OXFORD, Miss. — The Gators tried to play spoiler for the second season in a row against a Rebels team that eyes the College Football Playoffs.
Last season, Florida beat then-No. 14 Ole Miss 24-17 and snapped the Rebels’ playoff hopes, but this season, Lane Kiffin and the Rebels (10-1, 6-1 SEC) continued their impressive season, as Florida (3-7, 2-5 SEC) fell 34-24 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Rebels sophomore running back Kewan Lacey demolished Florida in the ground game, rushing for 224 yards and three touchdowns.
“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Gators linebacker Myles Graham said. “Missed tackles, missed assignments, bad eye discipline, things like that led to a lot of rushing.”
In total, the Gators’ defense surrendered 538 yards and six scores. Florida’s offense kept itself afloat despite a slow start, totaling just 10 yards through two drives. UF scored on four straight drives starting when DJ Lagway rushed for a 5-yard touchdown in the first quarter following a 47-yard connection with TJ Abrams.
Despite being benched against Kentucky, Lagway looked more like his former self and finished with 216 yards passing and two touchdowns, while adding 34 yards on the ground.
“Anytime you have a quarterback that has the ability to run, it puts the defense in a situation, now they’ve got to defend it,” Gonzales said. “We hit a couple big plays early on.”
Florida’s passing offense finally showed some semblance of life in the explosive-category and logged three plays of 35 or more yards. The Gators also had four rushes of 10 or more yards, with Lagway logging two alone.
Jadan Baugh also added a touchdown early in the second quarter and finished the night with 77 total yards.
However, Florida continued the trend of leaving its defense on the field early and often, as the Rebels held over 19 minutes of possession in the second half alone.
Although a Jayden Woods interception in the first quarter flipped the game on its head, discipline continued to haunt the Gators. Florida was forced to burn its first timeout of the half to avoid an illegal substitution penalty, and later committed an offsides penalty that gave Ole Miss a second chance on a third-and-long try.
The subsequent attempt resulted in a 43-yard touchdown pass by Chambliss, giving the Rebels a 17-14 lead on a play they never should’ve been able to run.
“We didn’t play really well defensively at all in the first half,” Kiffin said. “Gave up big pass plays, and really to shut them out the second half, give a lot of credit to the players.”
Ole Miss continued to be aggressive in the second half, as Chambliss began to get his legs involved and complete chunk-play passes. Ole Miss put together a 15-play, 75-yard drive that included two fourth-down conversions, but fizzled out at the one-yard line. The Rebels’ third fourth-down conversion try of the drive came up short, and UF took over, leading 24-20.
Although UF struggled to move the chains, Florida’s defense held strong through most of the third quarter. A pair of sacks from Lagonza Hayward and Jaden Robinson forced the first (and only) Ole Miss punt of the night, but it wasn’t long before the Gators’ defense was back on the field. A 59-yard run by Lacy set up a 1-yard touchdown, and Ole Miss found itself with a 27-24 lead at the start of the fourth quarter.
With the Gators knocking on the door of a scoring drive, Lagway was intercepted by Ole Miss safety Wydett Williams Jr. at the Rebels’ 30-yard line.
“There’s a time to try to extend the play, but there’s also a time to understand that you just got to be able to pull the ball down and run,” Gonzales said. “It’s a learning experience, obviously, but we can’t throw back across our bodies.”
Although UF’s defense stopped Ole Miss’ 65-yard drive short of the end zone, its offense turned the ball back over on downs after just four plays. From there, Chambliss ran in a give-me 4-yard touchdown, as Ole Miss secured a program-record third straight 10-win season.
“I thought they played their hearts out,” Gonzales said about his players. “They’re going to continue to battle. I told you guys before, there’s no quit in this team. It’s not in their DNA … I’m proud of them, we just came up short.”
Next, Florida will look to grab its first win since Oct. 18 when it hosts Tennessee Nov. 22.
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @CuranAhern.
Curan is a third-year journalism-sports & media major who currently serves as the football beat reporter for The Alligator, now in his third semester with the paper. When not at his computer screen writing, Curan enjoys spending time outdoors, hanging with friends, family and pets, and watching the Patriots lose (no, he doesn't miss Brady).
