Jaxson Dart passed for 418 yards and five touchdowns in one half, Tre Harris caught two scores, and the No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels tied their school record for points, demolishing the Furman Paladins 76-0 on Saturday night in Oxford, Miss.
The high-powered offense of the Rebels (1-0) erupted for 52 points in the first half with Dart at the helm. The senior quarterback was explosive, completing 22 of 27 passes, and also rushed for the season’s first points.
Backup Austin Simmons came in to start the second half and connected with Cayden Lee for a 35-yard score on his first throw. Simmons was 7-for-16 for 111 yards.
In his second season with the Rebels after playing three at Louisiana Tech, Harris notched eight receptions for 179 yards, both game highs.
Matt Jones scored twice on running plays in the second half, rambling in from 17 and 46 yards.
Ole Miss steamrolled the FCS visitors for 772 yards of total offense, 529 via the air.
Furman (0-1) saw quarterback Carson Jones go 15-for-25 for 119 yards and an interception. The Paladins had just 172 yards.
After a school-record 11-win season last year, coach Lane Kiffin’s squad got things going early Saturday. Dart led the way on a 15-yard keeper just over three minutes into the matchup.
Dart finished a two-play, 90-yard drive on the next series by finding Antwane Wells Jr. on a 61-yard strike for a 14-0 lead. Trey Amos’ interception set up Ole Miss’ next score, a bullish TD plunge by 6-foot-2, 325-pound defensive tackle JJ Pegues. Caden Davis’ 42-yard field goal boosted the first-quarter lead to 24-0.
In the second, Dart’s second TD toss, a 4-yarder to Dae’Quan Wright, and a 46-yard one to Caden Prieskorn rolled it up to 38-0 with eight minutes left. A perfectly thrown long ball to Harris — Dart’s second 61-yard scoring pass — and another to the receiver for 22 yards rounded out the half’s scoring.
Lee’s TD catch plus the two scoring runs by Jones and a 41-yard field goal by Davis accounted for the second half’s tallies as Ole Miss breezed to the win.
–Field Level Media
