Jaxson Dart set an SEC record for consecutive completions in Ole Miss' route of MTSU. (Photo courtesy of Ole Miss Athletics)
The second week of the college football season saw another big win for Ole Miss, while Southern Miss got into the victory column. Mississippi State fans, meanwhile, may be a bit groggy today after watching their team lose after a 9:30 p.m. kickoff at Arizona State.
Ole Miss 52, Middle Tennessee 3
Rebels quarterback Jaxson Dart made history with his arm, and fellow senior Henry Parrish Jr. impressed with a prolific rushing effort on the way to an easy victory for the No. 6-ranked hosts.
Dart completed each of his first 24 passes against the outmanned Blue Raiders, eventually finishing 25 of 27 for 377 yards with a touchdown. That’s not only a school record but a Southeastern Conference benchmark for consecutive completions.
The SEC record was 23 by Tennessee’s Tee Martin in 1998, while former Rebels standout Matt Corral completed a school-record 19 in a row against Vanderbilt in 2020.
Going back to the season-opening rout of Furman, Dart completed 30 passes in a row before his first incompletion, which came with 9:56 remaining.
Parrish, meanwhile, had career highs of 165 rushing yards and four touchdowns on just 14 carries. He averaged 11.8 yards per carry with a long run of 42 yards.
Ole Miss led 31-3 at halftime, as Parrish scored on a pair of 11-yard runs in the first quarter and a 3-yard run not long before intermission.
The Rebels, who are likely to move up in the national rankings after Notre Dame’s stunning 16-14 home loss to Northern Illinois on Saturday, have yet to yield a touchdown this season. In two games, they’ve given up a total of 54 rushing yards.
Against Middle Tennessee, they totaled 9 tackles for loss, including 2 sacks.
Tre Harris had another big game as Dart’s favorite target, with 130 yards on nine catches.
The Rebels did not punt.
Ole Miss hits the road on Saturday for a 5:30 p.m. game against Wake Forest. They’ll return home on Sept. 21 to face Georgia Southern.
Arizona State 30, Mississippi State 23
The path to the Sun Devils’ first win against an SEC opponent got complicated, after they had pounded their way to a 27-3 halftime lead. But the Bulldogs didn’t wilt in the desert heat.
Mississippi State tried a faster tempo in the second half and quarterback Blake Shapen started clicking with his receivers. Meanwhile Arizona State got away from its bread-and-butter running attack for a while, trying to get QB Sam Leavitt going.
In the end, though, some timely defensive plays helped back an exceptional running night for Cam Skattebo, who finished with 262 yards on 33 carries.
On the way to that big halftime advantage, Leavitt rushed for a pair of touchdowns (17, 1) and a fumble by a scrambling Shapen resulted in a short scoop-and-score TD for the Sun Devils.
Ian Hershey’s third field goal of the night made it 30-3 with 6:33 left in the third quarter. Then things got interesting.
Mississippi State responded with its best drive of the night, moving 75 yards on 12 plays, capped by Keyvone Lee’s 6-yard run. Early in the fourth quarter, Davon Booth’s nifty 15-yard catch from Shapen made it 30-16.
After one Bulldogs drive fizzled on back-to-back sacks, Shapen found Kevin Coleman Jr. for a 80-yard scoring strike. Coleman shrugged off the only defender to get a hand on him and turned a short completion into a long TD.
Arizona State then successfully played keepaway, burning the final 5:27 with a 12-play drive.
For MSU, Shapen completed 18 of 28 passes for 268 yards and two TDs.
The Bulldogs will return home for a 6:30 p.m. game against Toledo on Saturday.
Southern Miss 35, SE Louisiana 10
The Golden Eagles easily got into the victory column after a season-opening loss at Kentucky.
Florida State transfer Tate Rodemaker, a prolific passer for Georgia high school powerhouse Valdosta, staked Southern Miss to a 14-10 halftime lead behind short touchdown passes to Kyirin Heath (9) and Davis Dalton (5).
Leading 21-10 headed to the fourth quarter, the Golden Eagles broke it open with a pair of long plays – a 63-yard interception return by Dylan Lawrence and a 70-yard run by Kenyon Clay.
USM’s defense notched 9 tackles for loss, including 3 sacks.
Southern Miss returns to action Saturday with a 6 p.m. home game against South Florida, which gave Alabama a surprisingly tough battle on Saturday night.
