Do comments from Jaxson Dart, Pete Golding, and Walter Nolen indicate how Ole Miss football will respond at South Carolina?
OXFORD, Miss. – Heading into the 2024 season, the Ole Miss football program had expectations of possibly going undefeated, making the expanded 12-team college football playoffs, and giving themselves a chance to win a national championship.
In evaluating the current state of the team, I wanted to reintroduce a quote from a week before the season began, spoken by Rebel quarterback Jaxson Dart.
“I’m really excited to face adversity. I think that’s something that I’m actually really looking forward to and seeing how our team handles it. I felt like last year that’s what made our team what it was—being able to block out the noises, block out the storms, and just weather it all… I think that was what really set us apart last year, so I’m excited to face adversity this year and see how our team responds. I think the ceiling for our team is so high… In those times, it’s really going to tell what kind of team we are.”
– Jaxson Dart on August 26
While Dart probably didn’t want to face adversity this early in the season, his team experienced a result last Saturday that fans didn’t even consider a possibility — a loss to Kentucky. After being a top-five team in the country through the first four weeks, Ole Miss fell 20-17 at home against their first SEC opponent, with games against South Carolina, LSU, Oklahoma, and Georgia yet to be played.
According to defensive coordinator Pete Golding, he believes it’s better to have a wake-up call early in the year rather than later. Here’s what the defensive coordinator said when talking to his defense in “The Season: Ole Miss vs. Kentucky” on YouTube.
“We’re going to come back, evaluate the tape, we’re going to coach you better, hold you accountable, have a better plan, and you’re going to be locked in and ready to roll. I promise you this, you’d rather this happen early, because once you’re locked in and you’re focused, can’t nobody beat you.”
– Golding to the defense after loss to Kentucky
Defensive tackle Walter Nolen had similar message for the fan base when talking to the media this week.
“Saturday was a really great wake-up call for us… I feel like we needed that.”
– Nolen on the loss to Kentucky
Wednesday Availability Report | Ole Miss vs. South Carolina. ⤵️ https://t.co/WSTV7NhKT6
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) October 3, 2024
This Saturday in Columbia, the Rebs will be heading into a sold-out Williams-Brice Stadium with over 75,000 fans against a team that’s coming off of a bye-week and looking to prove a point to Juice Wells, the former South Carolina wide receiver. With their backs against the wall, Ole Miss will have the opportunity to show fans everything you need to know about the rest of this season — along with the identity and toughness of their squad — on Saturday.
We think the comments from Dart, Nolen and Golding indicate the Rebs will coming out swinging against the Gamecocks.
Next Up
The game will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ESPN. As always, Hotty Toddy and Go Rebs!
