Even with new pieces the identity of the Ole Miss offense remains the same: 'Score from far'

On nearly every play that results in a deep pass down field Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is standing in the sidelines with his hands in the air signaling touchdown.

Most times Kiffin’s arms are up in a premature celebration before the ball has even left the quarterback’s hands. And most times the end result is not a touchdown.

But it speaks to the expectations put on the Ole Miss offense of seven points or bust with each possession. Kiffin does not like to punt and he definitely does not like attempting many field goals.

All of this is the recipe for what the culture within the offense is and the mantra that has taken over that side of the football for Ole Miss, and continues to do so.

“Score from far,” said Dayton Wade. “We make plays. Whenever the ball gets in our hands we try to make a play. No matter if its short throws, long throws, hand-off, mesh. Anything. We try to make plays. So our identity is would definitely be playmakers.”

During his post-practice press conference on Tuesday, Wade held up a wristband on his arm that read ‘Ole Miss wide receiver 22 playmakers.’ Being a chunk-play, game-breaking offense is a culture within the Ole Miss football program.

Ole Miss establishing that identity for 2022 got off to a rocky start in the season opener against Troy.

The offense finished with 433 yards and averaged just under six yards per play in its 28-10 win over Troy. Only seven of those points were scored in the second half due to the offense stalling.

Quarterbacks Jaxson Dart and Luke Altmyer combined for 167 passing yards with Dart accounting for 154 of those. Altmyer threw for the other 13 yards, completing one of his two pass attempts in the fourth quarter.

Related: Trust the Process: Lane Kiffin has a proven track record developing quarterbacks.

Less than 200 passing yards in a game is unheard of coming off a 2021 season where former Ole Miss signal caller Matt Corral was slinging the football all over the field and hitting that tally before the second quarter some games.

This also did not allow for Wade and the rest of the Ole Miss receivers to get any rhythm and definitely not scoring from far. The furthest pass was by Dart for 21 yards on Saturday.

“I’ll say (Troy) was doing more than what we were expecting,” Wade said. “We had to make a lot of in-game adjustments. Last week, no knock to us, we’re still finding each other. …We’re just getting acclimated with each other and just trying to figure out how we’re going to go about this.”

Wade is also still getting acclimated to his new team and teammates after unique year.

Three games into the 2021 season Wade opted to leave Western Kentucky and enter the transfer portal. He had not played football for nearly an entire year when he took the field on Saturday.

In his Ole Miss debut Wade had three catches for 14 yards. Nothing splashy or stats that jump off the page but for Wade Saturday meant more to him than getting his name on the box score.

“It felt so good,” Wade said. “I left (Western Kentucky) last year in the third game of the season, so I ain’t played no real ball since then. So really my first time touching the ground I was like, ‘Ooh, I’m out here.’ It felt real good then for me to get that first catch it felt even better. It just felt like (everything fell) off my body. It was a great feeling for me and I know my family back home was like, ‘Yeah!'”

Watch Wade’s full press conference below.