ATHENS — Kirby Smart muted Lane Kiffin’s offense in the fourth quarter, his Georgia Bulldogs scoring a 43-35 win over Ole Miss on Saturday.

Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC) asserted itself with a dominant fourth quarter, outscoring the Rebels (5-1, 3-1) 17-0 over the final 15 minutes, allowing only 13 yards on 11 plays in coming from behind to get the victory.

Gunner Stockton won the battle of dual-threat quarterbacks, 26-of-31 passing for 289 yards and four touchdowns in addition to carrying 10 times for 59 yards and a touchdown.

Indeed, Stockton was at his best when it mattered most, 12-for-12 passing for 135 yards and three touchdowns in the second half of a come-from-behind victory that UGA fans won’t soon forget.

Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss was unstoppable through the first three quarters, leading the Rebels on touchdown drives each of their first five possessions as they took a 35-26 lead with 4:12 left in the third quarter on his 2-yard touchdown run.

That’s when the Georgia comeback began, as the Bulldogs offense — which scored on its first eight drives before kneeling to run out the clock — answered with a 75-yard touchdown drive capped by Nate Frazier’s 3-yard touchdown run that cut the lead to 35-33 with 12:56 left to play.

Smart, who said he had to mute Kiffin’s annoying text messages in the days leading up to the game, finally found the answers on defense that he needed to stop the Ole Miss offense.

The Georgia defense finally forced the Rebels to put with 12:37 left in the game, forcing a three-and-out.

The Bulldogs’ offense went back to work, taking its first lead of the second half when tight end Lawson Luckie reeled in his third touchdown reception of the game on a 7-yard strike from Stockton with 7:29 left to give Georgia a 40-35 lead.

Ole Miss got the ball back with plenty of time to charge back, but the Bulldogs’ defense came up big again, forcing another three-and-out.

Georgia’s offense responded with another scoring drive, extending the lead to 43-35 on Woodring’s third field goal of the day, a 42-yarder with 2:06 left.

The Rebels’ final drive ended when Josh Horton batted down Chambliss’ fourth-down pass with 1:28 left, enabling Georgia to run out the clock.

The Bulldogs finished with 510 yards of total offense to Ole Miss’ 351.

Fourth-down surge

Georgia needed a fourth-down conversion to make the comeback from two scores down, 35-26, facing a fourth-and-1 at their own 44.

Josh McCray, a transfer running back from Illinois, appeared stopped before making a second-effort surge that enabled him to pick up 2 yards and sustain the drive.

Seven plays later, Stockton hit Nate Frazier with a 3-yard touchdown pass that cut the lead to 35-33.

Bell’s big catch

Smart said that with Georgia up 40-35 and driving to add points, Dillon Bell’s 36-yard catch from Stockton with 4:15 left was pivotal.

“That play Dillon Bell made,” Smart said, “That put us in milk mode which is what we’re really good at, the four-minute offense.”

To Smart’s point, Bell’s catch moved the ball to the Ole Miss 46 and the Bulldogs ran six more plays, driving to the Rebels’ 24 to set up a 42-yard Woodring field goal that made the score 43-35 with 2:06 remaining

Beat-up Gunner

Smart revealed after the game that Stockton missed practice time leading up to the Ole Miss game on account of an oblique injury suffered in the 20-10 win at Auburn last Saturday.

“This kid couldn’t practice Monday and Tuesday,” Smart said, “his oblique, (from) the shots he took at Auburn, he was beat up.”

Stockton certainly didn’t look like it, as Smart noted in praising the starring performance.

“Huge scrambles, great throws on time, darts,” Smart said. “He’s wired for these type of moments because he’s tough and his team believes in him.”