By Billy Watkins
He was exhausted, more so than any football player I’ve seen in a long time.
Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart trudged into the postgame interview room Saturday night wearing a thick, oversized hoodie and a face that said, “I just wanna go to sleep.”
Carrying a team is heavy duty, especially in the SEC, especially when you have to outscore rival LSU 55-49 on an electric evening at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Especially in a game that you and your team simply had to win for more reasons than usual.
Dart, the junior from Kaysville, Utah, was brilliant. And we will get to that.
But so much gets lost in a back-and-forth game like the one played before the largest crowd in the old stadium’s history — 66,703. It would be a shame for those heroes to not get their due in a classic that had 1,343 yards total offense and 14 touchdowns:
Texas A&M transfer Caden Davis kicked field goals of 28 and 48 yards. Six points. The winning margin. What a marvelous pickup he has been.
Transfer inside linebacker Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste, who transferred from Central Florida, broke up a pass at the goal line with 5 seconds left. A closer look reveals what an effort it took to do so.
With LSU at the Ole Miss 21, Jean-Baptiste lined up on the boundary hash mark and had LSU running back Logan Diggs man-to- man. Diggs went in motion across the field, tried to get lost behind two receivers, then turned up the sideline on a wheel route.
After playing basically the entire game, Baptiste was with him step-for-step and batted away an on-the-money throw from the Tigers’ terrific quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Transfer corner Daijahn Anthony made the final save of the game, batting the ball from the hands of LSU receiver Brian Thomas, Jr. in the end zone. Anthony stands 6-foot. Thomas is 6-foot-4.
Anthony also had the hit of the game when he sent a scrambling Daniels flying backward in the open field and dislodged the ball, which safety Trey Washington recovered. It led to the Rebels’ second touchdown.
Anthony transferred to Ole Miss in May after playing two seasons for former Rebel coach Hugh Freeze at Liberty.
Transfer tight end Caden Prieskorn, who is finally healthy, was a huge reason Ole Miss rushed for 317 yards, and his downfield blocks helped spring some of the long pass plays.
He also caught 3 passes for 41 yards — all on third down, all resulting in first downs and all leading to scores.
Prieskorn, who played previously at Memphis, is the missing piece coach Lane Kiffin has begged for the past three seasons.
Transfer Ulysses Bentley IV, another Rebel who could never get healthy last season, has become a huge weapon at running back. He raced 43 yards for a TD against LSU and also had a key 17-yard reception on the game-winning drive.
Bentley came to Ole Miss from SMU, my son-in-law’s alma mater. When I told him the Rebels had signed Bentley, he looked at me and said, “That … guy … can … fly!” Yes, he can.
The offensive line played its best game by far. Hats off to Caleb Warren, Jeremy James, Micah Pettus, Victor Curne, Quincy McGee, Jayden Williams and Eli Acker.
The quiet receiving duo showed out again: Transfer Jordan Watkins, in his second season in Oxford, caught 5 passes for 103 yards, including a 63-yard TD. Former walk-on transfer Dayton Wade just keeps making plays in his second season under Kiffin. He caught 7 passes for 64 yards and a score.
Say what you want about the defense but after LSU went ahead 9 points midway of the fourth quarter, the Tigers’ final four possessions resulted in punt, TD, punt, end of game.
Yes, the defense allowed 637 yards but made stops when it counted most against an offense full of NFL talent
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Dart livened up during the press conference. He talked about how he woke up Saturday morning and couldn’t wait to get the game started.
So, too, did his night-before-games roommate, receiver Tre Harris, who expressed an unusual peace about the task ahead.
“He said, ‘I just know what I’m about to do to them,’ ” Dart shared.
The two have developed a trust that goes back to off-season workouts. Harris, a transfer from Louisiana Tech, made a statement in the season opener against Mercer, catching a school record 4 touchdown passes. But then a knee injury in the first quarter of the Tulane game — and subsequent surgery — caused him to miss the Georgia Tech game and play only a handful of snaps in the loss to Alabama.
After watching the first practice of preseason camp, I was asked who stood out. “Tre Harris,” I said. He grew up 50 miles from Baton Rouge but LSU did not offer him a scholarship. No other SEC team did, either. In fact, the only schools to offer in addition to Louisiana Tech were Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana, McNeese State, Nicholls State and Northwestern State.
Harris blitzed the Tigers for 8 catches, 153 yards and the game-winning touchdown.
And no one can rightfully question Dart’s ability to lead an SEC team anymore. He threw for 389 yards and 4 touchdowns. Zero picks. He also rushed for 50 yards and a score.
But it was the final two drives, after Ole Miss fell behind by nine points, that showed Dart’s moxie.
He guided the Rebels on an 11-play, 69-yard drive to cut the Tigers’ lead to 49-47 with 5:06 left.
After the defense forced a punt, Dart led an 8-play, 88-yard drive for the winning score.
On those two drives, Dart completed 5 of 6 passes for 106 yards. He had completions of 24, 17, 13, 37 and 15 yards.
Harris contributed 3 catches for 74 yards in the final minutes.
And how about Quinshon Judkins? One of the top running backs in the country last year as a freshman, he had not been effective the first four games. Word is he was banged up with sore ribs, but the play calls did him no favors.
Kiffin is always quick to say about his players and team that last year has nothing to do with this year. Well, that goes for the coaches, too. Just because a play worked last year doesn’t mean it will this year.
Through four games, they kept calling that slow-developing inside run that went nowhere. Teams have scouted that play. I kept saying they needed to give Judkins the ball deeper in the backfield and allow him to use his elite vision. His high school coach told me that is Judkins’ No. 1 asset as a running back.
Credit to the coaches, they did just that against LSU. Judkins looked like his old self, rushing 33 times for 177 yards and a score. I asked him postgame if he preferred getting the ball deeper in the backfield.
“I do like it because it’s run more by NFL backs today,” he said. “I think it’s great for me.”
When it was over, Ole Miss had hung 711 yards on LSU, the most allowed in its 130-year history. And without a turnover.
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We are not inside the meeting rooms or the locker room or the coaches’ meetings. But they had to be feeling the same thing as the fans. Let’s just say it: There has been a funk over the program since losing the final four games a year ago after starting 8-1.
Kiffin and the Rebels needed an SEC win. It needed to beat a team that oddsmakers said they shouldn’t. And it needed to be over an elite program.
I truly believe this: Kiffin needed to beat a top-tier team to prove to himself that he can do such things in Oxford.
They got all that done under a full moon on the final night of September. But now what? Arkansas is coming to Oxford Saturday night. Anyone who keeps up with Ole Miss football knows how crazy and weird these matchups usually are.
Though they played LSU to a 3-point game in Baton Rouge two weeks ago, the Razorbacks find themselves 2-3 overall, 0-2 in the league and scuffling with a three-game losing streak. They are desperate for a win.
Ole Miss is 4-1 overall, 1-1 in the SEC and ranked No. 16 nationally with a bye week looming. The West Division is wide open. The Rebels are finally healthy.
Is there a legitimate run in them? The first test is Saturday night in a game in which they are favored by 11 points.
This is a confident Ole Miss team. It brushed off a poor showing against Alabama and saved its season seven days later. I asked Dart postgame how important it was not only to beat LSU but to come from behind to do so.
“Aw, it’s so important,” he said. “Just being able to know when you face adversity that we can overcome it … that’s so huge.” ########
Mr. Watkins, Your typically well-written and knowledgable analysis. Thank you!!
BH Rebel Class of 69…
Billy, I love to see an article from you. You’re my favorite!