Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart ‘not satisfied’ with win over Wake Forest
OXFORD, Miss. – Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss football team moved to 3-0 after defeating Wake Forest, 40-6, Saturday — in sloppy, yet dominant, fashion.
Even with the Rebels covering the 21-point spread, winning by 34 points, and refusing to allow a touchdown, quarterback Jaxson Dart said after the game the players were unpleased with their performance.
“I think it says a lot that we’re not satisfied. The feeling in the locker room was honestly a little bit of disappointment. We felt like we should’ve put up a lot more points and beat them by a lot more, but at the same time, you have to enjoy the wins. We put a lot of work in, but there is a certain standard that we go out there and play with every Saturday, and honestly, I don’t think we met it.”
– Dart on the team morale following the win
Ole Miss committed 11 penalties, giving up a whopping 114 yards. At the same time, the Rebs also turned the ball over twice on a fumble and an interception, which occurred early in the second half when Ole Miss was ahead 23-6.
The good news, however, is when Wake Forest took control after the interception, they earned themselves a first and goal opportunity at the nine-yard line, but the Ole Miss defense refused to let them score and forced a turnover on downs.
For Dart, this defense has provided him with something he felt was not there last season.
“I think we did a good job with me throwing the pick and then our defense getting a huge stop. That just shows the maturity we have in picking each other up. It could’ve been really easy for them to give up a touchdown or give up a score, and they did a really good job. We talked about it as players, and you know last year it felt like as an offense we had to score every drive. It lets us play, slows the game down, and rests our mind when we have a lot of confidence in our defense that we’re going to get a stop.”
– Dart on the growth of the defense
Following the impressive goaline stand from the Rebel defense, the offense marched the ball down the field from the four-yard line to score its first touchdown since the first quarter, credit to a gritty 13-yard run from Dart.
THAT’S MY QB 🗣️🗣️@JaxsonDart | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/XFoNSkAbh0
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 15, 2024
“I was pissed, man. I was tired of not scoring in the red zone, and I told myself whoever’s in front of me is going to feel it. I feel like I kind of sold on the one where I took my helmet off, so I tried to do everything I could to get my get-back.“
– Dart on his rushing touchdown
For the remainder of the game, Wake Forest was unable to put any additional points on the board and finished the night with 265 passing yards, 46 rushing yards, two field goals, and zero touchdowns. For the third week in a row, this defense has proven that unlike last year, there seems to be no ceiling on their success.
“I hate going against them (the defense) in practice, especially now because they know what you run, so it makes things extra hard. I thought they did a great job tonight. It was a perfect example of bend don’t break. They were able to sustain some drives and push it down the field, but we didn’t break. And they didn’t give up a touchdown. I thought that was awesome by them, and it’s another example of them being resilient.“
– Dart on facing his Ole Miss defense in practice
On the offensive side of the ball, there was a lot more adversity, including an injury scare from Tre Harris in the middle of the game, but even with two turnovers, the Rebs scored 40 points and collected 272 rushing yards as a team while Dart threw for 377 passing yards.
According to Jaxson, a game like this is exactly what the Rebs needed to stay motivated moving forward.
“I talked to Coach Kiffin before the game, and I was like, ‘I felt like this is what we needed as a team.’ I felt like that was the ugliest 600-yard game we could play. We did a lot of really good things and just didn’t finish. You saw how explosive we are, but at the same time we just hurt ourselves, so I think it’s a good wakeup call and is definitely something that is going to light a fire underneath us. I know definitely for me going forward just taking accountability, and then at the end of the day we just have to work harder and prepare harder.“
– Dart on facing adversity
Up Next
Ole Miss will return to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium next Saturday at 6:45 p.m. to take on Georgia Southern. Until then, be sure to stay tuned with The Rebel Walk. Hotty Toddy!
