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3 takeaways from Ole Miss’ historic win in the Peach Bowl over Penn State
By Keith Farner
Published:
Lane Kiffin had plenty of reason to fist bump on the sideline on Saturday in Atlanta as the Ole Miss Rebels rang up a huge win over Penn State in the Peach Bowl, 38-25.
It gave the Rebels an 11th win on the season, the first time in 129 seasons of football that Ole Miss won that many games in a season.
Expectations entering Saturday was that the Ole Miss offense would be a test for Penn State’s strong defense, which led the nation in fewest yards and first downs and collected the most sacks. Matched against the high-flying Ole Miss offense fueled by quarterback Jaxson Dart and running back Quinshon Judkins, the Nittany Lions struggled throughout.
Dart was 25-for-40 passing for 379 yards and 3 touchdowns. Judkins had 34 carries for 106 yards, and added a 14-yard catch for a touchdown.
The first half saw tight end Caden Prieskorn steal the show in the first half and draw comparisons to Travis Kelce.
The Rebels came into the game 15th in the nation with an average of 455.4 yards per game. Dart has passed for 2,985 yards with 20 touchdowns and rushed for 377 yards with seven touchdowns. Judkins has rushed for 1,052 yards and 15 touchdowns.
A key question was the Ole Miss pace against the Penn State defense and if the Nittany Lions could keep up.
Here are our 3 takeaways from the game:
Caden Prieskorn breakout game
Prieskorn made 6 catches for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns in the first half, including a 37-yard catch that went for a score. He also had 38 yards after catch. That was about more production than he’s had in an entire game at any point this season. After he missed the first 3 games of the season, before Saturday, the tight end’s best game this season was 6 catches for 69 yards and a touchdown against Louisiana-Monroe.
He finished with 10 catches for 136 yards, and continued talk of his NFL future.
Blocked field goal helps ice victory
Penn State couldn’t even make a dent in the deficit in the 4th quarter with a 51-yard field goal. That’s because DT Zxavian Harris made his 3rd blocked field goal of the season to keep the game at a 2-TD lead. Ole Miss then went 10 plays and extended the lead to 38-17 thanks to a 2-yard scoring run from Dart.
Defense bottles up Drew Allar, forces 2 turnovers
Not to be outdone, the Ole Miss defense had a big game with 2 turnovers and a strong performance against Penn State QB Drew Allar. Penn State began the game 6-for-14 on 3rd and 4th down conversions. On top of the blocked field goal and turnovers, Penn State saw 5 drives end in punts, compared to 3 for Ole Miss.
In the first half, Allar was 6-for-15 passing for 163 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.