Georgia's Explosive Offense Puts Ole Miss' Tackling Under the Microscope

The Ole Miss Rebels face a real challenge on Saturday against the Georgia Bulldogs. This game will define the rest of the Rebels' 2026 season.

Georgia may really challenge the Rebels to clean up their tackling this Saturday, which could be a problem for Ole Miss.

The Georgia Bulldogs Have Been Excellent At Getting Yards After Contact

According to SEC StatCat, Georgia leads the SEC with a 14.9% explosive play rate. However, the offense is a problem in many other areas. The offense has allowed just eight sacks, the second-best in the conference.

The Bulldogs are tied with Ole Miss for the lowest percentage of plays that go for negative yards (5%). They have 37 explosive runs, the third most in the conference, but also the highest percentage of runs that end up being explosive. In the run game, Georgia is actually averaging the best yards before contact in the SEC.

Georgia RB Nate Frazier runs the ball against Florida. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

But after contact, it still has 700 rushing yards. In passing, the wide receivers have still been great after the catch, with over 1,000 receiving yards coming after the catch, among the best in the nation. To put it simply, this spell of trouble for an Ole Miss defense has had trouble with tackling.

After a critical loss against the Texas Longhorns a couple of weeks ago, head coach Pete Golding signaled that there were no major changes coming to the defense. Why? Because he highlighted some important things that weren't going in the right direction, including, you guessed it! Tackling.

Pro Football Focus, or PFF, graded the Rebels' tackling 44.9, the third-worst in the nation, during the bye week and an ugly 52-28 defeat to the Florida Gators. Things appeared to get better the following weeks, until the defense again couldn't finish plays against Texas. Missed tackles and poor execution have been an issue for Ole Miss, and it's an issue that Georgia can take advantage of.

It Comes Down to Discipline for the Rebels

Imagine a quarterback who throws downfield every play. It's hard to do that because those QBs don't exist. If someone is open underneath or the running back is open in the flat, the QB will throw the ball to them.

For the defense, that could be pretty good news. Why? Well, all the pressure is on the ball carrier to juke defenders and break tackles. If the defense is disciplined, they will punish the offense for playing like that, preventing a big gain or maybe even getting a tackle for loss. But if the defense doesn't execute, then that is the easiest yards an offense can get.

A missed tackle can be the death of a defense. Coaches and coordinators need to run a good scheme and play good defense, but players have to execute. If they can't, it just won't end well for the team. Against Georgia in a huge statement game for Golding and Ole Miss, good tackling is more important than ever.

The Ole Miss defense celebrates against Auburn. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Despite cracking the Top 10 in the new College Football Playoff rankings, another loss could be detrimental for the Rebels. It certainly looks like, with how many SEC teams found their way into the CFP rankings and some being quite generous (Alabama Crimson Tide at 5, ahem), a three-loss SEC team can get into the CFP.

However, remember that the college football world may strongly dislike this happening. This includes the CFP committee, which will face tough decisions in late December about the playoffs. All that is certain is that Ole Miss doesn't want to take another loss at all.

One of the first things this Rebels team must do is play clean football in several areas. Awarding Georgia missed tackles will hurt the Rebels' chances on Saturday. This game is all too important to make such mistakes.

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