OXFORD — Jared Ivey doesn’t remember much of what happened after he made the play of the day Saturday afternoon.
However, the Georgia Tech transfer remembered every detail of a play that will be etched in Ole Miss lore, likely for years to come.
Ivey stripped Kentucky quarterback Will Levis on a first-and-goal play in the final minute Saturday. Tavius Robinson recovered it, giving No. 14 Ole Miss a dramatic 22-19 win over the seventh-ranked Wildcats.
“I had an edge rush,” Ivey said. “They had a tight end on the line. I didn’t know if he would chip or just release right away. I came off. He chipped me pretty hard. I kind of stumbled a little bit. I got my footing together and worked the move outside. I kind of turned the corner and the ball was right there. He basically put it right in my hand. I turned to the side and watched Tavius hop on top of it.”
And after that?
“Probably right after I saw Tavius scoop it, I have no idea what happened,” Ivey said.
What happened was euphoria. Ole Miss, now 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the Southeastern Conference, now has 13 straight home wins. It is the program's first 5-0 start since 2014. Those wins were vacated, so for official purposes, it's the first 5-0 start since 1962.
The Rebels are 16-3 in their last 19 games, dating back to the 2020 Outback Bowl. The atmosphere in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium was electric on a picture-perfect day in Oxford.
All of that looked tenuous just moments earlier. Levis and Barion Brown, a former Ole Miss target, connected on a 59-yard pass, giving the Wildcats a first down at the Rebels’ 7. Kentucky looked to have scored a touchdown on the next snap, but the Wildcats were flagged for an illegal shift, backing them up five yards and setting up Ivey’s heroics.
“I think on the sideline, it was just calm,” Ivey said. “We came to the sideline after the first fumble (Ole Miss’ AJ Finley knocked the ball loose from Levis on a fourth-down run at the Rebels’ 21 with 2:55 left) ready to go out there again and have to end the game. No matter what, we always stay ready. We have the utmost respect in our offense to make things happen, but we go out there and did what we were supposed to do.”
Ivey also noted that Kentucky, which had struggled to protect Levis all day, had been forced to replace right tackle Jeremy Flax with freshman David Wohlabaugh Jr. on that final drive.
“It was something we were made aware of as soon as the change was made,” Ivey said. “(Defensive line) Coach (Randall Joyner) came to the sideline and was like, ‘We need to attack that guy. He’s coming in. He’s fresh. He’s young. He hasn’t been in the whole game. We need to show him what we’re about and go straight for that matchup.’ I think that’s why they chipped but I guess it wasn’t enough.”
Kentucky fell to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the SEC.
Ole Miss held Kentucky to 328 yards of offense. Levis was 18-of-24 passing for 220 yards and two touchdowns. Chris Rodriguez had 19 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown.
“They really believe,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said. “They play really hard. We did not, because of (Kentucky’s) pace of play, rotate many guys today. A lot of them played the whole game for the most part in the back seven. (Defensive coordinator) Chris (Partridge) has done a great job and rallied the guys. We’ve been very multiple.
“That’s a top-10 team without their running back (referring to Rodriguez, who was suspended for the first four games of the season). He wasn’t playing before and y’all had him ranked in the top 10. With him, they’re even better, so that’s a big-time defensive day, especially at the end."
Zach Evans capped off Ole Miss’ first scoring drive of the day, one keyed by Dart’s long pass to Jordan Watkins, with a 4-yard TD run with 7:09 remaining in the first quarter.
After Kentucky missed a 39-yard field goal on its next possession, the Rebels started going for the kill. Quinshon Judkins, keyed by a Malik Heath block, scored on a 47-yard run with 59 seconds left in the first quarter, expanding Ole Miss’ lead to 14-0.
Kentucky needed just two plays, thanks to a 85-yard kickoff return from Barion Brown, to get on the scoreboard.
Rodriguez scored on a 10-yard run on the final play of the first quarter. Zxavian Harris blocked Matt Ruffalo’s PAT, making Ole Miss’ lead 14-6 after the first 15 minutes.
After Fraser Masin’s punt pinned Kentucky at its own 1-yard line, Ole Miss’ defense went to work. Kentucky gained a first down to give itself some room, but a Ladarius Tennison stop on Rodriguez pinned the Wildcats at their own 10. On the next play, the Rebels threw a wrinkle at Kentucky. Cedric Johnson, normally a defensive end, dropped into an alignment in which he was the middle linebacker in a 3-3 front. The Rebels brought blitz at the snap, confusing Levis, who did what he’s done too many times during his career — hold the ball too long. Ole Miss made him play, as Tavius Robinson brought him down in the end zone. Levis threw the ball away as he was tackled, but the call of intentional grounding in the end zone resulted in two points for Ole Miss, extending the Rebels’ lead to 16-6.
The Rebels further capitalized on the safety, getting a 53-yard field goal from Jonathan Cruz to make the lead 19-6 with 7:03 left in the second quarter.
Kentucky answered with its most impressive possession of the half. The Wildcats drove 70 yards on nine plays, capped by Levis’ 5-yard touchdown toss to Tayvion Robinson with 1:23 left. The Wildcats’ conversion attempt failed but Ole Miss’ lead was cut to 19-12.
Kentucky tied things up on its second possession of the second half. After Ole Miss’ first possession was unproductive, the Wildcats needed just eight plays to drive 49 yards to tie the score at 19-19. Levis’ 17-yard pass to tight end Jordan Dingle got the Wildcats into the end zone.
Ole Miss answered with a 26-yard field goal from Cruz with 2:19 left in the third quarter to help the Rebels regain the lead and set up the wild finish.
Dart was 15-of-29 passing passing for 213 yards and an interception. Judkins had 15 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown. Malik Heath had six catches for 100 yards. Ole Miss had 399 yards of total offense.
Notes:
— With Caleb Warren injured, Ole Miss reshuffled its offensive line to open Saturday’s game. Redshirt freshman Micah Pettus started at right tackle, moving Jeremy James to right guard and Eli Acker to center. Nick Broeker and Jayden Williams, as they have all season, started at left guard and left tackle, respectively.
Acker’s snaps were problematic for most of the first half, leading the Rebels to elect to bring Warren in for the final possession of the first half, a drive that ended with former Rebel Jacquez Jones intercepting Dart to stop an Ole Miss drive.
— Ole Miss opened in a two-tight end set, going with both Casey Kelly and Michael Trigg to begin the game.
— Despite playing with a hip pointer, among other ailments, Zach Evans drew the start at running back for Ole Miss. Two NFL scouts in attendance, speaking with the promise of anonymity, said Evans sits atop their draft boards at running back at this stage in the process.
— With Khari Coleman out at linebacker, Austin Keys drew the start in his place. Other defensive starters Saturday included Tavius Robinson, KD Hill, Cedric Johnson, Troy Brown, Deantre Prince, Trey Washington, Isheem Young, Tysheem Johnson, Davison Igbinosun and AJ Finley.
— Defensive lineman JJ Pegues, who did not play last week against Tulsa, entered the game for Ole Miss on Kentucky’s third offensive play.
— At one point early in the third quarter, Kiffin and wide receiver Jaylon Robinson were having a conversation that appeared to be heated on Kiffin’s end. Wide receivers coach Derrick Nix was between Kiffin and Robinson at one point.
— Reserve running back Kentrel Bullock was injured late in the fourth quarter covering a punt. It appeared to be an upper-body injury.
— James Meredith, whose enrollment at Ole Miss in 1962 made international news and broke the race barrier in higher education in Mississippi, was honored at the end of the first quarter Saturday. He was presented a framed red Ole Miss jersey with the number 62.
