Jaxson Dart passed for 515 yards and six touchdowns and Jordan Watkins had a career receiving day, lifting No. 19 Mississippi to a 63-31 win over Arkansas on Saturday afternoon in Fayetteville, Ark.
Dart completed 25 of 31 passes and rushed for 47 yards for Ole Miss (7-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) as it snapped a five-game winning streak by the home team in the series.
Five of his TD passes went to Watkins, a senior wide receiver who set a career high in TDs and receiving yards (254) on eight receptions.
Cayden Lee had five catches for 127 yards while tight end Dae’Quan Wright had nine receptions for 99 yards and two TDs.
Injured early, Taylen Green finished 10 of 14 for 158 yards for Arkansas (5-4, 3-3). Backup Malachi Singleton was 11 for 14 for 207 yards with one touchdown pass to Luke Hasz. Andrew Armstrong had 135 yards on six catches.
After Arkansas stuffed the visitors on fourth-and-goal at the 1 in the first quarter, Rebels linebacker TJ Dottery sacked Green in the end zone, causing a fumble that Princely Umanmielen recovered at 6:56.
Green was hurt on a 14-yard run just over a minute later. Matthew Shipley soon banged a career-long 55-yard field goal to put up the first points.
On the second play in the second, Dart tossed a play-action TD pass to Wright for four yards to move the advantage to 14-3.
Dart found Watkins for 62- and 66-yard scores on the next two series for a 28-3 lead with over 10 minutes remaining, but Rashod Dubinion tallied from six yards out to cut the deficit.
Dart, who passed for 294 yards in the half, capped it with a 3-yard strike to Watkins for a 35-10 halftime edge.
In a high-scoring third, he hit Watkins for the fourth time from 11 yards, while Singleton dashed on a 13-yard TD at 9:49 for a 42-17 score.
Defensive tackle JJ Pegues bulled in for his sixth rushing score, and Watkins went 62 yards with his fifth TD to make it 56-17 at 4:48. Rodney Hill broke the scoring run with a short rush to end the quarter’s scoring.
Wright caught his second TD, a 12-yarder, from backup Austin Simmons at 5:36, and Hasz scored from 22 yards for the final margin.
–Field Level Media
