Georgia running back Nick Chubb (27) runs against Mississippi in the first half of their NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, in Oxford, Miss. No. 23 Mississippi won 45-14. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)OXFORD, Miss. - One bright spot for Georgia first-year football coach Kirby Smart is that he'll never have to face Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly again.
Kelly led the Rebels to a 43-37 upset of Alabama last season, when Smart served as Crimson Tide defensive coordinator, and was even more brilliant Saturday afternoon in the 45-14 dismantling of Georgia in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The nephew of Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly completed 18 of 24 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns, and he had a 41-yard rushing score that gave the Rebels a 45-0 lead midway through the third quarter.
"He's hard to tackle," Smart said. "He's hard to simulate. He's better than you think he is, and when you make the right call on defense, he makes you wrong. There was nothing unexpected as far as what they had. What was unexpected is that I thought we would make more plays in the perimeter."
Kelly was 13-of-17 passing in the first half for 233 yards and two scores for an eye-popping efficiency rating of 230.4.
His longest pass of the game was a 55-yard touchdown throw to DaMarkus Lodge with 10:24 remaining in the second quarter, which gave the Rebels a 24-0 lead. On the play, Kelly avoided a sack by outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter before launching it to Lodge, who had gotten behind Juwuan Briscoe.
"I've got to finish better," Carter said. "I've got to stay focused, and we've got to keep playing coverage down the field and work together as a defense. He's a pretty good quarterback who played a great game, but we've got to come out and play better and be prepared."
Said Kelly: "It was a deep post, and I told Lodge, 'Don't stop running, because I'm going to throw it no matter what.' I knew he could outrun the coverage."
Kelly's touchdown run occurred after he faked an inside handoff on the zone read and quickly discovered open field.
"We blitzed a guy who's got the quarterback, and he thought he was going to hand it off," Smart said. "He's got the option to hand it off or pull it, so the guy who blitzed had the quarterback. He didn't execute his job."
Georgia safety Dominick Sanders tried to give chase on Kelly's rushing score but couldn't seem to gain any ground.
"He can run," Sanders said. "I had an angle on him, but the guy can run. By the time I got to him, he was already crossing the line.
"In the back end, we gave up some plays, and all we can do is review it and learn from it."
Kelly had been turnover-prone in losses to Florida State and Alabama, but he was perfect in that area Saturday. His 55-yard pass to Lodge clinched a 17th consecutive game in which he's thrown for a touchdown, breaking the Ole Miss mark of 16 set by Eli Manning.
The Rebels racked up 323 yards and 10.1 yards per play in the first half and finished with 510 yards.
"They're a hell of a team," Briscoe said. "They've got a great receiving corps, and Chad Kelly is an excellent quarterback."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.