

Episode Date: November 10, 2024

You’ve had Wendy’s Nuggs dipped in sauce. But have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11. Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker, try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs.It was a game that always had major playoff implications, but the implications were heightened by rain throughout the day in Oxford. Watch here as Andy & Ari break down a WILD game between the Bulldogs and Rebels from Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.Watch us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/DwVHXk5rqCcHosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey 

You're about to hear hotty toddy like all all the crowds still on the field so you're about to hear hotty toddy you know what that's called Andy a party that they've never lost it's called return on investment that's what that's called exactly with it okay so after Ole Miss lost to Georgia last year, Lane Kiffin, I mean he said this, they said they gotta go out and get players that are as physical in the trenches as Georgia's. Ari, they whipped Georgia's ass in the trenches today.

Yeah, no, I mean it was like an entire, this wasn't a fluke, cute, upset. This isn't, you know, we're storming the field because we beat somebody we're not supposed to beat. Like Ole Miss, throughout four quarters of this football game, looked like the better team. I mean, if not for that Jackson-Dart interception that led to an easy touchdown in the first quarter,

this game's not even close. Yeah, no, it just, it showed up with a lot of the players that they brought in during the off-season, right? Like who was the person who caught the touchdown that extended the lead to 12 there in the third quarter Like who was the person who caught the touchdown that extended the lead to 12 there in the third quarter? Who was the person who fell on the fumble that was juice Wells by the well? Walter Nolan recovered the farm and the arc around the left tackle, the sack,

Carson Beck, Prince Lou Manme Allen. Like, yeah. So like that's the thing. Like last year, Georgia and Ole Miss played and Ole Miss was an eight and one team. They went to Athens to try to figure out how far of a gap there was. They lost by 35 points. The gap was massive, yeah.

So they go out, they return a bunch of the players in the old days. What do you do with those players? You hope that they develop in the offseason, you want to recruit better, but you can't fix that issue in 2018 in one year. Ole Miss got out the checkbook, they went out and got players that weren't just good, but really important pieces that show up in games like this. Now, they didn't create this roster to lose to Kentucky. They didn't create this roster to lose to LSU.

But where are they right now as we walk off this field? They're in college football playoff projections. Yep. They're back in the national championship discussion and they didn't take the route that they thought they would, beating Kentucky, maybe losing this game but playing close. But they arrived in the same destination, which is like with a roster that's good enough to win a playoff game or two or three heading into the mid-November. Think about the difference in vibe between where Lane Kiffin was in Athens a year ago,

368 days ago to this moment to where they are right now. Yeah, this is a top five roster. Whether it can actually get to the college, because it's got to win out. Like Ole Miss has to win out and we've seen results just today that would say, oh well a surprise can happen. But if they can win out, if they can make the college football playoff, they can win games in the college football playoff with this

roster. Anybody they see, they'd be capable of beating if they put it play a game like they played today. You know what I think it is too? It's like I'm in this environment right now. We watch the goalposts come down. I followed Deuce Knight onto the field, recorded that. Usually when you see stuff like that, when you see a field storming, it's just a celebration of a great night Yeah, but to me this felt like a celebration of the turning point of the program now I don't know if they're gonna go out and win a national championship

But Andy I can look at you right now and say they have the players to do it and you couldn't say that a year No, you couldn't say that and the thing about this game that I think is really interesting because this happened in the first quarter and I think people have probably forgotten it happened in the first quarter and I think people have probably forgotten it by now and then you've moved on you're watching the Alabama LSU game out of the corner of your eye. Austin Simmons came in and gave them a touchdown drive. Awesome. They've got another quarterback if something were to happen to Jackson Dart God forbid they have another quarterback. It's like one of the most complete drives of the

year. Yes. And here's what was striking to me. Now listen, we can't sit here in this video and pretend like it was only Ole Miss who ascended. Correct. Georgia has also come down, but I think that's also part of the opportunity. When you make that investment, you say,

hey, we have all these players coming back. Not a lot of teams have this much player coming back. And we have a manageable schedule, and the teams that are supposed to be the monsters of the sport are not as deep and talented as they've been in the past. So I don't think that this Ole Miss team, you know, maybe I'm wrong, but like they wouldn't be equipped

to beat 2020 Alabama, but 2020 Alabama doesn't exist this year. It doesn't exist anymore. Right, because that's, Georgia lost this game just as much because it didn't have those special playmakers on offense. Right. I mean, I remember just watching, like watching from the end zone as Georgia is trying to run its offense, and you're like, who scares you? Who could get the ball that could touch the ball and score?

Where if you're a defensive coordinator, if you're Pete Golding, if you're that guy, If you're this guy. He kind of looks like Pete Golding. Yeah! Tell him how you're looking, dude. Smoke him if you're Pete Golding if you're that guy he kind of looks like Pete Golding. This is in Alabama Tennessee really wow all right so nobody that scares your defensive coordinator, like if he touches the ball like Brock Bowers last year, like Lad McConkey last year, he could go. We've been saying this since the beginning of the year too and I felt not saying it, but like the reason why, also too, we also talk about how open Ole Miss receivers were

the entire game. Yeah. Like they weren't just open, they were wide open and Trey Harris wasn't even playing. He wasn't playing. And I think they had to adjust their offense when they lost Trey Harris. I think they got uncomfortable thinking we can throw deep Trey Harris whenever we want to. And then they got a little over relying on that. Now they've had to diversify it. You saw good. Absolutely. They're spreading around.uce Wells had a good game. Yeah. It's pretty impressive. But also, Georgia couldn't run the ball.

No. Like, that was not shocking, because we've watched Ole Miss's defense play all year. We've watched George's offense play all year. But they really were limited. Yeah. So, you know, I don't know what this means, but, you know, to wrap this video, Andy, I think we have to acknowledge that the

SEC is creating a lot of teams that have cases for the playoff. Yes. And, like, how many are there now? Five? Well, should we count? Ole Miss. Ole Miss. Tennessee. Alabama.

And LSU at the moment. So just count that as one. Yep. Texas. Texas. Georgia. That's five. So.

And it ain't all going to make it. And, but I mean, it's bad news for the ACC and the Big 12 because those are teams Texas? Texas? Georgia. That's five. And they ain't all going to make it. And, but I mean it's bad news for the ACC and the Big 12 because those are teams that were hoping to maybe get two and it's seeming less and less likely. If Ole Miss wins out, I don't know what the math is, I have to calculate that on the SEC Championship, but I think they're still technically alive in the SEC race and also are firmly in the field at the moment. Yes.

Yeah. And who knows, they could have a playoff game here at the moment. Yes. Yeah. Then who knows, they could have a playoff game here in a month. It's true. I mean, that's the thing. If they win out, their best wins against Georgia now, so they have a very good win. They need Georgia to beat Tennessee. That would probably help them a little bit, right? Oh, yeah.

Because if Georgia is a three-loss team, it's not as good of a win. Well, Tennessee is the one crapping their pants right now. I've got news for you. Because Tennessee doesn't want to lose to Georgia and be on the outside looking in. So that game turned into a well let's play hard and have a good game to a must win for Tennessee now. So it's a must win for Georgia.

It's also a playoff game. So yeah, no, this is incredible. First time in Oxford, Andy, I was, I was blown away. People were incredible. They brought it. So it's pouring rain now. It was pouring the entire game. Not a person left.

You could see empty seats there above the student section toward the end. It's because they were moving down to rush the field. Yeah. So it feels like this is a team that we're going to be talking about a lot for the next six weeks, hopefully for the right reasons. They showed you that you could make a roster

and erase the deficit that they had in a year, which I think is a pretty exciting proposition for a lot of teams. So, for everybody who has a pretty good team that doesn't make the playoff, you're looking at this and going, that could be us next year. Yeah, right, and there's a lot of them out there

that can go out and do it. So, good for them. We'll see what happens with Georgia. These are two teams that we're going to be talking about quite a bit. Super excited to get warm. Watch this LSU Alabama game with you and we'll be on our podcast tonight at 10 30. 11 30 Eastern time, 10 30 where we are. We'll talk to you then.