No. 21 Ole Miss routs No. 11 Georgia

OXFORD -  Evan Engram has witnessed Ole Miss develop big leads only to see it all unravel.

“We went up 17-0, and I got really excited, really hyped,” the senior tight end said. “Then I was like, ‘keep composure, keep composure.’ I was on the sidelines like, 'We’ve been here before. Let’s finish.'”

Unlike the last two occasions the Rebels jumped out to big leads, they had no problem finishing this time.

No. 21 Ole Miss led by 31 points at halftime and 45 in the second half as it cruised to a 45-14 victory against 11th-ranked Georgia in front of an announced attendance of 65,843 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday.

It was the Rebels' largest victory against a top-25 team since a 38-0 win against Tennessee in 1969.

“When you lose games like that and felt like you could have won, and when you hear about it with all of the social media world, it hurts,” coach Hugh Freeze said. “It stings. This one is pretty special.”

The win snapped the Rebels’ 10-game losing streak to the Bulldogs (3-1, 1-1 SEC), which dated back to 1996. The blowout was kickstarted by Derrick Jones’ 52-yard pick-six, which gave Ole Miss a 10-0 lead with 7:12 left in the first quarter.

There was no let up offensively. Chad Kelly evaded a sack and launched a 55-yard touchdown pass to receiver DaMarkus Lodge, who made a great catch while being interfered with in the end zone to give Ole Miss a 24-0 lead. It gave Kelly a school-record 17th consecutive game with a touchdown pass, breaking the previous record held by Eli Manning.

The Rebels took over possession again with 2:10 left in the half. Against Alabama, Ole Miss was in a similar position, but elected to run some clock instead of attacking.

Freeze decided to change his mindset Saturday.

“I’d say yes,” Freeze said. “I’m probably better when I just go with my gut, and I felt good. We had three timeouts too. We were going to call everything we wanted to call at that point.”

Ole Miss went on the attack and the drive concluded with a Kelly 9-yard touchdown pass to Engram, who finished with six receptions for 95 yards, with 43 seconds left in the half.

The Rebels’ defense had an aggressive mindset while the game was still competitive. They made life extremely difficult for Georgia quarterback Jacob Eason.

Eason completed 16 of his 36 passes for 137 yards and was sacked three times. More of his passes resulted in Ole Miss’ touchdowns than Georgia scores.

Bulldogs running back Nick Chubb finished with 57 yards before he left with an ankle injury in the second quarter. Sony Michel rushed for 66 yards.

Georgia’s two scores came after the outcome of the game had already been well decided.

Kelly’s star shined brightest during the game. He was 18-of-24 passing for 282 yards and two touchdowns. He ran untouched for a 41-yard score in third quarter, which put Ole Miss ahead 45-0.

“I was just a lot more calm. I knew I had to go out there and execute the game plan and just take care of the football, and that’s what I was able to do,” Kelly said.

Kelly didn’t turn the ball over after he committed two turnovers, which directly resulted in 14 points for Alabama last week.

The Rebels, who host Memphis for homecoming next week, are 2-0 this season when Kelly doesn’t turn the ball over.

Kelly had some help. Ole Miss’ running game produced 180 yards, including 53 from Kelly. Ole Miss’ receivers made great plays throughout the game, too. Receivers A.J. Brown and Quincy Adeboyejo made impressive catches in the first half to go along with Engram’s and Lodge’s tough touchdown catches.

Contact Antonio Morales at amorales2@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @AntonioCMorales on Twitter.