From the Locker Room: No. 12 Ole Miss dunked all over Vanderbilt to extend its historic run

No. 11 Ole Miss now has seven wins in its first eight games for the second straight season following an easy 33-7 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday.

The Rebels last raced out to a 7-1 start in back-to-back seasons in 196 and 1962.

Wide receiver Dayton Wade finished with a career-high 120 yards on eight catches. He added a touchdown, as well as a career and season-long 48-yard snag for his fifth 40-plus yard reception of the season.

“I just love the way he plays,” fourth-year head coach Lane Kiffin said afterwards. “The guy plays almost every snap. Not the biggest guy, so the way he tries to block in there and the effort he plays with, he’s one of our favorite guys.

“You guys hear us talking about culture, guys who play every snap like it’s the biggest snap and don’t complain about things. We’re lucky to have a few guys like that.”

Kiffin became the second-fastest Rebel head coach to 30 wins overall in school history.

Wade is up to 522 yards and 36 receptions on the season. He’s eclipsed 1,000 career receiving yards.

“He was absolutely rolling,” Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart said. Dart was 19 of 28 for 240 yards and a touchdown. “He’s got burners on, which allows me to put the ball out a little bit further. (The 48-yarder) was an incredible catch by him. 

“He’s a huge spark for our team, and he can do so many different things. He’s like a slot, but he has outside receiver capabilities. Very talented at what he does, and he’s a huge part of our offense.

Ole Miss next hosts Texas A&M next Saturday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN. SEC Nation will also air live from The Grove, beginning with Marty & McGee at 8 a.m. CT and SEC Nation at 9 a.m. CT.

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OLE MISS HEAD COACH LANE KIFFIN

OPENING STATEMENT: Good win, SEC win, to get to 7-1. They just said on the radio 19-2 in the last 21 home games, so that’s pretty cool. Neat to see our players come out and play with really good energy in all phases early. These are sometimes flat games, trap games — whatever you want to call them — against an opponent that has not had a lot of success as of late. Proud of that. Really proud of our defense, for the most part, all day.

Thought the offense was good early and then stalled and unfortunately didn’t do a really good job in the pass game on third down. Thought we ran it really well. The stats don’t quite look as well with the sacks and the fumble that went back behind (quarterback) Jaxson (Dart) that we lost a lot of yards on, but I thought the running backs did a really good job. To come away 7.3 and 6.0 (yards) per carry between the two of them, that’s a good day. So, I was pleased with that. Just wish we would’ve been a little cleaner in the passing game and with protection.

ON THE OLE MISS DEFENSE LIMITING THE VANDERBILT PASSING GAME: I think that’s great. You guys have been here, like me, and seen times where people, like last year against these guys, have been able to come in here and throw the ball around on us. I think it started up front, how well we played with the rushers, with the pressure and the sacks. The coverage was really good today, too.

ON WHAT HE LEARNED LAST YEAR ABOUT HOW TO FINISH THE SEASON: I’ve said before, I don’t think we handled that very well. I think that Alabama loss, we let that keep beating us. Chance in that game to go to 8-1, 9-1, whatever it was. Kind of fell apart after that. 

“Two years ago, we lost to Alabama and seemed to play really well after that.”

Seems to be that we’re doing the same thing again this year, and I think that says a lot about the players, the resolve to overcome a bad game.”

ON OLE MISS RB QUINSHON JUDKINS ROUNDING INTO FORM THE LAST FOUR GAMES: I think it’s a lot of things. He’s doing better (and) running harder. I think the line’s playing better, and (tight end Caden) Prieskorn makes a big difference. We kind of had specialty tight ends in his place during (his injury earlier in the year) and tried to run some things. He gives you a big, physical tight end. So, that’s a really big difference as well.

OLE MISS QB JAXSON DART

ON THE OFFENSE IN THE WIN: I feel like guys executed at a very high level tonight. Honestly, it starts with me. I did not execute to my standard tonight, so I am pretty disappointed about that. A big shout-out to our defense for playing the way they are playing. They fought hard tonight and got us the ball back which allowed us more opportunities to score. We definitely gotta clean stuff up.

ON THE INCREASED POSTSEASON STAKES EACH WEEK: This is why we all came here. The standard is to do everything we can to go 1-0 each week. Live in the moment, and not get too ahead of ourselves. We have to stay consistent every week, and keep the same mindset.

ON THE PROGRAM’S RECENT RUN OF SUCCESS AND THE PROGRAM’S STANDARD: We brought in a lot of guys from the transfer portal. I came in last year, and our focus coming in here was to win. We want to play on the biggest stage, at the highest level (and) against the best teams and we want to win those games. We’ve had a vision since the off-season, and I don’t think we’re getting too far ahead of ourselves.

The last month of the season is something that we can feel good about, but at the same time, it’s something we can’t feel satisfied with. We all have to understand and remember the big reason we came here, and that’s to win a national championship.”

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OLE MISS RB QUINSHON JUDKINS

ON BEING IN A RHYTHM: I would say I’ve always been myself. As an offense, we’RE starting to get into a great rhythm, especially in the second half of the season. That’s what you need as a team to get as far as possible.”

ON HIS DUNK CELEBRATION AFTER HIS FIRST TD: It came up at the last minute, actually. Like, on ‘Fast’ Friday, it came up last-minute, and then a goal came, and we were like, ‘Who’s playing basketball?’ It was last-minute. Whoever scores gets to dunk and celebrate. It was fun.

ON HOW THIS WIN WILL BUILD CONFIDENCE: It’s definitely tough. Just playing in this conference in itself is a tough thing to do. Every week you only have so much time to prepare, and you don’t have time to sit and dwell on what you did the last game. It’s definitely tough, because there are so many great teams in this conference. You just have to prepare the right way.

RELATED: This Ole Miss defense is starting to become a turnover factory as it gets deeper in SEC play

OLE MISS SAFETY TREY WASHINGTON 

ON HIS TWO INTERCEPTIONS: I was just in the right spot. I took advantage of the quarterback throw and I caught the ball coming my way.

ON THE DEFENSE’S POTENTIAL: This year, execution and being on the same page have been a big influence on our success. This year, we felt that if we could be on the same page and communicate well then we had the opportunity to be the best defense. We proved that tonight.

ON PLAYING FOR KIFFIN: He’s a pro coach. He’s preparing us for the pros. Every day he expects us to have a pro mindset and to come in every day with a workmanlike attitude. We’ve all bought in, and we’re taking advantage of the scheme.