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College GameDay announces it is coming to Athens for Georgia-Ole Miss

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2014, file photo, ESPN College GameDay hosts Lee Corso, left, and Kirk Herbstreit confer during the telecast from The Junction prior to Mississippi State playing Auburn in an NCAA college football game in Starkville, Miss. This week the Cornhuskers are front and center. Their game against No. 5 Ohio State on Saturday night was always going to be a big one. Add a visit from ESPN’s “College GameDay” show in the morning, and it becomes huge. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

ATHENS — For the first time all season, the College GameDay crew will be coming to Athens to watch the No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs.

The popular pregame show announced that it will be in Athens to watch the Bulldogs take on the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday. Ole Miss is coming off a win over Texas A&M, while the Bulldogs bested Missouri on Saturday.

WE'RE HEADED TO ATHENS 🐶#CollegeGameDay pic.twitter.com/RZxw7e75s5
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) November 4, 2023

The game will have plenty of storylines. Both teams were ranked in the top 10 of the initial College Football Playoff rankings, with Georgia landing at No. 2 and Ole Miss at No. 10.

The game will have ramifications for not just the College Football Playoff picture but the SEC East as well for Georgia. With a win, the Bulldogs can punch their ticket to Atlanta for the third-straight season. Ole Miss meanwhile is still alive in the SEC West race, as the Rebels are 8-1 on the season and 5-1 in conference play. The lone loss for Ole Miss came against Alabama.

This will be the first time that Kirby Smart and Lane Kiffin meet as head coaches. The two both served as assistants on Nick Saban’s staff for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Smart was the defensive coordinator while Kiffin helmed the offense. Alabama won the national championship in 2015.

Ole Miss is the one non-Georgia SEC team that Smart has not yet beaten in his time at Georgia. The Bulldogs lost 45-14 against the Rebels back in 2016, Smart’s first season as the head coach of the program.

Smart picked up his 90th career win on Saturday over Missouri and the Bulldogs are now 42-1 in their last 43 games. The Bulldogs have won 26 consecutive games, the longest streak in program history and quickly approaching the longest streak in SEC history. The current mark is 28, which Alabama set from 1978 through the 1980 season.

A kickoff time for the game has not yet been announced. The SEC elected a six-day option to select the game time. The contest will air on ESPN, CBS or the SEC Network at either 7 p.m. ET(ESPN), 3:30 (CBS) or 7:30 (SEC Network).