After Gator Bowl win, Jaxson Dart expresses his love for Oxford and the culture of Ole Miss: The state of Mississippi is just special’
JACKSONVILLE – Ole Miss earned its 10th win of the season in the Gator Bowl last night following an impressive 52-20 victory over the Duke Blue Devils. In addition to the team reaching another double-digit win season, quarterback Jaxson Dart took last night to write his name in several history books of Ole Miss and college football.
The senior recorded 447 yards of total offense and four touchdowns while refusing to come out of the game so he could savor every one of his last moments as the Ole Miss quarterback. In his postgame, Dart spoke on his decision to not only play in the game but play as long as he possibly could until the final drive in the fourth quarter.
Jaxson Dart.
QB1 kind of throw here.
Wow. pic.twitter.com/VjXiZuExVk
— Travis May (@FF_TravisM) January 3, 2025
“Yeah, I told my teammates, told my coaches, and told my mom before the game that I’m going to leave everything I have on that field. I played the game the way that I play it, and I don’t really look into the future of whatever. I’m just there for the moment, and I’m going to compete.“
– Dart on his mindset in the Gator Bowl
Jaxson did exactly what he said he would do.
He passed for 404 yards and rushed for 43. The gunslinger surpassed Chad Kelly in the record books, throwing for the most passing yards and total offense in a single Ole Miss season. On top of setting school records, Dart also surpassed 12,000 yards of total offense in his career, joining Aaron Murray, Drew Lock, and Tim Tebow as the only other SEC players to do so.
Just as it seemed there were no other records to be broken, Dart reached another milestone as he now holds the single-game total yardage record in Gator Bowl history (447) — a bowl game has been played for 80 years.
Jaxson talked about what it means to have experienced such a historic night.
“Yeah, that’s pretty cool. I didn’t know that. Just blessed to have the players around me that I do. These are the best teammates in the country and the best coaching staff, who always put us in position to go execute and make big plays, and I feel like we were in rhythm all night tonight. Yeah, it was just a lot of fun, and this was a great event.“
– Dart on becoming the total yards leader in Gator Bowl history
Jaxson Dart during his career at Ole Miss:
🏆 10,617 passing yards
🏆 1,498 rushing yards
🏆 84 Total TDs pic.twitter.com/4zn8Ia7GbG— PFF College (@PFF_College) January 3, 2025
Despite cementing his name into a variety of historical categories last night, Dart reflected upon his time at Ole Miss and the importance of going from an eight-win team in 2022 to a double-digit win program in consecutive years with victories over Penn State, LSU, and Georgia.
“I think we definitely left it off in a better place than what we came in. I think from the outside, you look at numbers, we don’t even think of that stuff, but they’re there, too. But I think that from our experience in Oxford, the growth, just the environment, the culture itself of bringing people together, it’s like a dream playing football at Ole Miss. You can go anywhere, and everybody is going to know your name. Everybody is going to support you. Everybody is going to have your back, and that’s just special. You don’t get that everywhere, especially where I’m from. I didn’t experience that at all at my old school, and then coming here, it’s just a family. The state of Mississippi is special.”
– Dart on his time as a Rebel
Though this chapter of Ole Miss football has closed, another begins for Lane Kiffin’s team in 2025, as it will be led by Austin Simmons and an abundance of young talent for the Rebs.
As always, be sure to stay tuned with The Rebel Walk for more Gator Bowl coverage and all of your Ole Miss sports needs.
