‘Take an ass-chewing and regroup’: Kiffin isn’t ready to crown QB1, but Dart showed his mettle at Georgia Tech

The real Jaxson Dart finally stood up at Georgia Tech.

For a quarter, at least.

Still, Ole Miss third-year head coach Lane Kiffin isn’t quite ready to crown him QB1.

Dart bounced back from a sluggish start, including an ugly second-quarter interception, to help lead the Rebels to a dominant 42-0 win. In the process, Ole Miss improved to 3-0 on the season, while Georgia Tech fell to 1-2. 

The Rebels next host Tulsa Saturday at 3 p.m. CT.

“I’m never going to make a decision without watching the film,” Kiffin said afterwards. “We’ll go back and look at it. I feel really confident at this point that both guys can help us do some good things.”

Dart played all but one snap until Ole Miss let off the gas with a lopsided lead deep into the second half.

Meanwhile, Luke Altmyer, the other contender in what’s been a months-long quarterback battle, was given just one snap prior to garbage time. 

Perhaps the limited usage of Altmyer was by design. He suffered a minor shoulder injury in his start of a 59-3 shellacking of Central Arkansas last week. 

Or maybe — just maybe — Dart is separating.

“I don’t know,” Kiffin allowed, when asked when he decided to start Dart. “We just kind of went with him. 

“He practiced really well. He had a much better week than he had the week previous. So, we just did. I think Luke would’ve done great if he went first too.”

RELATED: Lane Kiffin put his trust in Jaxson Dart, and Ole Miss dog-walked a Power 5 team at their place

Dart and Altmyer alternated starts in the season’s first two games.

Dart’s last came in the season-opening win over Troy, while Altmyer was under center for most of the first two quarters of Central Arkansas before dinging his throwing (read: right) shoulder.

Georgia Tech, though, followed a much different script.

Dart dominated first-team reps, and while Ole Miss mostly attacked the Yellowjackets on the ground (35 of the Rebels’ 44 first-half plays were runs), he showed enough in the second half to indicate he could be the guy for the foreseeable future.

Ole Miss and is barreling towards a Top 25 showdown with Kentucky October 1.

“I thought in the second half he made some timing throws that were over people with really good touch,” Kiffin said of Dart, who finished 10 for 16 for 207 yards, no touchdowns and one interception.

“And he did that during the week. He played faster in the week. We just coach our way. You’ve got to drop and play fast at quarterback. He’s not been trained that way at all. This is a learning process for him and he looks a lot different.”

RELATED: PHOTOS: Quinshon Judkins, Ole Miss RBs bulldoze Georgia Tech to send Rebels to 3-0

Dart’s final stat line doesn’t jump off the page. It’s also quite deceiving.

He was 4 for 9 for 92 yards and the interception at the break, but he used the third quarter to complete six of his last seven passes for 115 yards, mixing in a pair of 20-plus-yard passes. 

He also rushed 10 times for 40 yards.

Dart completed passes to five different receivers. His favorite target was wide receiver Malik Heath, a transfer from Mississippi State. Dart, himself a transfer from USC, connected with Heath four times for a team-high 78 yards. 

Veteran wide receiver Jonathan Mingo wasn’t far behind with three catches for 73 yards. Ole Miss tallied seven rushing touchdowns.

“He’s still young,” Kiffin said. “They’re going to make mistakes. We want them to play great. I was obviously really on him (after the interception) because that was exactly what we talked about not doing in the previous series. 

“That was disappointing, but it was great to see him come back and, as my old coach would say, take an ass-chewing and regroup. He did a really good job and played really well in the second half and played really well and threw with good timing.”