Jaxson Dart’s Metrics Among Nation’s Best in Rebels’ Week-One Win over Furman
OXFORD, Miss. — What a performance. For all of you quarterbacks, I’ll offer you a challenge. Take a couple of your best receivers and re-enact every throw on every route that Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart executed against Furman, and tell me what your completion percentage is.
Even with you and them going against absolutely no one at all, my money’s on Jaxson Dart and his guys that their completion percentage tops yours. That’s how impressive the greatest show in college football was this past Saturday.
screw it, @JaxsonDart’s week 1 highlights pic.twitter.com/YvH2JMRJQK
— Not Ole Miss Problems (@OleMissNoProb) September 4, 2024
So game one is in the books, officially a 76-0 win over Furman. The execution was as close to perfection as one could imagine, and the numbers are quite extravagant. Dart was phenomenal, putting up a full game’s worth of stats in just one half. He was 22-for-27 with 445 total yards, six total touchdowns and no interceptions at halftime, and Ole Miss led 52-0 at the break, allowing the Heisman candidate to check out early.
Dart became the first SEC QB since Joe Burrow in 2019 with more than 350 passing yards in a half, tallying 418 through the air.
There were times it seemed Lane Kiffin was channeling his old friend Mike Leach, who never saw an opportunity to score that he didn’t like. And that’s what pre-SEC games are for — to stretch it to the limit and squeeze out every drop of preparation the game provides.
Rebel Metrics
So off to the Rebel metrics we go, and there are several that are quite powerful in nature.
Let’s begin with Total QBR. For those who have read our QB Film Room for a while, you know I’m a big believer in the Total QBR metric. It adjusts for the quarterbacks’ level of opponent and, in my opinion, is the single-best indicator of a quarterback’s abilities.
In the win over Furman, Jaxson Dart hit a single-game career high of 97.3 on the Total QBR. That’s on a 100-point scale, y’all. That’s quarterbacking brilliance. His RAW score was 99.2. Let that soak in. Again, before you say, “It was just Furman,” understand that the level of opponent was accounted for — and Dart was literally almost perfect.
How about Passing Efficiency? His score there was 272.6, which currently is No. 3 in Power 5, IF we’re still including Washington State as a Power program when they’re actually playing Mountain West ball. Otherwise, he and the great competitor Cam Rising of Utah are the Top 2.
2024 Week 1 Passing Efficiency Ratings pic.twitter.com/dleIHUAKks
— David Walker (@DavidWalkerQB) September 4, 2024
PFF is also a well-respected data and metrics organization that graded Dart at No. 1 with a score of 95.7.
Highest Graded Week 1 Quarterbacks🎯 pic.twitter.com/wUdZprkAp5
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 2, 2024
Heisman Odds
The Heisman odds have also changed dramatically. The sharps have apparently seen enough to drop Dart’s odds from 14-to-1 to 8.5-to-1. (When your odds drop, it reflects a surge in popularity.) Depending on whose you look at, he’s now Top 2 or Top 3 at every Bookstore.
FanDuel has the Rebel signal caller in a three-way tie for No. 1.
Heisman trophy odds after week 1 via @fanduel 💰📈📉
Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel is tied at No. 1 with +850 odds 🦆
(Via @sportsline / @cbssportscfb)
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(FOLLOW @DuckZone503 FOR OREGON FOOTBALL UPDATES) pic.twitter.com/LEpcHKEnZN
— DuckZone503 (@DuckZone503) September 3, 2024
Top 25 Polls
The Ole Miss team is being held with great regard as well, with the AP ranking Lane Kiffin’s group at No. 6 — even with the expected Notre Dame leapfrog. The Coaches were so impressed, they moved the Rebels UP a notch in their USA Today Coaches poll to No. 5.
So no, it wasn’t Ole Miss moving down; it was preseason Heisman favorite Dillon Gabriel and his Oregon Ducks who gave up their Top 5 seats in the wake of Week 1 performances. Winning UNIMPRESSIVELY will sure cost you these days.
For the record, the Rebels are still in the Oddsmakers’ Top 6 to win the national championship, so no change there.
Highest Graded Teams from Week 1📈 pic.twitter.com/k0PDtrFoMD
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 3, 2024
Ole Miss is firmly ensconced amongst the elite teams in the nation and has a Heisman favorite at the forefront. Soak it all in Rebs, you don’t want to miss a single play in 2024. This perfect storm is only just developing!
Hotty Toddy!
(Feature image credit: Dan Anderson, The Rebel Walk)
David Walker
David Walker was named Louisiana’s High School Player of the Year at just 16 years old and, at 17, became college football’s first quarterback to earn Freshman of the Year honors. He remains the NCAA’s youngest-ever starting quarterback, a distinction that has stood for decades.
Transitioning from a wide-open high school offense to Emory Bellard’s renowned wishbone triple option, Walker excelled as a dual-threat quarterback. He graduated as Texas A&M’s all-time winningest quarterback and served as a two-time team captain, helping to transform a program that had endured 15 losing seasons in the previous 16 years.
After his playing career, Walker coached and taught algebra at six Texas high schools before moving into private business. In 2011, he published his memoir, “I’ll Tell You When You’re Good,” a title inspired by the coaching philosophy of Shannon Suarez, the Sulphur High and Louisiana High School Hall of Fame coach who was a significant influence on Walker’s life and career.
Walker’s compelling storytelling in his autobiography reflects the breadth of his experiences in high school and college football, and it is an undeniable fact that he saw more action than any athlete in the history of the NCAA. Since 2013, he has contributed to The Rebel Walk, sharing his insights and expertise with readers.
