Jaxson Dart on Ole Miss' dominant Week 1 win: 'It's kind of what we expected'
No team in the country scored more points than Ole Miss in Week 1 following their dominant 76-0 win over Furman to open up the college football season. Going above and beyond just taking care of business against an FCS opponent to start the 2024 season off on the right foot in Oxford.
The expectations are quite high this season for Ole Miss after returning numerous key players and adding a slew of impactful additions through the transfer portal this offseason. Which is why Rebels’ quarterback Jaxson Dart wasn’t too surprised by the strong showing from himself and his teammates on Saturday.
“Quite honestly, it’s kind of what we expected going into it,” Dart said after the game. “That’s just kind of the standard that we want to play at and excel at.”
Dart had a stellar performance on Saturday despite only playing in the first half for Ole Miss, leading the Rebels to a 52-0 lead heading into the break after completing 22 of his 27 pass attempts for 418 yards and five touchdown passes. Also rushing for 27 yards and a touchdown run to start off the game.
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Dart and the Ole Miss offense definitely made things look easy in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday, bound to face far more challenging opponents this season. But Dart revealed that the focus will remain on themselves this year for Ole Miss.
“The big thing for us is just trying to control what we can control, and regardless of the score, regardless of the situation, going into each and every play with the same mindset,” Dart explained. “Trying to just execute it.”
“So I really happy with how we were able to do that and thought it was just incredible by our defense not giving up any points.”
For as dominant as the Ole Miss offense was, their defense matched their intensity and production. Pitching a shutout against the Paladins and also holding their offense to just 172 total yards on the day and three third-down conversions. Living in the backfield with six sacks and 16 tackles for loss on the day.
Ole Miss definitely looked like the No. 6 team in the country and a College Football Playoff contender this weekend, a performance they’ll look to match again in Week 2 when they host Middle Tennessee State.