Ole Miss drops 73 points on Mercer in season opener

Published 7:51 pm Saturday, September 2, 2023

OXFORD (AP) — Ole Miss threw a Dart and hit its target.

Jaxson Dart threw four touchdown passes, including three to Tre Harris in the opening four minutes as No. 22 Ole Miss rolled to a 73-7 rout of Mercer on Saturday.

“I felt we were really prepared coming in,” Dart said. “I really like our confidence and being able to execute what was called.”

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Ole Miss (1-0) opened with four consecutive touchdown drives and built a 38-7 halftime lead. Dart was 11-of-11 passing for 237 yards in the early surge and finished 18-of-23 for 334 yards before yielding to Oklahoma State transfer Spencer Sanders midway through the third quarter.

The Rebels set a single-game passing record with 524 yards, breaking the previous mark of 517 against Louisiana-Monroe in 2018. They also  put up the sixth-best offensive performance in school history with 667 total yards. Ole Miss’ 73 points scored were tied for the seventh-best.

“It was a really good start for Jaxson. A lot of good things today,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said. “And for Tre Harris, that’s pretty amazing and especially to do it that fast. He only got in about a quarter and a half.”

Harris, a transfer from Louisiana Tech after earning All-Conference USA honors last season, had touchdown receptions of 38, 28 and 20 yards on the early scoring drives.

“We’ve had a lot of really great receivers come out of here,” Kiffin said. “I’m proud for Tre, but I’m also proud of how all three phases of the game came together. I commend this team for really playing well.”

Harris added a 16-yard touchdown catch early in the third quarter to break a school record for TD receptions in a single game.

“I didn’t realize about setting the touchdown catch record until I looked up and saw we had those first-quarter touchdowns,” Harris said. “It’s been unbelievable for me since I’ve come here. I’m really happy.”

Quinshon Judkins had touchdown runs of 1 and 3 yards and finished with 60 yards on 13 carries. Jordan Watkins added a 69-yard punt return for a score. Sanders was 8-of-14 for 134 yards and two touchdowns.

Mercer (1-1), ranked No. 22 in the AFCA poll of FCS schools, scored on its first offensive snap, a 75-yard run by quarterback Carter Peevy. The Bears finished with 237 yards of total offense, including 138 from Peevy on 16-of-29 passing, but never seriously threatened again.

“We got kicked in the gut today, obviously,” Mercer coach Drew Cronic said. “They’re really good on offense. One of the best in college football. But we will look hard for small victories and we had some of those.”

Kiffin was communicating with new defensive coordinator Pete Golding before Mercer’s first snap. And 12 seconds later, Peevy had his long TD run for the Bears.

Not happy with the play, Kiffin said he told Golding: “You do know we paid a lot of money to get you here, don’t you?”

Kiffin then added, tongue in cheek: “After that, we did a good job of shutting them down. Maybe my comment worked.”