In a highly anticipated Week 4 Southeastern Conference showdown in The Swamp, No. 21 Florida (3-0, 1-0 SEC) will host No. 4 Ole Miss (3-0, 1-0 SEC) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
With both teams riding the high of statement SEC wins, the Gators and Rebels will meet at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in search of a 4-0 start to their season and a leg up in the all-time series. Florida is currently 13-13-1 through 27 games with Ole Miss, and the Week 4 matchup will tip the scales in favor of either team.
Surprisingly, the Rebels hold the upper hand in The Swamp with a 6-5-1 record, while the Gators are 6-3 when on the road in Oxford.
But while Florida leads the FBS in red zone offense (100%) and is currently a 3.5-point favorite, head coach Jon Sumrall has put the season’s first three games behind him and is focusing on weekly results. Moving past a 44-39 road win over Auburn starts with ignoring the AP Top 25 Poll, which has the Gators ranked at No. 21, and tuning out outside noise.
While there are “no bad wins,” as Sumrall put it, the first-year Florida coach made it clear last week’s performance would not lift the Gators to a win over a high-powered Rebels offense headlined by quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.
“If we don't do a lot of self-improvement, we have no shot this week,” Sumrall said. “I didn't even know the favorite deal, but whoever's doing that, man, I don't know. They haven’t watched [the] tape. [Ole Miss has] the best quarterback in college football I think.”
Stopping Chambliss will be Florida’s tallest task of the season thus far. He provides similar athletic upside to Auburn’s Byrum Brown as a dual-threat quarterback, but he also has a unique ability to navigate the pocket, improvise and make tight-window throws.
Through three games, Chambliss has tallied 924 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions on 77-of-110 passing. He has also added 64 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. In his Week 3 SEC bout against LSU, Chambliss threw for 363 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, earning an 89.7 Total Quarterback Rating.
UF defensive standouts Emmanuel Oyebadejo and Jayden Woods — who each logged 2.5 sacks against Auburn — along with the rowdy environment of The Swamp will need to play major roles in limiting Chambliss’ production. Though Chambliss has shown an elite ability to make off-schedule plays, it will be key for Florida to force him into uncomfortable situations with various pressure packages and make communication difficult.
On the offensive side, getting the ball to playmakers like receiver Vernell Brown III will be a way for Florida to exploit an Ole Miss defense that has allowed just under 374 yards and 24 points per game.
Throughout three games, Brown has totaled 246 yards and two touchdowns on 14 receptions, and he’s run back two touchdowns in the return game as well.
Sumrall said Brown is always at the facility putting in extra work and is the type of player he’d love to coach forever. He even joked about getting the sophomore receiver “unlimited eligibility.”
“He's got confidence, and you get confidence by putting in the work and having a little bit more experience,” Sumrall said. “He's a tremendously hard worker. There's not a harder worker in this building. He's up here all the time doing extra, maybe for his body, his mind, whatever. I knew really quickly what we had in VB after the fourth Gauntlet.”
Of similar caliber, running back Jadan Baugh will be a force Florida will have to get rolling early and often against a Rebels defense allowing 159 rushing yards per game.
With his three-touchdown, 162-yard performance against Auburn, Baugh has earned the No. 1 PFF rushing grade (92.8) among FBS running backs with at least 15 carries. He also has 456-consecutive touches without a fumble and leads the SEC in yards (458) and touchdowns (8). The closest SEC back yard-wise is Missouri’s Jamal Robers, who has 158 yards fewer than Baugh on nine more carries.
Baugh’s success has also come with the resurgence of Florida’s tight end room. The Gators have multiple versatile weapons at tight end, and they’ll need to continue to rise to the occasion in Week 4. Sumrall said the tight end room is the group that has improved the most through the offseason, and he’s seen that pay off on Saturdays.
“I told our offensive staff in the middle of spring, I'm like, ‘I feel like that room right now is the land of misfit toys — like, who's what?’” Sumrall said. “That group has grown as much as any group I've seen in a stretch from I would say February to right now as any position group I've ever been affiliated with in this game — it's really cool to see.”
Sumrall said Lacota Dippre has brought the needed physicality and toughness to Florida’s offense, while Georgia Tech transfer Luke Harpring “is kind of like a Swiss Army knife.”
In addition, Amir Jackson has displayed versatility as a blocker and a pass catcher — he caught a 48-yard bomb from receiver Kahleil Jackson against Auburn — and true freshman Heze Kent has improved tremendously since January, dropping from 313 pounds to 288.
“It was something as we went into the year, I was like, ‘If you ask me offensive weakness, that was a big question mark,’” Sumrall said. “Now I'm like, ‘Man, I trust those guys as much as I trust anybody.’"
As the Gators prepare for their first SEC game at The Swamp under Sumrall, remaining grounded and disciplined is at the front of mind. Florida has increased its penalty total in each game this season — three against Florida Atlantic, eight against Campbell and 16 against Auburn — and Sumrall made it clear the Gators will have to be at their best and play with urgency to take down the Rebels. That comes with staying relentless, eliminating mental mistakes and entering the weekend with a dog-eat-dog mentality.
“[If] we try to beat ourselves at all this week, we will not win the game,” Sumrall said. “We have to just be more detailed. And you have to think in the mindset of every play, you are the challenged player. There's never a play off, because as soon as you relax, you're gonna get exploited. So, that's the urgency we have to prepare with.”
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @CuranAhern.
Curan is a senior sports journalism student in his sixth semester at The Alligator. He is currently a sports editor and football beat reporter for the Gators and the Jaguars. He previously served as a men's tennis and sports enterprise reporter, and he is pursuing a public relations minor.
