After 'frustrating' first matchup at Georgia, Ole Miss' defense ready for second chance

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OXFORD – It took all of approximately two seconds for Ole Miss sophomore defensive tackle Will Echoles to recount what he remembers most from his team’s most recent matchup with Georgia.

Back in Athens, Georgia on Oct. 18, the Rebels (12-1) and Bulldogs (12-1) were locked in a back-and-forth offensive affair for the better part of three quarters. Ole Miss scored touchdowns on each of its first five drives of the game and led 35-26 heading into the fourth.

The game turned on its head over the final quarter, however, as Georgia outscored Ole Miss 17-0 – the Bulldogs held the ball for more than 13 minutes – and outgained the Rebels 143-13. Georgia picked up 10 first downs alone in the fourth (34 total) and converted 6 of 11 third-down tries in the game. The Bulldogs won 43-35.

What came first to mind for Echoles among a bevy of statistics he would likely rather forget?

“Them not punting the ball,” he said matter-of-factly Saturday.

The Bulldogs scored on all eight of their drives in the game minus the final kneel downs and finished with 510 yards of offense. Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton completed 26 of 31 passes for 289 and four touchdowns and added 59 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground en route to SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors.

No. 6 Ole Miss will get a chance at redemption on New Year’s Day against No. 3 Georgia in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Sugar Bowl. Kickoff is 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.

“(It was) very frustrating, not being able to capitalize on … third-and-longs and fourth-and-shorts, trying to get off the field,” junior linebacker TJ Dottery said. “But, going along in the season, I feel like we’ve matured and been able to eliminate a lot of the ‘my bads’ and mistakes. Because I feel like in a lot of those situations, a guy was misaligned or missed a sign versus them just one-on-one winning a play.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Ole Miss defenders missed eight tackles against Georgia earlier this season and have missed 127 total this season. While Stockton completed 8 of 10 passes that traveled 10 yards or further, he compiled 101 yards on 12 completions between the line of scrimmage and nine yards and totaled another 31 yards on six completions behind the line of scrimmage. Bulldogs star Zachariah Branch’s average depth of target was just 4.1 yards, but he finished with 71 receiving yards on eight catches due to 38 yards after the catch. Georgia had a total of 120 yards after the catch, per PFF.

Georgia runners had 132 yards after contact according to PFF and finished with 221 yards total despite just three carries of more than 10 yards.

“The No. 1 thing was leverage, and just having the correct leverage on – whether its blocks … angles on tackles, those are the things that go into tackling as opposed to the physical aspect of it as well, is taking the correct angle,” co-defensive coordinator Bryan Brown said. “So, we have tried to correct that throughout the year, working on it right now tirelessly. … We want to make sure we keep edges and do a really good job of tackling. But the angles are really, really key. And then some of it is want-to as well. You have to want to tackle those big backs.”

Since surrendering 510 yards at Georgia, Ole Miss’ defense has been largely improved, giving up an average of 313.7 yards and 15.5 points over the last six games. A tight loss to the Bulldogs was the sort of wakeup call the Rebels’ young defense needed. Ole Miss entered the season with 10 new starters on each side of the ball.

“After that game, we had to lock in more as a defense,” senior safety Wydett Williams Jr. said. “We had to bond more as a team, whatever we had to do to play better on the defensive side of the ball as far as communicating, tackling … getting turnovers. So, anything to help us as a defense that we didn’t do in that game … we pressed on harder.”

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