OXFORD, Miss. — The final score wasn’t as lopsided as Kirby Smart’s only previous visit to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium as Georgia football coach, but Saturday’s result back here arguably may have been even more painful.

No. 12 Ole Miss dealt the No. 2 Bulldogs a humbling 28-10 defeat on a wet, rainy Saturday, saddling the Bulldogs with their second loss of the season and amping up the pressure for them to get in the 12-team playoff.

Smart was in his first season in 2016 when Ole Miss hammered Georgia 45-14 in the biggest margin of defeat under Smart. That team went 8-5 and won the Liberty Bowl.

This Georgia team, No. 3 in the first CFP rankings, has national title aspirations after winning it in 2021 and 2022 but didn’t look much like a championship contender after Ole Miss outplayed the Bulldogs on both sides of the ball.

The Bulldogs now have multiple losses for the first time since the 2020 season.

Georgia (7-2, 5-2 SEC) will finish SEC play with a matchup against No. 6 Tennessee in Athens.

Ole Miss (8-2, 4-2) could make the playoff if it can close out with wins over Florida and Mississippi State State.

Here are three things we learned from the loss:

Georgia football offense stuffed by Ole Miss Rebels

Carson Beck’s run of interceptions stopped in the first half – he had 11 over his last five games – but the Bulldogs offense was stymied, held to just 69 total yards and an average of 2.5 yards per play,

Ole Miss led 16-7 with Georgia held to 20 yards rushing on 18 carries.

Beck threw his 12th interception of the season with 7:22 to go, down 22-10. He was 18 of 27 for 163 yards and no touchdowns after the pick by safety John Saunders.

Georgia seemed gun-shy to let Beck cut it loose in the first half.

Part of that was the Bulldogs were backed up deep on their second possession. The next possession ended when London Humphreys was blasted on a third-down pass and couldn’t hold onto the ball.

Ole Miss outgained Georgia 159-27 in the first quarter.

“You’ve got to run the ball to slow down pass-rushers,” Smart told Georgia’s radio broadcast walking off the field.

Ole Miss ran defensive lineman JJ Pegues for 9 yards, which was longer than any Georgia player ran for in the first two quarters.

Beck was sacked twice in the first half, including by Princely Umanmielen, who blew past left tackle Earnest Greene.

Ole Miss had gout plays of 20 or more yards in the first two quarters.

Georgia got its longest play from scrimmage in the first half on a 15-yard pass to Dillon Bell late in the second quarter.

Smart told ABC at halftime Ole Miss was “jumping our snap count pretty good.”

Georgia cut the lead to 16-10 on a Peyton Woodring 23-yard field goal. The big play was a Beck-to-Cash Jones 29-yard gain. The next drive ended on a Nate Frazier fumble at the Ole Miss 29 on a short pass.

Georgia football defense exposed by Jaxson Dart and Rebels passing game

Jaxson Dart didn’t need to put up video-game numbers like he did a week earlier when he threw for 515 yards and six touchdown passes in crushing Arkansas.

He still carved up the Georgia defense enough to get the Rebels the upset win.

Dart made some big throws of 23 and 26 yards and tossed a 10-yard touchdown to Juice Wells in the back of the end zone to beat freshman KJ Bolden for a 22-10 lead third quarter lead.

Georgia’s defense gave up 229 first-half yards including 195 through the air.

The Bulldogs pressured Dart on Ole Miss' first possession when safety Dan Jackson’s interception set up a short field and Nate Frazier scored on a 2-yard run to give the Bulldogs the 7-0 lead.

Backup quarterback Austin Simmons led the Rebels to a touchdown drive when Dart went to the locker room with an ankle injury. Ulysses Bentley scored on a 9-yard touchdown run.

Lane Kiffin outcoaches good friend Kirby Smart

Smart and Kiffin are friends and are in a text chain that wasn’t very active this week.

Hard to know if there will be any busting of chops for Kiffin after he notched a signature win, his first against a top-five opponent after going 0-4 previously at Ole Miss.

Smart fell to 37-15 against ranked opponents.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: No. 12 Ole Miss deals No. 2 Georgia football second loss of the season