Jaxson Dart threw four touchdown passes and Ulysses Bentley IV ran for a pair of scores as No. 14 Ole Miss overwhelmed Duke in a 52-20 Gator Bowl romp Thursday night in Jacksonville, Fla.
Coach Lane Kiffin, who expressed his displeasure regarding the College Football Playoff selections, had his team out to prove a point. The Rebels were clicking for much of the game, and they held Duke’s revamped offense in check.
“This is the expectation of how we expect to play,” Kiffin said. “That’s 21 wins in the last two years. We’re just getting started.”
Dart, playing his last game before entering the NFL draft, made a good final impression as a college player by completing 27 of 35 passes for 404 yards, including a 69-yarder to Jordan Watkins for a touchdown with 1:27 left.
“I just wanted to end it the right way with my brothers, guys who started it off from Day 1,” Dart said.
Watkins caught two touchdown passes and Dae’Quan Wright and Antwane Wells Jr. each had one for Ole Miss (10-3), which won five of its last six games. Jordan Watkins was the team’s top receiver with seven receptions for 180 yards.
Duke (9-4), playing under first-year coach Manny Diaz and appearing in the Gator Bowl for the first time, turned to quarterback Henry Belin IV as the starter. Maalik Murphy had departed via the transfer portal and Grayson Loftis, who was the quarterback for Duke’s 2023 bowl victory, also transferred out.
Belin was 25 of 44 for 236 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Sahmir Hagans posted the game’s last points on a 99-yard kickoff return.
“We learned a great lesson tonight, and that’s what we needed … to be in a game like this in a setting like that, against an opponent like this,” Diaz said.
The Blue Devils were also without running back Star Thomas, who rushed for 871 yards during the regular season before entering the transfer portal.
Duke’s Terry Moore snatched his fourth interception of the season, making a 59-yard return after picking off kicker Caden Davis’ pass on a failed fake to end the game’s opening possession.
However, Ole Miss stopped Duke on fourth down on the other side of the field. The Rebels needed just four plays to go 68 yards for the game’s first points on Dart’s 32-yard pass play to Wells.
“They have a special quarterback who played special,” Diaz said of Dart. “It has been well-documented that a lot of guys that have had careers like he has had don’t play in bowl games. A lot of throws he made were elite.”
Duke had a total of 36 yards on 11 first-quarter plays. But trailing 17-0, the Blue Devils marched 75 yards on eight plays to score on Belin’s 16-yard pass to Javon Harvey.
The Rebels scored with 1:52 left in the half on Dart’s 21-yard pass to Wright for a 24-7 halftime lead.
The second-half scoring began on Isaiah Hamilton’s 50-yard interception return for a touchdown as Ole Miss led 31-7.
–Field Level Media
