In the final home game of the year for Ole Miss, Rebels ranked No. 13, marched to a 35-3 win over the unranked Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks. Despite nursing a slim 7-3 lead going into halftime, quarterback Jaxson Dart came out of the locker room swinging, with three consecutive scoring drives that put the Rebels up 28-3.
Head Coach Lane Kiffin spoke of the frustrations that came with letting a 2-9 squad stay in the game with them. Kiffin spoke candidly, remarking that he “was not pleased with the start” but was pleasantly surprised to have shut out the Warhawks in the third and fourth quarters.
Despite the first half struggles, all wins count the same, and Ole Miss will enter the Egg Bowl 9-2 with hopes of walloping a struggling Mississippi State team, who recently fired Head Coach Zach Arnett.
Dart and company remain optimistic about avenging last year’s loss and seem poised to close out their season having only lost to Georgia and Alabama, two of the most dominant football programs in recent memory.
Although Dart’s numbers were more than respectable, with no picks, three touchdowns and 310 passing yards, the leading Rebel rusher for the day was the always reliable Ulysses Bentley IV, with only 47 yards on nine carries. With rushing threats like Bentley and standout sophomore Quinshon Judkins, it seems inevitable that the attack will be more balanced for the coming battle in Starkville.
Before looking ahead to next week’s Egg Bowl, here are three takeaways from this weekend’s game.
This team goes as Jaxson Dart goes.
Leadership often goes unnoticed as a trait or trackable stat in the world of college football, but it should not be forgotten. Dart entered the locker room as the quarterback for the 13th-ranked team in the nation leading ULM, a team winless in conference play, by only four points.
The poise and respect it takes to guide a team through that situation should not be understated.
Dart is often mentioned as one of the best QBs in the SEC, and although the Rebels probably should have hung 50 on ULM, a 32-point boat race at home ought to be enough for the fans in Oxford. His 310 yards are worth something anytime, regardless of the competition.
The secondary has been holding this defense down.
Despite their struggles in the first half, the Rebels did not allow a score in the second half. Jiya Wright, quarterback for ULM, was embarrassed in front of a home crowd in Oxford with only 56 yards and one interception.
With three punts and three turnovers on downs, ULM was entirely ineffective through the air due to stifling efforts from the secondary. Wright’s lone interception was thanks to the hands of safety Trey Washington in the first half, stopping ULM at midfield and ending a 37-yard drive.
Although ULM did net 192 yards of rushing offense, it never amounted to a score in the end zone and was clearly in vain for their hapless passing game. The secondary stepped up in a big way. Look for the Rebels to continue that effort in Starkville.
Ole Miss plays down to its competition… and it needs to stop
Ole Miss is an SEC squad. The Rebels have three national titles in program history, multiple players dominating in the NFL and a storied tradition of competitive, hard-nosed football. There is no world in which a team who is 0-8 in conference play in the Sun Belt Conference, who did not play in a bowl game in program history until 2012, should have any prayer of competing with Lane Kiffin’s scorching offense.
It has been a common theme and a bad habit this season for Ole Miss to be as good as the team we play, except for when that team is a cut above, as in Athens and Tuscaloosa. If this team wants to compete for anything on a national stage, they simply cannot allow teams like these to have a chance, especially not at home.
A win is a win, and Ole Miss figured it out, but it needs to leave this habit in 2023.
Up next: Week 12 at MS State.
Ole Miss looks to close out the season on a high note with the Egg Bowl, competing with in-state rival Mississippi State for the storied trophy. Mississippi State enters the matchup 5-6, tied for last in the SEC West.
Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, airing on ESPN for all of those watching from home.
