Gamer: Ole Miss Bounces Back With 31-28 Road Win Over Aggies
COLLEGE STATION, Tex. – Quinshon Judkins kept showing off, Jaxson Dart played lights out, and Ole Miss bounced back from its first loss, taking down Texas A&M, 31-28, at Kyle Field. The win moves Ole Miss to 8-1 overall and 4-1 in SEC play, while the Aggies drop to 3-5, 1-4 in SEC play. The loss was the fourth straight for the Aggies.
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before: Quick Points
Ole Miss has been one of the best first-quarter teams in the country offensively, and yet again they showed their quick-strike ability on the opening drive.
After a handoff to Dayton Wade to start the game picked up seven yards, Quinshon Judkins would then give the Rebels three consecutive first down carries to move Ole Miss to the Texas A&M 18.
Jaxson Dart would then find Wade wide open in the endzone to put the Rebels on top in just 1:58.
After 6 straight running plays on the Rebels’ first possession, it’s Dart to Wade for SIX!! It’s Ole Miss 7, A&M 0 with 13 minutes to play in the first quarter, completing a 75-yard drive. pic.twitter.com/FzKjA68haY
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) October 29, 2022
Ole Miss has a +75 scoring margin in the first quarter, trailing only Ohio State in that category who sits at +80.
But the struggling Ole Miss defense couldn’t keep the Rebels in front, as the Aggies easily drove down the field, capping off the drive with a three-yard touchdown pass from Conner Weigman to Moose Muhammad III.
Halloween Spooks
The third down defense for Ole Miss has been struggling mightily of late, and things didn’t look good early. After the Rebels were forced to punt on their second drive, the Aggies were right back to work.
Freshman quarterback Connor Weigman, who was making his first start for A&M, picked the Rebels apart on drive number two.
With the Aggies facing third down and six, Ole Miss brought pressure and got to Weigman who was forced to throw off his back foot. But the secondary forgot to cover, and a wide-open receiver caught the pass for a 17 yard gain.
Weigman would then find Donovan Green for a 26-yard completion, and then cap off the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Evan Stewart, and the Aggies would take a 14-7 lead.
Red Zone Woes
Ole Miss would drive down the field on its next drive and get inside the red zone. But on fourth down and three, the Rebels would try and run a naked bootleg with Jaxson Dart, and the Aggies would easily get to him for a loss of yards and the Rebels would turn it over on downs to end the first quarter.
Rebels Keep it Close
After the first two drives were disastrous for the Ole Miss defense, the Rebels would settle in and keep the Aggies from getting on the board again in the half.
The most exciting play of the first half came when the Rebels had a fourth down at their own 15 yard line. Lane Kiffin and company caught everyone off guard by giving a direct snap to JJ Pegues for a fake punt and Pegues would get just enough to convert.
JJ PEGUES!! @JeremiahPegues4
🖥 https://t.co/sSCEB25VxD pic.twitter.com/adfkkL7EV8— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 30, 2022
The Ole Miss offense would have chances, but would only manage three more points in the half, giving the Aggies a 14-10 lead at intermission.
For the Rebels, it was Quinshon Judkins again leading the way after two quarters, rushing for 112 yards on 19 carries. Jaxson Dart finished the first half with 44 yards on 5-9 passing and a touchdown.
For the Aggies, it was Devon Achane leading the way with 124 yards on 17 carries. Conner Weigman threw for 119 yards on 10-12 passing and two touchdowns in the first half of play.
Casey Kelly helps the Rebs regain the lead
After the Ole Miss defense opened the second half by forcing a three-and-out, it was tight end Casey Kelly who would come up huge.
After three Texas A&M penalties gave Ole Miss a first and goal inside the five yard line, Quinshon Judkins was stopped twice to make it third down. Jaxson Dart would then dance out of the pocket and find Kelly wide open in the back of the end zone to give Ole Miss its first lead since it was 7-0.
CASEY KELLY TOUCHDOWN!!!!@JaxsonDart ➡️ @caseykelly1211 pic.twitter.com/NVD9Th9GgH
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 30, 2022
Truck Stick
After the Ole Miss defense yet again forced an Aggie punt, the Rebels took over at their own 15-yard line. Zach Evans wasted little time getting the Rebels better field position, breaking off a huge run all the way to the 42 and embarrassing some TAMU defenders on the way.
That @runzekerun01 is just different. pic.twitter.com/3vzGkmLfVd
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 30, 2022
The Rebels would continue the drive and get inside the Texas A&M five-yard line. Jaxson Dart would then find Jonathan Mingo for a two-yard touchdown pass to put Ole Miss up by ten.
Third passing score of the day for @JaxsonDart as he finds @ogmingo1k! pic.twitter.com/ZPxwZYjfoG
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 30, 2022
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) October 30, 2022
Record-Breaking Day For The Birthday Boy
Saturday night was the 19th birthday for Quinshon Judkins. Entering the day, Judkins had 831 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground.
He put on a show for his big day.
With the Rebels leading 24-21, Judkins took over, breaking off a 61 yard run to put the Rebels in scoring position.
JUDKINS FOR 61 YARDS and THEN THE SCORE! https://t.co/drTBTy2yOb pic.twitter.com/D2CCQ16957
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) October 30, 2022
That run put Judkins over 1,000 yards on the season. A FRESHMAN. And he wasn’t done yet. He would proceed to go over 200 yards rushing on the day and find the end zone at the same time, extending the Rebels lead back out to two scores.
Four plays, 75 yards, all Quinshon Judkins. pic.twitter.com/0YGcIkwOth
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 30, 2022
Q1K pic.twitter.com/VeFcw57o97
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 30, 2022
A Tale Of Two Halves
On the first two drives of the game for A&M, the Aggies went 8 plays for 77 yards and a touchdown and 6 plays, 81 yards and a touchdown.
Their next six drives ended with a turnover on downs and five punts.
“We got a little more basic. We were able to stop the run a little better. We did not do that well in the first half or some of the third quarter… A little bit of bend don’t break.“
Lane Kiffin on the Ole Miss defense
The Rebels, who had been struggling in the second half, flipped the script against the Aggies.
After scoring on their first drive, the Rebels went scoreless on their next three drives before ending the half with a field goal. But the second half Rebels scored touchdowns on three of their six drives.
Late Drama
No road win in the SEC comes easy, and winning in College Station is no exception. A Devon Achane touchdown with 1:25 remaining made it 31-28, and the Aggies would get one more shot after an Ole Miss punt with 54 seconds remaining. But the Rebel defense would hold strong, and Ole Miss would earn a huge bounce back win.
The Rebels would finish with 390 rushing yards, and Jaxson Dart played his best game, throwing for 140 yards and three touchdowns on 13-20 passing. Dart also rushed for 95 yards on 17 carries.
“I just have to thank God for these players coming together and the way that they played, it’s a really cool group.“
Lane Kiffin
“Three hundred ninety yards rushing against a bunch of five stars, pretty good.” Lane Kiffin pic.twitter.com/FCunBI8a5S
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) October 30, 2022
Up Next
Ole Miss now has a much-needed week off before the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide comes to town. The Tide was off this week but has a matchup with LSU next week in Baton Rouge. The matchup with Alabama could potentially have huge SEC West implications, depending on the results on the Bayou between the Tigers and the Crimson Tide.
“Get healthy, take care of yourselves, do a good job with academics. We’ve got three regular season games left against three really good teams in the SEC with a lot at stake.“
Lane Kiffin on what he’s telling his players going into the bye week
TV and kickoff time have yet to be announced for the Rebels’ contest with Bama.
(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)
Austin Eldridge
Austin has more than ten years in sports media, including sports talk radio, play-by-play broadcasting and journalism. He has followed Ole Miss athletics for his entire life and has covered the Rebels and the rest of the SEC while working in the Memphis media market. Outside of sports media, Austin is a musician and outdoorsman. Before a serious accident forced him to be medically discharged, he was a multi-media journalist with the Mississippi National Guard.
