There was one true script for Florida to knock off Ole Miss, and it transpired in frustrating, monotonous fashion for the Rebels on Saturday.
All the College Football Playoff hopes expired with the 24-17 Gators victory that dropped Ole Miss to 8-3 on the season with the home Egg Bowl left.
Ole Miss made mistake after mistake which led to the suicide in The Swamp. The Rebels made three critical mistakes in the red zone that led to keeping Florida ahead or within striking distance.
Ole Miss twice went for it on fourth and short around the 10-yard line, and both times Florida stopped him short. Pegues has been nearly unstoppable inside on these short-yardage runs this season, but on both stops he went outside -- first with Dart as a lead blocker and second on a read off the right-side blocking.
Caden Davis missed a 34-yard effort a play after Tre Harris dropped a would-be first down. Harris was in the process of securing the catch when he re-injured his groin. Harris grabbed the leg and dropped the ball, leading to the Davis miss.
Micah Davis, who moonlighted at running back, carrying it 11 times for 27 yards, muffed a punt in the third quarter that led to three Florida points and a tied quarter that Ole Miss statistically dominated. Florida had negative-9 yards in the third quarter but tied the period, 3-3.
Ole Miss lost special teams, in general, as Florida averaged 49 yards per punt, had no miscues and knocked in a 53-yard field goal.
The Rebels' struggles overshadowed a big passing day from Jaxson Dart. The quarterback was 24-for-41 for 323 yards and was also the Rebels' leading rusher.
He played well until two interceptions ended Ole Miss' final two drives of the game. The first was into tons of coverage in the end zone with no receiver around and the second was a miscommunication with Wells down the right sideline with 24 seconds left.
Ole Miss played well defensively in the second half but struggled to secure Florida's DJ Lagway in the first half. The freshman spun out of sacks and made some big plays with Rebels wrapped on him. Crucial third-down conversions led to both Florida touchdown drives in the first half.
Meanwhile, in maybe the most key stat of the game, Ole Miss was 3-for-14 on third down, despite averaging only four yards to go. Meanwhile, Florida was 7-for-14 with an average of nine yards to go.
Florida scored the game-winning touchdown with 7:40 to go in the fourth quarter, walking in on a running play in the red zone -- what Ole Miss couldn't do in this matinee. One team was 2-for-2 in the red zone. Ole Miss was 0-for-3.
Ole Miss lost Yam Banks to a leg injury early on -- he fell on a cut that gave Florida an easy touchdown and Reece McIntyre left in the second half. Harris caught a bomb to go over 1,000 yards on the season but didn't return after the injury on the drop.
The Rebels dropped passes, including a huge misplay from Wells at the goal line and several catchable misses from Jordan Watkins, messed up routes, had blocking assignment failures, and all of that led to the day that shifted the season and really a plan that's been in some level of execution for nearly two years.
Ole Miss was good enough. Ole Miss didn't play well enough.That's what will linger for a while. It was a great plan. The Rebels didn't execute. it.
