OXFORD — Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin likes to think of seniors as masking tape. More specifically, it’s the residue the tape leaves on a given surface that captured his attention. Because, even when that tape is gone, a residue remains — a mark. And, in Ole Miss’ case, that residue formed a culture that has completely changed a program.
Behind a stingy defense that surrendered only 115 yards in the second half to archrival Mississippi State and an offense that ran for 254 yards — the most for the Rebels in SEC play this season — No. 14 Ole Miss defeated the Bulldogs 26-14 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Senior Day Friday , wrapping up the regular season slate of games for both teams. It’s the Rebels’ (9-3, 5-3 SEC) second-straight win over Mississippi State (2-10, 0-8) and the Rebels’ fourth win in the last five meetings.
The Rebels now await their College Football Playoff fate. The selection show will take place Dec. 8, following all the conference championship games.
“Masking tape leaves behind when you go to pull it off. It leaves a mark. It leaves a legacy,” Kiffin said. “ … (Seniors) came here not knowing whether or not Ole Miss was going to be great. And they were a huge part of this run.
“ … Players don’t stay. These guys that stayed through this, even though their careers probably weren’t exactly perfect as they had planned, I’m just really happy for those guys.”
One of the seniors recognized pregame was quarterback Jaxson Dart, who finished with 143 passing yards, 77 rushing yards and a passing touchdown in his final home game with the Rebels. He moved past Eli Manning for the most passing yards in program history, having already passed Bo Wallace for the total offense record earlier in the season. Dart’s fourth-quarter touchdown pass to senior tight end Caden Prieskorn – a juggling 19-yard catch in tight coverage – combined with a late goal line stop from the Rebels’ stingy defense sealed the deal for the Rebels. Senior running back Ulysses Bentley IV scored on an 89-yard touchdown and finished with a season-high 136 yards.
Dart, along with teammates like wide receiver Jordan Watkins, defensive end Jared Ivey and defensive tackle JJ Pegues, transferred to Ole Miss prior to the 2022 season. They have won 28 games over their three seasons in Oxford and all took the field one last time at home Friday. The word that came to mind when Dart, a Utah native who began his career at USC, discussed his journey at Ole Miss was simple: gratitude.
“It’s hard flipping across the country from the West Coast and leaving your family. This place just took me in with open arms to my family, and I’ve said it multiple times. This is the best place I could have picked,” Dart said. “ … I’m still trying to take in everything that’s happened so far, but the biggest word I could just use is gratitude.”
Ole Miss trailed 7-3 and then 14-10 in the first quarter to a Mississippi State (2-10, 0-8 SEC) team that failed to win an SEC game for the first time since 2002. The Bulldogs hung tough despite being heavy underdogs behind the precise deep-ball passing of true freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr., who had four passing plays of at least 30 yards in the game but did throw a pair of interceptions.
Bentley dashed up the middle nearly untouched for 89 yards midway through the second quarter, sending fans into a frenzy and giving Ole Miss a lead it would not relinquish. Dart’s 17-yard pass to senior Jordan Watkins with 5:08 left in the first half put him past Manning’s previous record of 10,119 career passing yards.
“I haven’t really thought about the record. I was more just thinking about trying to take in all that I could from my last experience playing here,” Dart said. “ … I just appreciate everything that this place has given to me, and how the people can look back and say … they know I gave it my all.
After a series of punts by both teams and Van Buren’s second interception in the third quarter – this one nabbed by senior Trey Washington, who was part of Kiffin’s first full signing class in 2020 – Ole Miss tacked on another field goal following a muffed punt and subsequent recovery from sophomore defensive end Suntarine Perkins. The Rebels put the game out of reach early in the fourth, when Dart faded backwards under pressure on third-and-5 and calmly lofted the ball to Prieskorn.
Another long ball by Van Buren midway through the fourth set the Bulldogs up inside the 5-yard-line, but the Rebels were able to force a fourth-and-2 situation that eventually resulted in an incomplete pass in the end zone and a turnover on downs. A short run by Pegues on fourth-and-1 with less than 30 seconds to play allowed the Rebels to run out the clock, the ultimate icing on their cake.
Prior to the 2020 season — Kiffin’s first at Ole Miss — the Rebels had suffered through four-straight non-winning seasons and won a combined 20 games. Kiffin’s first full recruiting class, which included players like Washington, took the field for the first time in 2021. That senior class has won 38 games in four years. Those players, combined with longtime transfer stalwarts like Dart, helped change the trajectory of Ole Miss football.
“It’s such a better story in life when you just don’t go somewhere and things are already going, you’re just part of it, whether that’s a corporation, a team and whatever, you can just plug and play,” Kiffin said. “ … To turn the programs toward, they’re going into their game as a huge favorite in the Egg Bowl, and looking at going 9-3 and people (are) upset at that. That’s perspective of where it came in five years because of these guys. I just think it’s really special when you go do something that hasn’t been done before.”
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