Gamer: Ole Miss escapes with 35-27 win over Tulsa
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss knocked off Tulsa at home after a solid first-half performance, and a not-as-strong second-half performance.
After the game, head coach Lane Kiffin offered his thoughts on the win.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t play well in the second half, especially offensively. We didn’t play well at all in the first half defensively, so that’s not a good thing. We did win, so we are 4-0, which is you know the best that you can be from a record stand point at this point, but kind of more similar to the first game of the year, where we played really well early and then didn’t, and I thought we had overcome that by the way the last two games had gone.“
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin
The Rebels scored 35 points in the first half but failed to score for the remainder of the game as Tulsa nearly came back and tied it after trailing by 21 at one point.
Ole Miss put up 462 yards of total offense while giving up 457. Jaxson Dart went 13-for-24 with 154 yards through the air and rushed for 116 yards on 16 carries.
Kiffin talked about his quarterback’s performance.
“Statistically, I thought Jaxson played well. He was more physical in the run game than I liked, and I tried to stop him a couple times. We ideally didn’t want to run him so much, and that’s just what they do on the reads, even when its not a quarterback read, if they bring an extra guy, he’s got to pull it. I thought he was good, smart with the ball. In every game we had one of those you want to take back. He overthrew a guy, a poor decision. It was a different game once we started moving.”
Lane Kiffin on Jaxson Dart
True freshman Quinshon Judkins rushed for over 100 yards once again, going for 140 on 27 carries as Zach Evans was kept out of much of the game for medical reasons.
Ladarius Tennison led the way in tackles for the Rebel defense with twelve, while Troy Brown had ten and AJ Finley finished with nine and an interception.
First Half
The Rebels received the ball first and took just one minute and 39 seconds to score on a Zach Evans run from 20 yards out that was set up by a pair of long runs by Jaxson Dart on the opening plays of the game.
Zach Evans takes it to the house on a 20-yard TD run! Ole Miss leads Tulsa 7-0 with 13:21 left in the first quarter. #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/642fgwPxew
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) September 24, 2022
Unlike Ole Miss’ first three games this season, the Rebels’ opening score was answered. Tulsa responded with an impressive 87-yard touchdown drive on the back of quarterback Davis Brin that tied the game at seven.
A quick three-and-out on the Rebels’ next possession gave the Golden Hurricane a boost of momentum and Brin would once again lead Tulsa down the field for another touchdown, making the score 14-7 Tulsa early and giving the Rebels their first deficit of 2022.
Ole Miss had no answer for Tulsa’s offense early as Brin threw for 103 yards on his first two offensive drives, quieting the Ole Miss crowd.
After nearly losing possession on a fumble to start the next drive, the Rebel offense marched down the field, converting a short third and fourth down to set them up deep in Tulsa territory as the first quarter came to an end.
Quinshon Judkins would then punch it in from four yards out to tie the game up at 14.
4-yard TD run for Quinshon Judkins that ties the game. Hotty Toddy! 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/WH8KmhQQ7B
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) September 24, 2022
The Rebels then went on a run.
A quick three-and-out on Tulsa’s next possession put the ball back in Ole Miss’ hands and the Rebels would need very little time to recapture the lead. It took only four plays to score a touchdown on a beautiful pass from Dart to wide receiver Malik Heath.
Here’s a look at Dart’s TD pass to Malik Heath. Rebs lead 21-14. #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/tIhR1RNpvj
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) September 24, 2022
That put Ole Miss up 21-14 with 10:31 left in the first half.
After another stop from the defense, the Rebel offense took advantage of a couple of costly penalties from Tulsa after having to start the drive from Ole Miss seven-yard-line. The Rebels marched down to the Tulsa goal line where Judkins would score his second touchdown of the day and give his team a 28-14 lead on a 93 yard scoring drive.
True freshman Quinshon Judkins scores his second TD! Rebels lead 28-14. #PartyInTheSip pic.twitter.com/t2ALmp2wut
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) September 24, 2022
Tulsa’s next drive stalled as safety AJ Finley picked off quarterback Braylon Braxton — who had entered the game for the Golden Hurricane after Brin was injured — which set up the Rebels in Tulsa territory.
In our interview w/ AJ Finley this week, he told us: "I think we need to force a few more turnovers than we have, because I don’t know how many interceptions we have, but I feel like that is something big — going into this week especially. We need to force more turnovers.”#DONE pic.twitter.com/xSYWiw3xFV
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) September 24, 2022
Three plays later Dart hooked up with Mingo for a 31-yard touchdown pass that put Ole Miss up 35-14.
Here’s a look at Mingo’s TD. Ole Miss leads 35-17! #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/iboAQMPUY4
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) September 24, 2022
Tulsa was able to take some momentum into the locker room, converting a field goal as the half expired that cut the lead to 35-17 after a 47-yard rush set them up in Rebels’ territory.
Second half
Tulsa dominated Ole Miss in the second half as the Golden Hurricanes nearly came back to tie the game.
The Rebels came out of the half looking sloppy on both sides of the ball. Tulsa put together a nice drive on the opening possession of the half and added three more points on the board to cut the Ole Miss lead to fifteen.
On the next possession, the Rebels failed to get anything going on offense, and that would become a common trend as the game moved along; Ole Miss failed to score a single point in the second half.
The Rebs’ best opportunity to score was halted by a Judkins’ fumble deep in Tulsa territory towards the end of the third quarter. The possession after the fumble, Tulsa scored a touchdown to make the score 35-27 with 14:38 left in the game.
The two teams traded punts for the rest of the contest until Judkins and Dart were able to collect a couple of first downs with a little over a minute left. That put the game away as the Rebels survived the pesky Golden Hurricane.
Despite the poor second-half showing, Ole Miss now moves to 4-0 and will get ready to take on Kentucky in Oxford next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 11:00 a.m. and will air on ESPN.
(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)
Dillon Cader
Dillon is from Yazoo City, Ms. He is a senior journalism major pursuing a career in sportswriting. He grew up an Ole Miss fan and has always followed Ole Miss sports as well as the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Braves. He played football and basketball in high school and enjoys spending time with friends and family.
