HOUSTON — The flashes of potential have been there for Ole Miss sophomore quarterback Jaxson Dart. But the results haven’t always been consistent.

That potential isn’t too dissimilar to that of the Rebels as a whole going forward.

Ole Miss started its 2022 campaign 7-0 and ranked No. 11 in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season. The Rebels lost five of six to finish, however, including four straight to end the year. The last came in a 42-25 defeat in the Texas Bowl Wednesday night against Texas Tech, a game the Rebels trailed 26-7 at halftime.

While college football is rather fluid these days due to the transfer portal, the Rebels figure to have a strong core returning for 2023, including Dart, star running back Quinshon Judkins, four of five starting offensive linemen receivers including Jordan Watkins, Dayton Wade and tight end Michael Trigg. The Rebels will lose its two leading pass catchers in senior receivers Jonathan Mingo and Malik Heath.

On the other side of the ball, Ole Miss will miss defensive end Tavius Robinson, defensive tackle KD Hill, safety AJ Finley and linebacker Troy Brown but will likely return a unit that includes tackle JJ Pegues, defensive end Jared Ivey, linebacker Khari Coleman, cornerbacks Deantre Prince and Davison Igbinosun and a handful of nickelbacks/safeties.

“You see us playing with the best of the best, and then we have games like this where we just don’t play our kind of football,” Dart said. “The potential’s there, and I think that a lot of us just have to take accountability for one another, take accountability for ourselves and really try to build the most-connected culture that we can with very high ceilings for one another, that we hold each other to that standard.”

As far as what the future holds for personnel, head coach Lane Kiffin said that will be evaluated as always.

“I’m not going to jump to conclusions because you lose a game, but, you guys have been around here. We’ve won 10 games and made changes, so we will look at everything in our program,” Kiffin said. “ I’m sure there will be some changes made in some areas, because I think the good thing about our fans they know about me, this is not acceptable.”

Kiffin was also asked what the next step for the Ole Miss program is.

“ … I can’t really tell you exactly what it is except go try to build the roster the best we can, look at the coaching, the recruiting, the administrative parts of our building, whatever we’re doing. Just look at all of it like we have before. Like I said, we went 10-2 and made some changes,” Kiffin said. “We have to always do — look at everything to make the program the best. We don’t ever say, ‘Well, that guy is OK.’ We don’t do that in coaching. We don’t do that in playing.”

Robinson reminisces

Robinson played in his final game as a Rebel on Wednesday night, and he had a memorable effort: five tackles, one sack and two forced fumbles.

When asked about what he’ll remember most about the 2022 Rebels, Robinson provided introspection.

“Really just how close we are. I think this is the closest as a team we’ve been from my three years here. I love all the guys. Just how close we are, the bonds that I’ve created, I think they’re going to be lifetime bonds. So, I’ll definitely remember that for sure.”

Key number: 197

Ole Miss ran for 197 yards Wednesday night, well below its season average of 261.6 yards per game.

Quotable

“That was really a pregame decision of, OK, when we have the analytics support, and we read the books. I know when it doesn’t work, everybody says they’re stupid books. Jimbo (Fisher) will be happy today. The book didn’t work.” Lane Kiffin, on what goes into fourth-down decisions

Rebel ramblings

Ole Miss’ 558 yards were its most ever in a bowl game … Judkins and junior Zach Evans each finished with better than 900 rushing yards this season, the first time Rebels teammates have accomplished the feat … Judkins finished with a single-season school-record 1,567 rushing yards this season.