Georgia coach Kirby Smart keeps it 100 amid weather forecast for Ole Miss clash
The old saying goes that weather is the great equalizer, but Saturday afternoon's matchup between the Georgia Bulldogs and Ole Miss Rebels already feels pretty even. The 2nd-ranked Bulldogs are a 2.5-point favorite in Oxford, but a recent struggle against the Florida Gators has led some prognosticators to believe that the desperate Rebels could have the leg up.
So with that said, the question worth asking is, who will benefit from what looks like warm and wet conditions on Saturday?
With an 80 percent of afternoon showers, it looks overwhelmingly likely that these two teams with College Football Playoff aspirations will be playing in less than ideal conditions, and according to Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, both the Bulldogs and the Rebels have been preparing for rain all week .
"They've just been spraying the ball with water the whole practice," Georgia center Jared Wilson said, per Towers. "(Rain is) just something we've got to work on and get ready for."
Wilson is echoing the message and mindset of Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart , who seems aware, but not even slightly concerned with what the weather will be like on Saturday afternoon.
"We keep an eye on the weather at all times and get updates each day," Smart said with a shrug. "So, we'll see what happens with that."
Last year when these two teams met in Athens, a 14-14 game quickly turned into a Georgia rout. The Bulldogs won 52-17 , and Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart struggled mightily, playing one of the worst games of his career. This year, it's been Georgia quarterback Carson Beck who has struggled. Beck has already thrown 11 interceptions this year on 290 pass attempts. In 475 attempts over the first four years of Beck's career, he had thrown just eight picks.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin isn't going to be lulled into a false sense of security just because of Beck's struggles this year. He knows first hand how talented the fifth year senior is.
"I think he is very talented; played an amazing game against us a year ago," Kiffin said of Carson Beck, who threw for 306 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Rebels last year. "You know, he's throwing some picks, but quarterbacks go through that."
