Ole Miss players not satisfied with performance in win over Tulsa, will look to improve in all areas ahead of Kentucky
OXFORD, Miss. – After Ole Miss defeated Tulsa 35-27 Saturday, there were certainly parties along fraternity row on campus. Surely The Grove saw its share of people celebrating prior to packing up their tents and the Square in Oxford must’ve seen its revelers in the post-game hours.
There was one corner of Oxford, however, that did not seem like a celebration. That spot was the Ole Miss locker room.
Sure, the Rebels won to run their record to 4-0, but after being shutout in the second half and having to hold on to defeat a group of five school, there was not much hooping and hollering by the team. The squad knew they did not play to their capabilities.
“In the locker room, we weren’t very happy,” quarterback Jaxson Dart told the media after the game.
“That’s not the standard we want to play at each and every day.”
Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart
Dart ran for a career-high 116 yards, but still he and his teammates were not satisfied with the effort in the last non-conference game of the year.
“It’s really more disappointment because we let the game be closer than it should have been,” Jonathan Mingo said about the team after the game.
“The standard is to win. When we let someone creep back into the game, that’s not our standard of football. We’re trying to become a championship program and we can’t let things like that happen.”
Ole Miss QB WR Jonathan Mingo
Mingo grabbed three passes in the game for 54 yards, including a 31-yard touchdown. Yet he was not the only Rebel disappointed.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t play well in the second half, especially offensively,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said. “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 standpoint 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 cannot afford to have another outing like it had Saturday. This week, the Rebels host Kentucky in the conference opener. The Wildcats are also undefeated and ranked in the top ten in the nation. So, how can Ole Miss respond to the lackluster effort against Tulsa
“We’ll just go back and watch film and see what went wrong, just forget about (the Tulsa game). Kiffin always preaches we have the 24-hour rule (to enjoy a win), so watch film and correct the bad and get on to Kentucky. Just try to improve each week.”
Jonathan Mingo
Saturday’s game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium will kick off at 11 a.m. and will be televised on ESPN.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
