No. 14 Ole Miss reached the 10-win benchmark for the third time in four years as Lane Kiffin’s Rebels dominated Duke 52-20 in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on Thursday night.
Jaxson Dart broke the Ole Miss single-season passing and total offense records as the Rebels cruised to victory and the signal-caller now heading to the NFL went on to be named the game’s MVP. The senior tossed for 404 yards, ran for 43, and scored four touchdowns in the beatdown at EverBank Stadium, etching his name in the record books as he shattered feats accomplished by former Rebel field general Chad Kelly.
“I think you have a lot of pride when you play this game. You have a lot of pride that you carry over when you wear this jersey,” said Dart, who transferred to Ole Miss in 2022 after his freshman year at USC after concluding his three-year tenure with the Rebels. “Everything that Oxford has, we feel like Oxford has given more to us than we could give to them. You’ve heard Coach Kiffin say that, but we feel that way, too, being transfers.”
In a year dubbed “The Last Dance,” where Ole Miss compiled arguably the most talented roster in program history, the Rebels fell just shy of reaching the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. However, as players from other programs elected to opt out of postseason games with no championship implications, Ole Miss returned to a bygone era with key pieces choosing to finish what they started.
“Jaxson (Dart) is not a quitter, neither am I, and I think we have a lot of guys like that on the team who aren’t quitters,” senior Ole Miss wide receiver Jordan Watkins said, explaining why he suited up in red and blue for the final time. “We’re a group of brothers, and I think you really seen that because having pretty much all of our starters out there tonight was huge, and I think that goes to show the culture, and well, and the brotherhood that we’ve built here at Ole Miss.”
Ole Miss (10-3, 5-3 SEC) survived an early miscue in which placekicker Caden Davis threw an interception by forcing a turnover on downs on Duke’s opening drive. The Rebels then proceeded to mount over 500 yards of total offense, six offensive touchdowns, and a pick-six to seal the largest win in an FBS postseason contest thus far this year.
Running back Ulysses Bentley IV earned an uncharacteristically high volume of carries and posted 70 yards and two scores in the process. Dart found Watkins, who ended his night with 180 yards on seven catches, in the end zone twice. Dae’Quan Wright and Juice Wells each had a receiving touchdown in the matchup.
Duke was shorthanded in the contest, lacking starting quarterback Maalik Murphy and primary ball carrier Star Thomas. Despite the one major error, backup signal-caller Henry Belin IV was serviceable and poised in the matchup, not allowing one of the nation’s sack leaders to tackle him in the backfield once. But it was not enough as Pete Golding’s defense swarmed its foe, holding Duke to just 44 yards of rushing and 280 yards altogether.
Isaiah Hamilton recorded the interception for a score. Safety Trey Washington led the team in tackles with 10, seven of them being solo takedowns. Jared Ivey, Zxavian Harris, and Princely Umanmielen had a combined 11 tackles to lead the defensive line.
Dart ended a storied career at Ole Miss with a 29-10 record and is one of only four SEC quarterbacks to eclipse 12,000 yards of total offense. Known as one of the most impactful leaders both on and off the field, Dart will pass the torch to promising freshman Austin Simmons to lead the Rebels into a new beginning.
Scoring Summary
Ole Miss worked deep into Duke territory after JJ Pegues appeared in a jumbo package and converted on fourth and short. The opening drive ended with Kiffin dialing up a trick play with Davis as a passer. Davis threw the ball to a Duke defender, who flipped the field.
The Rebels’ defense held the Blue Devils in four plays and corrected course on their next offensive drive. After a couple of chunk plays courtesy of Bentley and Caden Prieskorn, Dart found Wells for a 32-yard touchdown to put the Rebels up 7-0 with 8:07 left in the first quarter.
Ole Miss forced a three-and-out on Duke’s following possession. The Rebels utilized Bentley and worked into the red zone. The speedy back punched the ball in from one yard out. Following another fruitless Blue Devil drive, the Rebels found themselves in scoring territory and leaned on special teams for points. Davis connected from 28 yards out to put Ole Miss up 17-0.
Duke then began to find a little offensive momentum. Belin and company marched the ball down the field. The backup quarterback found Javon Harvey in the end zone to complete an eight-play scoring drive with 5:54 left until halftime.
Ole Miss responded. Dart connected with reliable wideouts Cayden Lee and Watkins to move into Duke territory and capped the drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Dae’Quan Wright to put the Rebels up 24-7.
At the half, the Rebels had mounted 340 yards of offense and held the Blue Devils to just 130 yards. Notably, Duke only had 16 rushing yards in the first 30 minutes of action.
The Ole Miss defense moved Duke backward and forced a punt on the Blue Devils’ first offensive drive of the second half. While the Rebels were stopped on their opening offensive drive of the third, defensive back Hamilton looked to give his side of the ball a score. The Houston transfer picked off a Belin pass on third down and brought it 50 yards to the house, giving Ole Miss a 31-7 lead.
After Golding’s defense forced another turnover on downs, Dart marched the offense downfield once more. The senior hit Watkins on an impressive 51-yard deep ball, setting up Bentley to score his second touchdown of the day. Ole Miss led 38-7 with 1:20 left in the third quarter.
In need of a semblance of momentum, Duke rolled the dice on fourth and short on its 38-yard line early in the fourth quarter, but Ole Miss snuffed out the Blue Devils’ rushing attempt. Dart came back into the game and hit Watkins for a one-yard touchdown to give the Rebels a 45-7 advantage with just under 10 minutes remaining in the contest.
Belin fought to make the score look more competitive and connected with Jordan Moore for the Blue Devils’ second touchdown of the night. That score was countered when Dart, against his coach’s wishes, hit Watkins for a 69-yard touchdown to put Ole Miss ahead 52-14 with 1:27 left on the clock.
Duke return specialist Sahmir Hagans scored the last points of the matchup when he took a kickoff 99 yards to the house. The Blue Devils missed the ensuing extra-point attempt, stamping the 52-20 final score in the Rebels’ favor.
Coach’s Comments
Kiffin was quick to complement his players, particularly program staples and some of the newcomers who rode it out until the very end. Highlighting Dart, Pegues, and Ivey as key pieces he’s had for multiple years, the Ole Miss frontman also spoke on how recent transfer portal acquisitions played a primary role in building something special in Oxford.
“I think it was an amazing statement of what they did because you have some guys that have been here for a while like [Jared] Ivey and JJ [Pegues] and Jaxson [Dart] and some others — even (Ulysses) Bentley had talked about preparing for the draft. But they had been here a while. Then you had newer guys like Walter Nolen, a potential first-round pick, and Princely (Umanmielen), a really high pick who played,” Kiffin said of some of his top performers.
“I told them last night, you are an old-school football in that mentality. Like you actually care about your team and your brothers in the locker room and you’re playing for them. That doesn’t happen very much anymore, unfortunately.”
Kiffin spoke highly of Dart, the most accomplished quarterback in Ole Miss history, and how he and others molded some of the younger roster members for years to come. Referring to his crew as a family unit, Kiffin contended that he believes the lessons the underclassmen learned from their elder peers could help carry the program to new heights.
“When I say this team is like a family, it really is because of the way that they just played for each other. Again, you’re playing the second half of a blowout and guys are going back into the game,” Kiffin added. “I look at the family in the quarterback room, and then when you say that about Austin, he had this big brother show him every way to do every single thing right except for making his own plays up at the end.”
Looking ahead, Kiffin is not concerned with which his program will head, despite losing a cornucopia of upper-class talent to the NFL and having to replace those players through high school recruiting and the portal. Citing Ole Miss’ quick turnaround after Matt Corrall set the standard of excellence, the head coach appeared confident in the days ahead in Oxford.
I probably wouldn’t have been so confident if we hadn’t done some of this before. I feel like when Matt Corral left, I feel like a lot of people thought we’re going to have this downswing and that was just kind of a Matt Corral thing. Our team, I know we won 10 games, we won 11 the year before, that’s 21 in two years,” Kiffin stated.
“We can keep getting better by continuing to add players and add pieces and keeping our staff together, too, which has been very critical.”
What’s Next
The victory concluded the 2024-25 season. Ole Miss will open up its next campaign on Aug. 30 against Georgia State inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
