From the Locker Room: Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, Jaxson Dart and Isaac Ukwu
Jaxson Dart’s offensive line struggled to protect him.
His best weapon, wide receiver Tre Harris, was lost to an injury after the pair combined for their fifth touchdown connection in, at best, four real-game quarters together this season.
His running game, led by star second-year back Quinshon Judkins, was essentially non-existent. Judkins last season set a new single-season program record for rushing yards. He’s barely cracked 100 combined (61 and now 48) through the season’s first two weeks.
But Ole Miss is 2-0 anyway. Mainly because Dart just keeps plugging away.
Plug away is pretty much all he could do in New Orleans.
Dart finished a gritty (and, frankly, just impressive) 17 for 27 for 267 yards, two touchdowns and his first interception. He carried 14 times for 41 additional yards. Ole Miss came out on top, 37-20, in a showdown of Top 25 teams.
Next up is Georgia Tech next Saturday.
“Obviously we came out first drive and started off really hot,” Dart said of the offense in the postgame locker room. “Things kind of slowed down from then on. I just kind of wanted to be the piece of our team that stayed consistent throughout the game (and) never got too high or too low. There’s a lot of emotions that happen throughout the game, and you kind of have to be that way, especially as a quarterback.
“I just want to be a guy the team can rely on, especially in critical downs and stuff like that. When it got to that point, I wanted the ball in my hands.”
Dart, head coach Lane Kiffin and EDGE Isaac Ukwu all met the media following the win.
Ukwu had his first tackles as a Rebel (six total, four solo) in the win, as well as 2.0 TFLs, one sack and two QB hurries. He’s up to 17.5 career sacks between stops at James Madison and now Ole Miss.
“We know the team that we are and have been and can be,” Ukwu said. “We weren’t living up to our standard in the first half (and) needed to anchor down. I feel like that’s what we did.”
Here’s everything they had to say.
