College Football Game of the Week: No. 9 Ole Miss vs. No. 2 Georgia

A top ten SEC showdown will take place this Saturday at 7 p.m. EST in Athens, Ga. as the Georgia Bulldogs welcome the Ole Miss Rebels into town.

The Rebels come into this one on a five-game winning streak with their only loss of the year coming to No. 8 ranked Alabama, while the Bulldogs still remain undefeated on the season.

This game will feature two of the best offenses in the country so far this year with Georgia being the seventh-highest scoring offense with 40 points per game and Ole Miss ranked thirteenth averaging 38.8 pointers per game.

When looking at the defensive side of the football though, there is a bit of a gap between the two teams as when it comes to points per game allowed Georgia is ranked seventh while Ole Miss sits at 46th.

Another thing that separates these two teams is how battle-tested each team is and who they’ve played so far.

According to ESPN’s College Football Power Index, Ole Miss's strength of schedule is ranked 13th hardest in the country while Georgia is way below at 90.

And that has been the knock on Georgia all year. They haven’t played many top teams and the only two ranked teams they've played so far have been home games.

Contrary to that Ole Miss has played some tougher games including road wins at Tulane and Auburn, a road loss vs. Alabama which was a one-score game until the fourth quarter and some home wins vs. reputable SEC teams.

Yet this doesn’t mean that Ole Miss will walk into Sanford Stadium on Saturday and make Georgia realize what it's like to play a good team.

Georgia is the two-time defending national champs for a reason. As one of the best-coached teams under Kirby Smart, they’ve avoided many “trap game” losses and kept on dominating their way to the CFP.

During these runs, though Georgia has had their All-American and NFL prospect tight end Brock Bowers whose play is in question for Saturday.

Bowers suffered a high ankle sprain on October 14th vs Vanderbilt, which makes this game a steep recovery time. But, head coach Kirby Smart didn't rule him out so far while also making sure the media didn’t get the idea he is 100 percent ready to go.

Bowers is a crucial part of this Georgia offense and had already accumulated over 500 yards of receiving through the team's first six games before getting injured.

Even with the injury and Bower's play in question, this is Georgia's game to lose leaving the pressure on them.

Head Coach of Ole Miss Lane Kiffin is sending the message to his team that they have nothing to lose this week and to not play nervous and uptight which can be a very scary tool for players.

No matter the outcome of the game, it will definitely be one that fans won’t want to miss.

Rob Cardini is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email rvc5706@psu.edu.