Jaxson Dart discusses the Rebels’ bounce-back win over South Carolina: ‘I was really impressed with how we were able to come together’
COLUMBIA, South Carolina — Ole Miss picked up its fifth win of the season, defeating South Carolina 27-3 in a dominant effort on the road. Rebel quarterback Jaxson Dart talked to media after the game and discussed his team’s offensive production and how his team bounced back from the loss to Kentucky last weekend.
“We definitely left a lot of points out there in the second half, so that’s going to be the biggest takeaway… but I was super proud of guys like J-Wat (Jordan Watkins), Juice (Wells), Cayden Lee, and even (Caden) Prieskorn had a big third down conversion, so all those guys stepping up, making big plays, and running the football was big for us. This was just a really good win for our team, I can’t even explain how much it hurt last week, so just being able to go through that and then stack this win and get some good momentum.“
– Dart on the offensive performance
The Kentucky loss did not sit well with the signal caller, nor any of his teammates. According to Dart, as soon as that game ended, there was never a moment of blame or sense of distrust in the locker room. Instead, several players who were unable to fall asleep following the game met at two in the morning to sit around a fire and talk about what went wrong for them.
Dart believes the team responded throughout the week.
“I was really impressed with how we were able to come together. We had a player meeting and a lot of one-on-one meetings with individual guys. As leadership, when you have such a talented team and you have a game like that and you screw up on your own, you definitely have to look yourself in the mirror, you have to see what’s your identity as team. To be able to have those conversations, the team had a lot of urgency this week, and I was happy how we were able to come together.“
– Dart on the team’s response from last week
Road Rebs >>> pic.twitter.com/WzVdL1TvGC
— Ole Miss Athletics (@OleMissSports) October 5, 2024
Checking out their bounce-back effort at Williams-Brice Stadium, the offense, led by Dart, posted 27 points and 425 yards of total offense, including 285 passing yards. Surprisingly enough, all three touchdowns occurred on the ground, with one coming from Henry Parrish Jr. and two from defensive tackle JJ Pegues while playing offense.
Defensively, the Rebs limited the Gamecocks to three points, holding them without a touchdown in the game for the first time all season. Collectively, Ole Miss held Carolina to under 200 passing and rushing yards while making 70 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss, six sacks, and one interception.
Dart described what it’s like to play alongside such a dominant defense.
“I haven’t had a defense like this in my college career. It takes a lot of stress off our shoulders when we feel like we don’t have to score every single drive to win. I think we need to start feeling like that more so we can put more points up, but at the same time, when you can come off the field and you have all the confidence regardless of where you give the ball to your defense that they’re going to come out with a stop, I think they’re the prime example of bend but don’t break. I’ve said it from the get-go, its tough to go against them in practice, so its got to be hard for everybody else to go against them as well.“
– Dart on the Ole Miss defense
Suntarine Perkins with the 3rd down stop 🦈@suntarine | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/9l3P2FP4V9
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 5, 2024
Moving to next week, the challenge is only going to increase with Ole Miss taking on LSU in Death Valley. The Tigers will be celebrating their 100th-year stadium anniversary and looking for revenge after last year’s thriller of a matchup. While the game is looming in Dart’s mind, he wants to make sure he and the team take a little time to enjoy this win.
“I’m going to make sure to enjoy this one with our team…SEC games are hard to win… we’re going to enjoy this, but at the same time, we know what’s coming up next week and we know how big of a game it is. We’re going to be ready.“
– Dart on facing LSU next week
Lane Kiffin and players will return to the podium Monday and Tuesday for press conferences, so be sure to stay tuned with The Rebel Walk for all updates and more!
