Football vs. Georgia Southern: Series Snapshot

OXFORD, Miss. – The Ole Miss football team returns home to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for one final non-conference test before SEC play begins, while Georgia Southern comes to Oxford looking for its second win all-time against the SEC.

We've taken a look at the last meeting between the Rebels and Eagles, how Ole Miss has fared against the Sun Belt Conference and connections between head coaches Lane Kiffin and Clay Helton in this week's series snapshot.

Series Snapshot
Ole Miss and Georgia Southern have met just once on the football field in 2016. The Eagles struck first, claiming a 14-3 lead in the first quarter, then later led 21-10 after a 68-yard breakaway touchdown by eventual NFL running back Matt Breida. The Rebels responded with 21 unanswered points just before halftime to lead 31-21 at the break. Another future NFL'er, kicker Younghoe Koo, cut that lead to seven in the second half, but that's as close as the Eagles came in a 37-27 victory for Ole Miss, which was later vacated due to NCAA ruling.

Common Foe: ULM
Ole Miss and Georgia Southern had just one common opponent last season, ULM. Ole Miss overcame a sluggish start, leading the Warhawks just 7-3 at halftime, but outscored the visitors 28-0 in the final two quarters for a 35-3 victory. The story was different for the Eagles, who came out strong and claimed a 31-7 lead just before halftime at home. ULM stormed back with 21 unanswered points to make it a three-point gap, but a pick-six by Tyrell Davis with under 2:00 to play stopped the comeback and sealed the 38-28 victory.

Ole Miss vs. Sun Belt
Ole Miss has a 49-7-2 record all-time against current Sun Belt Conference members after vacated wins. The Rebels' last win over an SBC team came against ULM last year. Arkansas State and Southern Miss are the only two current Sun Belt tams with a win over Ole Miss. The Rebels last lost to a Sun Belt team in 1984, a 13-10 defeat to USM. Ole Miss last failed to defeat a Sun Belt team in 1986, a 10-10 tie to Arkansas State.

Georgia Southern vs. SEC
Georgia Southern is 1-14 all-time against current teams from Southeastern Conference. The Eagles' lone win came against Florida in The Swamp to end the 2013 season. As a head coach, Clay Helton is 2-1 against current SEC teams with a loss to Alabama and a two-game split with Texas in 2017-18.

California Connections
Georgia Southern head coach Clay Helton was hired by Kiffin to be the quarterbacks coach in 2010 at USC. In 2013, Kiffin promoted Helton to the Trojans' offensive coordinator. Helton went on to serve as USC's interim head coach before being named the permanent head coach in late 2015. Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart originally signed with USC and now Eagle head coach Clay Helton in 2021 before transferring to Ole Miss in 2022.

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Players Mentioned

Jaxson Dart

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