Ole Miss rumbles past Georgia Tech in 42-0 road win
ATLANTA –When the Georgia Tech football team takes to the Grant Field turf, it is led by a 1930 Ford Model A Coupe adorned in the school colors.
Saturday, not long after the antique car left the field, the Yellow Jackets ran out of gas themselves as Ole Miss raced to a 42-0 win.
The Rebels improve to 3-0 and Tech falls to 1-2.
“We challenged the guys after playing really well last week to come on the road and play well. They did that. Shutout on the road…We played every person we brought.“
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin
As hard as Ole Miss kept its foot on the accelerator, equally the defense slammed the brakes on the Georgia Tech offense for most of the day.
Ole Miss ran for 316 yards with Zach Evans leading the way with 134 yards and two touchdowns. Quinshon Judkins had 100 yards, but in his last carry was dropped for a two-yard loss on his final carry to end with 98 yards and a pair of scores. Ulysses Bennett IV also scored twice on the ground.
Evans thanked the big fellas who make it all happen. “First off, I want to say thank you to the O-line…they couldn’t have been any better,” he said.
The Rebels’ defense had seven sacks, and 12 tackles for loss.
First-half action
It did not take Ole Miss long to open the scoring. After receiving the opening kickoff, Zach Evans carried the ball on four-of-five plays on the initial drive, the last carry covering the final three yards for the Rebels’ touchdown.
Jonathan Cruz added the extra point and barely a minute into the game, Ole Miss held a 7-0 lead.
Georgia Tech was stuffed on its first drive and the Rebels’ special teams continued the dominance from last week’s win over Central Arkansas. Cedrick Johnson broke through the line and blocked the Yellow Jackets’ punt to put Ole Miss in business at the Tech 20.
“That was a really good player making a good play.“
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin on Johnson’s punt block
Six plays later, Quinshon Judkins sprinted to the left side of the end zone from the 7-yard line for the Rebels’ second touchdown early in the game. The Cruz kick made it 14-0.
Early in the second period, Georgia Tech drove to the Rebels’ doorstep and elected to forgo a field goal attempt and go for a fourth-and-four, but Tavius Robinson sacked Jeff Sims to give Ole Miss the ball back without surrendering points.
Ole Miss became a tad stagnant in the second quarter, but a 10-yard completion from Dart to tight end Michael Trigg and a 36-yard sprint by Judkins put the ball into Tech territory and then Evans broke through the line and scampered 26 yards for a score.
The Cruz kick was down the middle and the Rebels led 21-0.
Ole Miss had a chance to add to its lead in the waning moments of the first half, but Dart threw an ill-advised pass across his body and Tech’s Jaylon King picked off the ball at the Yellow Jackets’ 18.
That was about the only mistake the offense made in the first half.
Evans ran for 115 yards and Judkins added 69 more as the Rebels ran for 216 before the break. Dart threw for 92 yards and the team gained 308 total yards. The defense collected four tackles for loss and a pair of sacks and bottled up the Ramblin’ Wreck’s offense for a paltry 51 yards on the ground.
Second-half action
Ole Miss took its first possession of the second half and drove 63 yards in eight plays to Judkins’ second score of the day, this one from the one. Cruz hit the kick and the Rebels led 28-0.
A drive later, Ole Miss increased its lead. Ulysses Bentley IV made the most of his first carry of the day by dashing into the end zone from 15 yards and Cruz added the kick to give the Rebels a 35-0 edge.
QB Dart got his team all excited when he trucked a Georgia Tech defender. Running back Zach Evans was one of those.
“That got all of us riled up…when you got a quarterback who is bold like that.“
Zach Evans on Dart’s steamrolling on the Tech defender
Jaxson Dart steamrolling GT. 💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/oaSNS2pRlu
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) September 17, 2022
Bentley closed out the third-quarter scoring by cruising into the end zone and Cruz’ sixth conversion to send the game into the final period with Ole Miss leading 42-0 and that was how the game ended.
Ole Miss returns home next week to host Tulsa at 3:00 p.m.
(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)
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.
