Georgia Has Yet to Lay a Hand on Trinidad Chambliss
Written by Jarvis Prime on November 3, 2026
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Tuesday, November 3, 2026
The pass rush that collected two conference awards Monday still owes a debt in Oxford, and the quarterback it owes has thrown a touchdown pass in 21 straight games.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
The Southeastern Conference handed out its weekly hardware Monday, and Georgia's athletic department was pleased to report that two pieces of it went to Athens. Chris Cole was named Defensive Player of the Week for nine tackles, a sack and that 66-yard fumble return that made it 24 to nothing against Florida. Gabe Harris Jr., the Thomasville boy, took Defensive Lineman of the Week for a sack and a forced fumble. Four sacks and 11 tackles for loss in all, DawgNation counted, the best pass-rushing night Georgia has had this season. Now here is the burr under the saddle. Georgia played Ole Miss twice last year, in Athens and in New Orleans, and never once sacked Trinidad Chambliss.
Not one time, in two games that Georgia split and that cost it a season on New Year's Day, 39 to 34. Chambliss has thrown 189 completions in 296 tries this fall for 2,189 yards and 18 touchdowns, and he has thrown a scoring pass in 21 consecutive games, which is the sort of streak a man can only build if nobody ever gets him on the ground. Against Auburn he went 22 of 34 for 263 yards and two touchdowns, then ran it seven times for 65 more, including a 26-yard score. Kirby Smart told reporters Monday that Ole Miss probably has the best quarterback in the country. Kirby does not pass out compliments the way a church passes out bulletins.
Georgia played Ole Miss twice last year and never once sacked Trinidad Chambliss.
Smart was asked Monday why the sacks have come easier this year, and his answer was a sermon on the collective. "You don't get a sack because of you," he said. "You get a sack because of the pocket push on one side or the other or scramble or flush." He credited inside linebackers who blitz well, and Cole, who does a little of everything, edge and inside. Saturday night in the Dome he had put the matter even plainer: if you get sacks, then you get turnovers. Cole's touchdown came off a Quintavius Johnson strip-sack. Four takeaways turned into 17 points against Florida. Chambliss has thrown eight interceptions this season, so the man is not made of marble. But he is a good deal harder to find than a freshman.
The finding will have to be done in Vaught-Hemingway, where Ole Miss has won 16 straight, the longest home streak among the power conferences, and has outscored visitors 149 to 51 this year, DawgNation reports. Smart is 0 and 2 there as Georgia's head coach, the last visit a 28 to 10 loss in 2024. The bookmakers have Georgia by 3 with a total of 56 and a half, Kalshi gives the Bulldogs 59 percent, and ESPN's index says 55 and a half. This desk's opponent-adjusted rating is less charitable and makes Ole Miss a one-point favorite at home, with Georgia winning 47 percent of the time. Clear skies and the mid-50s are forecast. Nobody will get to blame the weather.
Georgia sits at No. 2 this week, and it ought to send a thank-you card to Los Angeles. Unranked Southern Cal beat No. 2 Ohio State 30 to 18 in the Halloween rain with a true freshman named Luke Fahey making his first start, while the Buckeyes committed 11 penalties and scraped 12 points out of four trips inside the 20. Ohio State fell to 11th. Top-ranked Miami needed every bit of 38 to 35 to get out of Chapel Hill, having now given up 93 points in three games. Indiana survived Minnesota in overtime, 23 to 16, after both kickers hit from 60 yards. Syracuse took down SMU 30 to 27 with 17 seconds left. Smart said it on his television program this week, and the scoreboard keeps agreeing with him: everybody can beat everybody.
The Notebook
- THE COUNTDOWN: Four days to Oxford. Georgia and Ole Miss kick at 7:30 Saturday night on ABC, with Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy on the call.
- THE SLATE: Miami visits Notre Dame in the same 7:30 window, with the Irish favored by five and a half. Alabama goes to LSU at 3:30 as a five-and-a-half-point underdog, and Texas is a two-and-a-half-point pick at Missouri at noon. Boise State by 17 and a half at Colorado State is the closest thing to a lock on the board.
- THE TRAINER'S ROOM: Smart said Monday that Ellis Robinson's knee looks good and he hopes the cornerback is good to go. Pete Golding said linebacker Luke Ferrelli has been nursing an ankle. The first SEC availability report comes Wednesday.
Written in the tradition of Lewis Grizzard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1946–1994.
Hear the desk read tonights report on Radio Free Albany, WPFQ 96.7.
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