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Georgia shows it's 'hard to kill' in comeback win over Ole Miss

Screenshot 2025-08-29 at 11.28.07 AMby: Chris Low10/19/25clowfb
NCAA Football: Mississippi at Georgia
Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images

ATHENS, Ga. – Georgia has won at such a dizzying level under Kirby Smart that the wins have come in all shapes and sizes.

Close games. Blowouts. Come-from-behind wins. Road wins. Home wins. Even back-to-back national championship wins. You name it, and the Bulldogs have done it when it comes to winning football games under Smart.

As Bill Parcells used to say, “You are what your record says you are.”

Smart’s record at Georgia says the Bulldogs are one of the elite programs in the country, and at their core is the ability to physically impose their will on opponents in the second half and find ways to win games that aren’t always poetic or textbook on one side of the ball.

That formula was right there on display Saturday at Sanford Stadium. Georgia went from not being able to remotely stop Ole Miss, which scored touchdowns on its first five possessions, to taking control in the fourth quarter and winning 43-35 in a top-10 matchup that saw the two teams combine for 861 total yards, 55 first downs and each team averaged at least 5.8 yards per play.

The No. 9 Bulldogs (6-1) trailed 35-26 going into the fourth quarter, but nobody on the Georgia sideline blinked. And why would they? The Bulldogs have now trailed at the half in 10 of their last 11 games against Power 4 opponents.

“It’s in our DNA. No matter what happens, our team’s going to keep fighting,” said Georgia tight end Lawson Luckie, who caught three touchdown passes. “We put ourselves in fourth-and-1 every single day. That’s our mentality every single day, whether it’s Monday … or it’s bloody Tuesday or it’s the fourth quarter of a top-10 matchup. We’re used to this. That’s where we thrive. That’s where we’re strongest.”

Smart was a bit more succinct.

“I just told the guys that’s a culture win because you don’t win that game if you’re not physically tough, mentally tough,” Smart said. “We call it hard to kill, and the one thing we are is we’re hard to kill. We won’t go away.”

One of the more impressive things about Georgia’s “hard to kill” win on Saturday was that its proud defense was shredded by Trinidad Chambliss and the Ole Miss offense for three quarters. Lane Kiffin and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. had the No. 5 Rebels humming to the tune of 35 points, 338 total yards and 20 first downs entering the final quarter. But it was lights out from there for the Rebels, who managed just 13 more yards the rest of the way against a wounded Georgia defense, but a defense that stood its ground when it had to.

Meanwhile, Gunner Stockton and the Georgia offense put it into overdrive. Stockton was 12-for-12 for 135 yards in the second half and finished with four touchdown passes and also rushed for a touchdown. Smart said Stockton was so beaten up from the Auburn game that he couldn’t practice earlier this week because an injury to his oblique was so painful.

Smart said the coaches told Stockton they wouldn’t use him in the running game to protect him. Stockton wouldn’t hear of it.

“Coach, I want to run. My team needs to see me running,” Stockton said.

And there was no hesitation in the Bulldogs’ redshirt junior quarterback.

“He’s wired for these type of moments because he’s tough and his team believes in him,” Smart said.

That mentality has permeated the entire team. Receiver Zachariah Branch said he looked at everybody on the sideline as the third quarter ended and saw the same look, offensive and defensive guys. He said it’s been that way all season.

“I see killer instinct every single time,” Branch said. “I just see the look in their eyes. It’s a little bit different, just knowing we’re about to go out there and we’re not taking no for an answer.”

The Bulldogs have an open date next week before taking on Florida, which comes at a perfect time. Smart said one of the main factors against Ole Miss was being able to play more offensive linemen, have them healthy and rotate those guys into the game. That depth was especially glaring in the fourth quarter as Ole Miss’ defense tired and was on its heels. Georgia finished with 221 rushing yards and piled up 34 first downs.

“We did limit explosive plays, but it was a slow death of 34 first downs,” Kiffin said.

For a program that was built on defense under Smart, he’s not enamored with giving up 35 points to Ole Miss or 41 points to Tennessee earlier this season in the overtime win. But he’s also the first to admit that the game has changed, the margins are tighter.

“We’ve always been a really good physical, fourth-quarter team,” said Smart, who is now 20-10 against top-10 foes. “We just have had so many leads in the fourth quarter because we’ve been better than everybody else. The game didn’t come down to one little thing. Our margins are smaller now. They’re tight everywhere. Look at the scores all over the league, and we’ve got two NFL coaches on our staff, and they say this is every week in the NFL.

“The SEC is becoming the NFL, and I’m not talking about NFL talent. I’m talking about the games and how they go.”

With Texas A&M now the lone unbeaten SEC team overall, good luck in handicapping how it all shakes out the rest of the way in this league.

Just don’t count out the Bulldogs, especially if it’s a fourth-quarter game.