OXFORD, Miss. — To peruse the SEC stats, there’s not a lot about Georgia’s defense that grabs you. But don’t tell that to Ole Miss.
The Bulldogs went on the road and held Ole Miss to 183 total yards and eight first downs. They sacked the quarterback three times, forced a pair of turnovers and generally made life miserable for the Rebels’ offensive coordinator.
“We’re playing like the old ‘Junkyard Dawgs,’” said junior free safety Bacarri Rambo, who had two interceptions to give him four in three games this season. “We’ve got everybody flying to the ball, making plays, getting sacks, tackles for losses. Everybody’s doing their job and we’re hungry.”
And they were doing it with a makeshift lineup. The Bulldogs are without starting inside linebackers Alec Ogletree and Christian Robinson, each of whom is out multiple games with foot injuries. Cornerback Damian Swann, who got his first start last Saturday against Coastal Carolina, did not make the trip because of a groin injury suffered in that game, and backup Chris Sanders stayed home with a shoulder injury.
Junior Michael Gilliard started at Robinson’s “Mike” inside linebacker position and led the Bulldogs in tackles for the second consecutive week, with seven. Freshman Amarlo Herrera started at the other inside position and added six tackles and two tackles for loss. Shawn Williams started at the “Mo” position last week, but moved back to strong safety Saturday.
“The reason we did that was the kind of game it was going to be,” defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said. “Their offensive line is pretty big. But playing Shawn at safety, we were able to get a bigger linebacker in there with Amarlo. We wanted to be stout against the run.”
They were. Ole Miss had 34 yards on 26 attempts, an average of 1.3 yards per rush.
The Bulldogs also recorded their first three sacks of the season by front-seven players — they came in with one, by a defensive back — with Cornelius Washington getting credit for 1 1/2, Jarvis Jones and Abry Jones with one each and DeAngelo Tyson with a half.
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