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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Fresh off the Field: Pursuit of Perfection
9/15/2024 | Football
Presented by Kroger
Ole Miss dominated both on the stat sheet and the scoreboard despite being penalized 11 times for 114 yards and coughing up two turnovers. Even after repeated missteps, the Rebels easily outpaced the Demon Deacons, a testament to just how loaded Lane Kiffin's roster is this season.
It's what we needed—go on the road, have adversity and still win by 34 points," Kiffin said. "That says a lot about them, that they're really talented. That we can play sloppy, get penalties, turnovers and still win like that. Now we have to not have the critical penalties on defense and the two turnovers.
Click here for a full recap of Saturday's action, including highlight clips of the top plays. Scroll on for a look at the best stats, notes, quotes and storylines coming out of the Rebel win over the Demon Deacons.
State of the Program
As Kiffin said postgame, the result over Wake Forest is a testament to where the Ole Miss football program is right now. The Rebels had a fourth-down stop and two turnovers called back due to penalties. Even still, Ole Miss held Wake Forest out of the end zone on its home field.
Offensively, the Rebels had two turnovers and a costly goal-line personal foul penalty that forced them to settle for a field goal. Even still, Ole Miss put up 40 points and 650 yards of offense. Statistically, it's hard to find a team that rivals the Rebels thus far:
Ole Miss leads the nation in scoring defense (3.0 PPG), rushing defense (33.3 YPG), total offense (692.0 YPG), passing offense (434.3 YPG), first downs (34.7 per game) and long plays from scrimmage (81). The Rebels are also second in scoring offense (56.0 PPG), third in tackles for loss (30.0).
These guys during the week called over and (Wake Forest AD) John Currie said we're not playing next year and bowed out of the game," Kiffin said. "I thought that was a good message for our players that somebody is willing to pay money not to play them. It says a lot about where our program is right now.
Defend to the End
The 2024 Ole Miss defense is entering uncharted waters. Or, rather, waters that have only been charted by the very best teams in program history. Through three games, the Rebels are yet to allow a touchdown, something an Ole Miss team hasn't done since 1961. The nine points allowed are also the fewest since 1961.
If Ole Miss goes any further, it'll run into the best defense in program history, the 1959 squad that pitched four shutouts to open the season and allowed a paltry 21 points in 11 games all season en route to a national title.
To make it there, the Rebels will have to clean up the miscues that nearly snapped their no-TD streak. The six points allowed could've been a lot more had it not been for two turnovers on downs in the red zone and another interception deep in Rebel territory. However, Kiffin and his staff are happy to have a bit of a wake-up call for their defense, especially since it came in a 34-point win.
Too many penalties, too many holdings on defense—critical ones, fourth down stop, two turnovers called back with penalties," Kiffin said. "It's good. If this would've been another 60-point win, we probably wouldn't have their attention. It's good for us to have stuff to clean up. They've done a good job here of winning a lot of games at home against a lot of ranked teams. This was a big challenge for us. I thought our guys came motivated.
Scored From Far
Ole Miss has been the king of explosive plays through three weeks. The Rebels lead the nation with 81 plays of 10-plus yards, ranking first with 52 pass plays and fourth with 29 rushing plays of 10 yards or more.
All of the Rebels' touchdowns against Wake Forest came from 10 or more yards out, and only one came from within the red zone: Jaxson Dart's 13-yard QB draw in the third quarter. In total, the Rebels have 16 touchdowns from 10 or more yards out this season.
It was another explosive day for a Rebel offense that leads the country with 692.0 total yards per game. However, Dart was left wanting more.
I felt like that was the ugliest 600-yard game we could've played," Dart said. "We did a lot of really good things, we just didn't finish. You saw how explosive we are, but at the same time, we just hurt ourselves. It's a good wake-up call. It's something that's going to light a fire underneath us. We just have to work harder and prepare harder.
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