LEXINGTON, Kentucky – It hasn’t always been pretty through his first two games as the starting quarterback at Ole Miss, but redshirt sophomore Austin Simmons’ toughness and grit hasn’t gone unnoticed by his teammates.
Making his first career road start, Simmons threw interceptions on consecutive drives in the first quarter for the second straight game, allowing underdog Kentucky to jump out to a 10-0 lead at home. A crucial fourth-down throw on the following drive led to the No. 20 Rebels’ first touchdown of the day and sparked a 17-3 run to end the half. A pair of fourth quarter fourth-down stops and late running from sophomore running back Kewan Lacy helped ice a Rebels 30-23 win at Kroger Field Saturday in the SEC opener for both teams. The previous four matchups in the series had been decided by three points or less.
The Wildcats won their only conference game of 2024 in Oxford, a 20-17 upset of the then-No. 6 Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in the Rebels’ first SEC game of the season.
“Coming on the road in the SEC and winning is a hard thing to do,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said. “ … Proud of our guys. Started poor. We’re down 10-0. Guys made a heck of a play to convert the fourth down. Otherwise it’s 10-0 and then they have the ball in our territory. … We play aggressive, but it takes players to make the plays. And that really, to me, that was a big turn.”
Simmons was injured on a quarterback draw midway through the fourth quarter. Senior Trinidad Chambliss replaced him on the next drive, though Simmons came back into the game to take the final kneel down. He finished with 235 yards and two interceptions. Following the game, Simmons called it a “minor, little injury.”
“That’s something hard to do. I have to give him props for that,” senior Harrison Wallace III, who finished with a team-high 117 yards, said. “Just him doing that, second start on the road as a young guy, he kept his composure. So, he did a great job.”
Simmons’ interception on the Rebels’ (2-0, 1-0 SEC) third drive set Kentucky up at the Ole Miss 31, and running back Seth McGowan eventually scored from nine yards out to give the Wildcats an early lead. Simmons’ second interception came on third down and set up a 33-yard field goal that put the Rebels in a double-digit deficit early in the second quarter.
Simmons changed the trajectory of the game on fourth-and-1 on Ole Miss’ next drive, placing a perfectly lobbed strike into the hands of senior wide receiver Harrison Wallace III for a 55-yard gain to the 1-yard line. Lacy scored on a direct-snap touchdown run on the very next play. Senior Damian Taylor scored a one-yard touchdown on the following drive, and a field goal from junior Lucas Carneiro capped off the Rebels’ 17-point second quarter.
The Rebels outgained Kentucky 246-133 in the first half.
“We have a lot of confidence in (Simmons). And, you just knew he’d make the plays. They’re hard, man. They’re sticky on defense. They’ve been that way for a long time. Sometimes you throw into all those zones. Really, the one time you’re going to get them in man (coverage) like that is short yardage. There’s a lot of risk, obviously, in that, throwing the ball down the field like that. But it’s just something we had practiced and had ready for that spot. And (Simmons) made a big play, and (Harrison Wallace III) made a great play.”
After forcing consecutive Wildcats punts to start the third quarter, Wallace’s 33-yard catch over the middle set up another Carneiro field goal. A 44-yard pass from Kentucky’s Zach Calzada set up McGowan’s second touchdown run that tied the game at 20 with 5:38 left in the third. Simmons gave the Rebels the lead back with a seven-yard touchdown on third-and-1 on the next drive.
An 18-yard pass play on fourth-and-5 eventually set Kentucky up just outside the red zone in the fourth quarter, but the Rebels’ defense held on fourth down later in the drive to hold the Wildcats without points. Kentucky got the ball down to the Ole Miss 27 on the ensuing drive, but junior edge Princewill Umanmielen sacked Cutter Boley to turn the Wildcats back once again. Carneiro was able to convert the turnover on downs into a field goal following a 33-yard gain from Lacy, who finished with 138 yards. Ole Miss had 133 of its 220 rushing yards in the second half.
Kentucky kicked a field goal with eight seconds remaining to make it a one-score game, but junior wide receiver Cayden Lee recovered the onside kick try.
“That’s what’s special about us, having that run game and pass game,” Simmons said. “You really just see it all over the field. And, I feel like (Lacy is) an amazing player. He’s still going to excel, he’s still going to keep on growing from this point on. And, seeing how well he progressed from the spring all the way to this point is really amazing.”
Ole Miss hosts Arkansas next Saturday at 6 or 6:45 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN or SEC Network.
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