'All I saw was green': Tavius Robinson made the 'smart' play to seal an Ole Miss victory
Jared Ivey is credited with making the game-winning play for Ole Miss against Kentucky on Saturday but the play by Tavius Robinson’s should not go unnoticed.
When Ivey got his hands on Wildcats quarterback Will Levis to jar the ball loose it was Robinson who was there to clean up the play. The senior defensive end had a decision to make when looking at the football sitting on the field; try and score or ensure a Top-10 victory.
In the “split-second” moment, Robinson made the call to land on the football.
“I was was working on the opposite side of Jared and then I saw him get the ball and I saw the ball on the ground,” Robinson said. “For a split second all I saw was green in front of me and I was like, ‘I could take it to the crib.’ But that was the game right there. (Kentucky) had no timeouts so I just fell on it. That was the smart thing to do, for sure.”
The play gave Ole Miss the ball back and then quarterback Jaxson Dart kneeled it out in the last 55 seconds.
Related: ‘We stood our ground’: Ole Miss’ defense has put the team on its back in the second half
Emotions were high both on and off the field for both players and coaches after Robinson landed on the ball.
While Ole Miss players were celebrating with the defense after recovering the fumble on the sidelines, the same was happening up in the coaches booth.
In what is now a viral moment, co-defensive coordinator Chris Partridge and co-offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, Jr. are seen celebrating and showing plenty of emotion on the camera located in the booth.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin called it a “unique” thing to see out of Partridge when he watched back the video.
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For Robinson and the rest of the defense, seeing that emotion out of Partridge was nothing new to them from what they experience on the practice field.
“It’s awesome. that’s the type of coordinator you want to play for, for sure,” Robinson said. “It’s great to see he had the same energy. For us, that’s the type of coach he is. A great coach. He has the same energy and that gives us energy on game day. It’s great to see, for sure.”
Now the attention for Ole Miss has turned to its first SEC road trip and a game at Vanderbilt.
Last week the emotions and buzz for the game against Kentucky was very high. This week there is a bit of a comedown effect for the team as not much attention, nationally, being paid to the game in Nashville on Saturday afternoon.
Such is life in the SEC at times as not every game is going to have the eyes of the college football world on it. For Robinson and the rest of the team it has been a business as usual approach to keeping focus.
“I wouldn’t say it’s hard. We spend the 24 hours after the win and then we’re right back to work on Sunday on the next opponent,” Robinson said. “We go over the film. We’ve moved on from that and we just have to practice hard the next week and come up with the same mentality for the next game.”
Watch Tavius Robinson’s full post-practice interview from Tuesday below:
