Notes and Notables in Ole Miss’ dominating win over Georgia Tech

ATLANTA — Ole Miss defeated Georgia Tech, 42-0, Saturday in Atlanta. In the dominating win, the Rebels notched many superlatives. Here are some of the news and notables from the game, courtesy of Ole Miss Athletics.

Series Information

• Today marked just the fifth all-time meeting between Ole Miss and Georgia Tech and only the second at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
• Ole Miss now leads the all-time series, 3-2, and is tied 1-1 at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
• The first and only prior meeting at Bobby Dodd between the Rebels and Yellow Jackets came on Oct. 12, 1946 (L, 24-7), which is also the only other regular season meeting.

Ole Miss Captains

• AJ Finley (S), Tavius Robinson (DE) and Caleb Warren (OL).

Starters

• Louisville transfer WR Jordan Watkins made his first start as a Rebel, the 13th of his career after starting 12 across the 2020 (2) and 2021 (11) seasons with the Cardinals.
• OL Nick Broeker and OL Jeremy James tallied their team-leading 26th consecutive start for Ole Miss on the offensive line.
• Other notable starting streaks include S Otis Reese (19th), DT KD Hill (13th) and S AJ Finley (12th).

Debuts

• A total of two different Rebels made their Ole Miss debut today at Georgia Tech: DT Demarcus Smith (first career), WR Larry Simmons (first career).

General Notes

• Attendance for today’s game was 40,293.
• The 42-0 shutout is the first by an Ole Miss team since besting Presbyterian, 48-0, on Nov. 8, 2014.
• Ole Miss is now 14-8-1 against the current ACC, the second straight win against the conference after beating Louisville, 43-24, to open the 2021 season.
• Largest Power-5 win for Ole Miss since beating Mississippi State, 45-0, on Nov. 28, 2008, and the largest non-SEC Power-5 win since beating Boston College, 54-0, on Oct. 7, 1950.
• First Power-5 shutout for Ole Miss since a 45-0 win over Mississippi State in 2008, as well as the first against a non-current member of the SEC since beating Florida State, 33-0, on Oct. 7, 1961 … Ole Miss also had two shutouts against current SEC members before they entered the conference against Missouri on Sept. 14, 1974 (10-0) and South Carolina on Sept. 23, 1972 (21-0).
• Today also marked the first road shutout for Ole Miss since beating Tulane, 39-0, on Sept. 22, 2012.
• Ole Miss is 157-91-7 (.616 winning pct.) all-time during the month of September after vacated wins.
• Ole Miss is 113-41-6 (.706 winning pct.) all-time versus non-conference opponents during the month.

Offensive Superlatives

• Ole Miss ended with a season-high 547 yards of total offense, the most against a non-SEC Power-5 opponent since recording 569 against Louisville in 2021.
• The Rebels tallied a season-high 316 yards rushing, the most since recording 324 vs. Arkansas in 2021 and the most against a non-SEC Power-5 opponent in available game-by-game records since at least 1967.
• Three Rebels ended the day with two rushing touchdowns: RB Zach Evans, RB Quinshon Judkins and RB Ulysses Bentley IV, the first time since Oct. 27, 1979 vs. Vanderbilt that three Ole Miss rushers tallied multiple scores.
• Third time in the Kiffin era that multiple Rebel rushers have notched rushing touchdowns, joining games vs. Arkansas in 2021 (Snoop Conner, 3 TD; Matt Corral, 2 TD), and against Alabama in 2020 (Jerrion Ealy, 2 TD; Snoop Conner, 2 TD).
• Today marked the seventh time in the Kiffin era that three different Rebel rushers notched a rushing touchdown, the third straight to start the 2022 season.
• First time since 2013 that Ole Miss has had a 100-yard rusher in each of the first three games of a season: Aug. 29 at Vanderbilt (Jeff Scott, 138), Sept. 7 vs. SEMO (Barry Brunetti, 111), Sept. 14 at Texas (Jeff Scott, 164).
• Today marked the second time in the Lane Kiffin era that Ole Miss has had a 100-yard rusher in three straight games, joining a three-game stretch in 2021 vs. Arkansas (Henry Parrish Jr., 111; Snoop Conner, 110), at Tennessee (Matt Corral, 195) and vs. LSU (Snoop Conner, 117).
• Evans ended with 134 yards and two scores on 18 rushes, including 115 yards in the first half … Second time this season he has notched 100-plus in the first half (108 vs. Troy).
• Third career multi-TD game for Evans and first as a Rebel, as well as his first overall since Oct. 9, 2021 vs. Texas Tech while at TCU.
• Judkins added 98 yards and two scores on 19 attempts … Evans and Judkins entered as the only duo in the FBS to average 90-plus rushing yards per game.
• Bentley has recorded at least one rushing touchdown in each game thus far in 2022.
• Ole Miss tallied 107 yards rushing in the first quarter and 109 in the second, giving the Rebels three 100-yard rushing quarters this year (124, 2nd Quarter, vs. Troy).
• Ole Miss opened the game with a 5-play, 74-yard scoring drive in 1:21 … The Rebels are averaging 6.7 plays, 75.3 yards and 1:53 in opening scoring drives in 2022.
• Ole Miss tallied a season-high 308 yards of offense in the first half, the most since notching 408 vs. Texas A&M in 2021 … Ole Miss is averaging 283.7 in the opening half this year.
• Ole Miss also recorded a season-high 216 rushing yards in the first half … The Rebels are averaging 184.0 in the opening half this year.
• QB Jaxson Dart got the start and ended the day 10-of-16 for 207 yards, a new high in passing yards as a Rebel.
• WR Malik Heath ended the day with an Ole Miss career-high 78 yards on four receptions to lead the Rebel receivers.

Defensive Superlatives

• Ole Miss has held eight straight opponents to 21 or fewer points, the longest active streak among Power-5 teams and the longest by any Ole Miss team since a streak of 10 in a row across the end of the 2013 season (two games) and into the 2014 season (eight games).
• Ole Miss’ 7.0 sacks are the most since tallying 9.0 against Liberty in 2021 … 17th game in Kiffin era with multiple sacks and the fifth time in that span with 5.0 or more after notching four such games in 2021.
• Recording sacks for Ole Miss on Saturday were DE Demon Clowney (1.0), DE JJ Hawkins (1.0), DE Cedric Johnson (1.0), LB Austin Keys (1.0), DE Tavius Robinson (1.0), S MJ Daniels (0.5), DT Isaiah Iton (0.5).
• Ole Miss also had 12.0 tackles for loss, the most by a Rebel defense since recording 15.0 against Kent State on Sept. 22, 2018.
• DE Cedric Johnson became the first Rebel to record a sack and a blocked punt in the same game since Charlie Sawyer did so vs. Arkansas on Oct. 27, 2012.
• DE Demon Clowney led Ole Miss with 2.0 tackles for loss … He entered with 1.0 in his career, a sack from the 2021 season.
• DE JJ Hawkins recorded his first career sack.
• S AJ Finley led Ole Miss with a season-high 7 total tackles.
• Ole Miss has held opponents scoreless in nine of 12 quarters this season, including seven of the last eight quarters played.
• Second time in Kiffin era that the Rebel defense has held consecutive opponents to scoreless first halves, joining a two-game stretch vs. Liberty and Texas A&M  during the 2021 season.

Special Team Superlatives

• DE Cedric Johnson blocked a Georgia Tech punt in the first quarter, the first blocked kick of his career.
• Combined with RB Bobo Miller’s blocked punt vs. Central Arkansas on Sept. 10, this marks the first time since 1998 Ole Miss has blocked punts in consecutive games … The ’98 Rebels blocked four total punts, including in consecutive games vs. Arkansas State on Oct. 24 (twice by Ken Lucas) and on Oct. 31 vs. LSU (Dexter Hines).
• Only the fourth time since 1998 that Ole Miss has blocked multiple punts within the same season, joining 2007 (twice: at Memphis; vs. Alabama), 1999 (twice: at Memphis; vs. Alabama), and 1998 (four times: vs. Arkansas State (2x); vs. LSU; at Georgia).
• After recording seven touchbacks on Saturday, K Jonathan Cruz has had 14 of his 18 kickoffs in 2022 go for touchbacks.
• P Fraser Masin punted three times for an average of 37.0 yards per punt.

(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)