College Football Playoff: Predicting Sugar Bowl between Ole Miss, Georgia

The last of the quarterfinals in the College Football Playoff on New Year’s Day will be in the Cotton Bowl, where we’ll see another regular-season rematch with No. 6 Ole Miss vs. No. 3 Georgia. Now, less than a week out from kickoff in that one from New Orleans, On3’s Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman have shared their predictions of who’ll advance between the Rebels and the Bulldogs.

Staples and Wasserman previewed and picked this matchup, along with all the other quarterfinals, on ‘Andy & Ari On3’ on Monday. That included plenty of looking back to their first game back on October 18th in Athens, which was one of the better games of the fall with No. 9 Georgia winning 43-35 over No. 5 Ole Miss as the Rebels took their only loss of this season to the ‘Dawgs down in Athens.

“Ole Miss would rather this game not play out the way it did the first time. I think, if it is somewhat similar to the first game, we’re all going to be highly entertained because this game was wild the first game,” said Staples. “Georgia ends up winning, but nobody is stopping anybody for the first three quarters. Georgia finally gets two stops in the fourth quarter, and ends up beating Ole Miss. But Ole Miss was winning by two scores going into the fourth quarter. This was a shootout to end all shootouts.

“I mean, (Ole Miss) went to Athens and they had them on the ropes. And, if Ole Miss doesn’t go three and out twice in the fourth quarter, they probably do beat Georgia,” Staples continued. “So, it’s entirely possible that Ole Miss turns around and wins this game. It’s also possible that, in that game, Georgia got unlocked, because I feel like, since that game, Georgia has been much better than it was the first part of the season. They have been one of the best teams in the country at the end of the season.”

Again, this was quite the game between the hedges two and a half months ago, with seven lead changes and a total of 78 points scored. However, despite entering the final quarter with the largest lead of the game at nine points, Ole Miss lost by eight after Georgia shut them out in the fourth at 17-0.

Now, as we know, a lot has changed since then. Georgia did go on to win the SEC Championship, and earn a bye in the CFP at 12-1. That then obviously applies more so to Ole Miss, though, with their head coaching change from Lane Kiffin to Pete Golding. But, even so, Wasserman continues to think that could be a positive for the Rebels, who’ll play their first true test now under Golding.

“I’m super excited for this because this is a good vibes game…Is there a Disney movie being written about the underdog coach, who stood by his guys and wanted to be there when the other hotshot didn’t?” said Wasserman. “Ole Miss felt betrayed, on a serious note. They felt betrayed two weeks ago, and they have a person that’s in their program, that wants to be there, is acting like he’s been there already in this position for two years. They came out, showed on tape that they’re not going to be a weaker version of itself. It looked identical to the way it did before, and they played this team already down to the wire

Then came time for the picks, with the two experts being on opposite sides for the Sugar Bowl. Wasserman, deciding to take the points with this near touchdown spread, stayed optimistic enough in this storyline for the Rebels, while Staples thinks they won’t have enough in the end to win or cover against the Bulldogs.

“I like Ole Miss here. I’m taking the points,” said Wasserman. “I think that they can score a lot. And, if you’re giving me basically a touchdown in a game that was decided by less the first time, at Georgia too in Athens? At a neutral-site, you know, I just kind of like that this is going to be a highly-competitive, good game. So, I’ll take the cushion here.”

“I’m going to take Georgia to cover here, because I do think, if they win, it probably is a situation where, like, it’s a tie game and they score a touchdown,” said Staples. “I don’t think they’re going to win by 20, but I can see them winning by seven.”

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