Oath Keeper: Jaxson Dart vowed never to lose the Egg Bowl again. He’s off to a good start.

Even as he tried not to show it, injured Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart spent his Thanksgiving laboring through the Rebels’ 17-7 win over Mississippi State in the annual Egg Bowl rivalry game between the schools.

Dart, the second-year Ole Miss starter, had arguably his grittiest performance of the season. Statistically, however, it was one of his worst. Dart finished 14 for 26 for 96 passing yards and a touchdown. He added 30 scoreless rushing yards on eight carries.

“You’ve got to give credit to them,” Dart said afterwards. “Quite honestly, we came out and expected them to do different things than what they were doing. They’ve always been known for defense, and we knew this game was going to be a hard-fought battle regardless of record or anything like that.”

Raw data will never be able to adequately tell the story of yet another strange showdown between the pair of bitter rivals. Ole Miss and Mississippi State have been playing games since 1901. The Rebels have now won three of the last four, reclaiming the Golden Egg trophy after an upset Mississippi State win in Oxford last season. 

Ole Miss also secured its second-ever 10-win regular season.

Dart, meanwhile, is now in a four-way tie for ninth in Ole Miss history for single-season passing touchdowns (20).

“Last year was definitely a sour taste in our mouth — of how it ended. We practiced every single day in the off-season and thought of this game and wanted to get the Egg back. So, it definitely means a lot to us,” Dart said.

“A big part was seeing the guys rally together and pull through the adversity we faced throughout the game. I made an oath to myself that I was never going to lose this game again.”

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Dart, should he so choose, would have one final opportunity to keep his word.

Fourth-year head coach Lane Kiffin prematurely announced Dart was forgoing the NFL Draft and returning to Ole Miss for a final college season. Dart is a one-time transfer from USC. 

However, Dart later clarified no decision has been made, and for now, he’s simply focused on getting healthy and helping Ole Miss ready for the postseason. The Rebels (10-2, 6-2 SEC) are poised to land in either a New Year’s Six or Florida bowl, such as the Citrus, of which they’ve never played.

A bowl win would clinch the program’s first 11-win campaign.

“I thought this team had a better chance than the previous year just because of the leadership that we have,” Dart said. “There was a standard that was put in place and a culture built. (The Ole Miss coaches) preach all the time about this being a player-led team. We really honed in on that, because we saw our inefficiencies last year when things got tough.

“I love the toughness (Ole Miss, as a program) has, starting with our strength staff. Love the commitment from our position coaches and our coordinators. I really don’t know another staff in the country that works as hard as they do throughout the day, throughout the week. Late nights every single night and them just grinding.

“That’s something I like to preach to myself. Through everything, you’ve got to work hard. Hard work beats talent. There’s definitely some games that we go into where teams have a little bit more talent than us, but we came into every single game knowing we worked harder. 

“I think that’s something I really fell in love with with this program.”

Dart is dealing with multiple “bumps and bruises,” as he calls them. 

An ankle injury is among the ailments he’s worked through. Dart was slow to get up after a second-half, self-proclaimed “little stinger” in the Egg Bowl. He was replaced for a play by Spencer Sanders, an off-season transfer addition and former four-year starter at Oklahoma State.

Dart remained coy when asked about health specifics, only allowing he felt good and would need a whole lot more than a few cuts and scrapes to keep him from suiting up.

“I just love the game,” Dart closed. “I told (an Ole Miss staffer), ‘cause he was asking, he was like, ‘Bro, are you good?’ I was like, ‘Dawg, you know that there’s nothing that can happen to me that’s going to keep me off the field.’ 

“Going through a full season in the SEC, you do get a little bumps and bruises and whatnot. Luckily, we have great doctors who help take care of us and a really good training staff that helps us get our rehab throughout the week so we can be able to play.”