By Bert Leeson
OLE MISS BOWL GUIDE
https://olemisssports.com/documents/2023/12/15/23OM_FBNotes_PeachBowl_Web.pdf
PENN STATE BOWL GUIDE
https://olemisssports.com/documents/2023/12/26/2023_Penn_State_Peach_Bowl_Guide.pdf
GAMEDAY PROGRAM
https://digitalprograms.learfield.com/olemiss/football/3172
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
• Ole Miss is making its fourth straight bowl appearance under Lane Kiffin.
• At 10-2, the 2023 Rebels are looking to become the first 11-win team in the 129-season history of Ole Miss football.
• This will be Ole Miss’ third ever appearance in the Peach Bowl, its first since 2014.
• Ole Miss now ranks third in the SEC, eighth nationally with four NY6 appearances, two coming under Kiffin.
• The Rebels are 24-15 in bowl games and 11-4 in its last 15 on the field dating back to the 1997 Motor City Bowl.
• This marks the first ever meeting between Ole Miss and Penn State … The Rebels are 3-4 all-time against the current Big Ten, including a 2-1 mark in bowl games.
• Ole Miss (.615) and Penn State (.620) rank among nine FBS teams with a bowl winning percentage of at least .600.
• Since 2020, Ole Miss leads all SEC teams, ranks second in FBS at 497.4 yards per game.
• Ole Miss leads the SEC in fewest turnovers (7, FBS No. 3), turnover margin (+9, FBS No. 12) and INTs (12).
• RB Quinshon Judkins ranks fifth all-time among SEC rushers in yards through Fr./So. seasons (2,619).
• Judkins is one of eight rushers in FBS history and two in SEC history with 1,000 yards/15 TD in both Fr./So. seasons.
• Judkins leads the SEC with 15 rushing TD, one shy of his 2022 Ole Miss record.
• Judkins leads the SEC in yards after contact at 795, good for 75.6 percent of his season total (1,052).
• WR Tre Harris is the only FBS receiver this season with both a 200yd game and a four touchdown performance.
• Ole Miss is 1-of-3 FBS schools w/three 700yd WRs: Harris (851), Jordan Watkins (741) and Dayton Wade (769).
• QB Jaxson Dart is 11 rushing yards shy of becoming the third QB ever at Ole Miss in the 5K/1K club.
• Of Ole Miss’ 5,465 total yards, 3,870 (70.8%) have come from transfers.
• OL Jeremy James is set to tie the all-time Ole Miss career record in starts (49).
NITTANY LIONS SCOUTING REPORT
No. 10 Penn State enters its Peach Bowl matchup with the Rebels with a record of 10-2 overall and a 7-2 mark in Big 10 play this season. The Nittany Lions’ only losses this season came to top-10 Michigan and Ohio State. Offensively, Penn State is averaging 391.0 yards per game with 186.7 rushing yards per game. Quarterback Drew Allar has thrown 23 touchdowns this season with just one interception. He’s the first quarterback in Penn State history to throw for 10 or more touchdowns before throwing an interception in a season. Sophomores Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton provide a one-two punch on the ground with 851 rushing yards and 702 yards respectively. Tight end Tyler Warren is tied for third in the FBS in receiving touchdowns this season. All-America selection Olumuyiwa Fashanu leads a Penn State offensive line that ranks in the top 20 nationally in fewest sacks allowed. Penn State features the country’s top defense, allowing just 223.2 yards per game. The Nittany Lions also rank No. 1 in the FBS with 48 team sacks, only allowing 11.4 points per game. Penn State also leads the country in turnover margin, at plus-18. Linebacker Kobe King leads Penn State with 54 total tackles this year, while defensive end Adisa Isaac ranks No. 22 in the FBS with 15 tackles for loss. Nine different Nittany Lions have at least one interception on the season.
PEACH STATE HOMECOMING
Ole Miss has 20 players from Georgia who will be coming home for the 2023 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: RB Jam Griffin (Rome), LB Monty Montgomery (Norcross), S Demarko Williams (Atlanta), DE Jared Ivey (Suwanee), WR Dayton Wade (Atlanta), S Nick Cull (Donalsonville), CB AJ Brown (Cordele), LB Skielar Mann (Fort Valley), S Zach Johansen (Suwanee), LB Jack Damron (Buford), CB Nyseer Fullwood-Theodore (Atlanta), RB Ali Scott (Powder Springs), TE Wyatt Smalley (Milton), P Charlie Pollock (Marietta), LB Mark Trigg Jr. (Roswell), OL Reece McIntyre (Buford), OL Cedrick Nicely (Gainesville), OL Jeremy James (Cumming), WR Cayden Lee (Kennesaw) and DT Akelo Stone (Savannah).
OLE MISS BOWL HISTORY
The 2023 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will be Ole Miss’ 41st bowl appearance in program history, as well as its third appearance in the Peach Bowl. The Rebels’ all-time bowl record stands at 24-15, excluding a vacated victory in the 2013 BBVA Compass Bowl. Ole Miss ranks third in the SEC and tied for eighth in the FBS in bowl win percentage at .615. Elsewhere in the bowl record book, Ole Miss is tied for 15th nationally in bowl wins and tied for 20th in bowl appearances. Ole Miss is 11-4 in its last 15 bowl games, including a streak of six straight victories from 2002 to 2013.
NEW YEAR’S SIX BOWL-ING
The Rebels’ berth to the 2023 Peach Bowl marks the fourth New Year’s Six appearance for Ole Miss since its inception at the beginning of the College Football Playoff in 2014, as well as the second under head coach Lane Kiffin after an appearance in the 2022 Sugar Bowl following the 2021 season. At four total NY6 bids, the Rebels rank tied for eighth nationally among FBS schools and third in the SEC behind only Alabama (9) and Georgia (7).
GET YOUR POPCORN READY
When Ole Miss and Penn State meet at the Peach Bowl on Dec. 30, it will be among the top bowl games nationally this season in terms of combined historical impact. At a .615 bowl winning percentage that ranks tied for eighth all-time, the Rebels will go toe-to-toe with one of just eight other schools with a .600 winning percentage in at least 25 appearances against the Nittany Lions, which holds the No. 6 ranking at a .620 clip. This year’s Peach Bowl will be one of just two contests in the Bowl Season to feature two teams historically above .600 in bowl games, with the other being the Orange Bowl between Georgia (.638) and Florida State (.630). The Peach Bowl will also be among just four bowl games with at least 94 combined appearances and at least 50 combined wins alongside the Rose, Orange and Sugar Bowls.
CUSP OF HISTORY
Ole Miss has soared to new heights under fourth year head coach Lane Kiffin, and a win at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl would make the 2023 Rebels the first team in the 129-season history of Ole Miss football to win 11 games. This would be just the latest coaching milestone for Kiffin, who at the Egg Bowl became just the second coach in Ole Miss history to record multiple 10-win seasons alongside the legendary John Vaught, who did so four times in 1955, ’59, ’60 and ’62. Furthermore, this was the second 10-win regular season for Kiffin in four years with the Rebels, joining the 2021 campaign that marked the first-ever 10-win regular season at 10-3 and a bid to the Sugar Bowl. Earlier this season, Kiffin became the second-fastest Ole Miss coach to 30 wins, breaking that threshold in just 44 games — second only to Harry Mehre, who coached the Rebels from 1938-45 and hit 30 wins in 38 games.
HIGH-FLYING OFFENSE
Ole Miss heads into bowl season with the SEC’s No. 3 offense at 455.4 yards per game (FBS No. 15) and the conference’s No. 4 scoring offense at 34.8 points per game (FBS No. 19). Impressively, the Rebels have done so against strong competition through 11 games, holding the 13th-toughest strength of schedule ranking in the FBS and the fourth-toughest overall in the SEC. Ole Miss has proven deadly both through the air and on the ground, as the Rebels are one of just two FBS teams (alongside Washington) with a 500-yard passing outing (524, vs. Mercer, No. 2 FBS) and a 300-yard rushing outing (317, vs. LSU) this season. In the Kiffin era, the Rebel offense ranks among the most prolific in the nation, leading the SEC and ranking second in the FBS in yards per game (497.4 ypg/48 games) and fourth in total yards (23,873 yards) since 2020. The Rebels have done it with a balanced attack as well, as Ole Miss ranks alongside only Ohio State as the only two Power-5 teams with both a top-10 passing season (2020; No. 7) and a top-10 rushing season (2022; No. 3) since 2020.
JUDKINS AMONG ELITE SEC COMPANY … AGAIN
Sophomore RB Quinshon Judkins took the college football world by storm as a freshman in 2022, charting the second-best rushing season ever by an SEC freshman behind only Georgia’s Herschel Walker. After crossing the 1,000-yard plateau again this year following his 119-yard performance at Mississippi State on Nov. 23, Judkins became just the ninth in SEC history to repeat as a 1,000-yard rusher as a sophomore after doing so as a freshman — the first since Kentucky’s Benny Snell in 2017. All told, Judkins’ 2,619 yards through his first two seasons stacks up well, ranking fifth among all SEC rushers through their freshman and sophomore seasons.
BEST OF THE BEST
Quinshon Judkins entered rare company at this year’s Egg Bowl. With his 119 yards and one touchdown, he broke both the 1,000 yard and 15 touchdown plateaus for the season, which made him one of just eight rushers in FBS history to pass both milestones in each of their freshman and sophomore seasons. Among SEC rushers, he stands alognside only Georgia’s Herschel Walker as the lone conference backs to break both barriers in each season.
GROUND & POUND
Sophomore RB Quinshon Judkins was the sole focus of opposing defenses early on after his superb freshman campaign in 2022, as he was held to just 201 yards and four scores across his first four games. Since, Judkins has exploded for 851 yards and 11 touchdowns across his last eight games — beginning with a monster 177-yard effort in Ole Miss’ thrilling 55-49 win over No. 12 LSU in Oxford on Sept. 30, his most rushing yards ever at Vaught-Hemingway. All five of Judkins’ 100-yard efforts this season have come against SEC opponents — those 177 and one TD against LSU and successive efforts against Auburn (124, 1 TD), Vanderbilt (124, 2 TDs), Texas A&M (102, 3 TDs) and Mississippi State (119, 1 TD) — as well as 11 of his 15 total rushing scores. Judkins leads the SEC and ranks ninth nationally at those 15 rushing TDs, and he ranks fourth in the SEC at 87.7 yards per game. Judkins has also put his reputation as a bruising runner to good use, as he currently leads the SEC in both yards after contact at 795 (66.3 per game) and 69 total missed tackles forced, with those yards after contact accounting for 75.6 percent of his entire rushing total this season.
NOSE FOR THE ENDZONE
Last season, the Ole Miss single-season rushing touchdown record was one of many dismantled by current sophomore running back Quinshon Judkins during his electric freshman campaign. One year later, Judkins is making a run at the crown again, currently standing just one touchdown shy of his record 16 in 2022 with 15 so far in the 2023 season. Judkins is the only rusher in Ole Miss history with multiple seasons with 13 or more rushing touchdowns, and he is also closing in on Deuce McAllister’s career record of 37 with 31 in just 25 career games played.
MR. CONSISTENCY
Senior LB Ashanti Cistrunk has been a mainstay of the Ole Miss defense throughout his long career as a Rebel, playing in 60 consecutive games — which constitutes all 60 of his career games played. Cistrunk is among 122 active players nationally in the FBS to have played at least 60, and on Ole Miss’ roster this year he is among two transfers in Zamari Walton (60) and Teja Young (61). Cistrunk was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week following perhaps the best game of his career against Arkansas, when he ended the night with a season-high nine tackles, 1.0 tackles for loss, one half-sack and a key interception returned 28 yards — the second pick of his career and helping lead the Rebel defense to a 27-20 victory on Oct. 7. In his Ole Miss career, Cistrunk has 203 total tackles (87 solo), 10.0 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and two interceptions. In addition to Cistrunk, Ole Miss’ 2023 roster features five more with at least 150 career tackles: CB DeShawn Gaddie Jr. (157), LB Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste (203), LB Monty Montgomery (183), CB Zamari Walton (161) and S Teja Young (172).
CONSTANT PRESENCE
Senior offensive lineman Jeremy James has started all 12 games this season — 10 at right guard — which is but a small sample size of his long Rebel career as a starter. James currently stands at 48 career starts — all consecutive — which puts him tied for second in Ole Miss history. James has been a versatile starting member of the offensive line in his time as well, charting 29 starts at right guard and 19 at right tackle. James was Preseason All-SEC and Senior Bowl watch list selection, and this season he ranks as one of 10 SEC lineman to not allow a single sack.
BIG GAME TRE
Ole Miss senior wideout Tre Harris has been a difficult target to cover for opposing defenses following several explosive games. Against Texas A&M, Harris became just the sixth Rebel to ever record a 200-yard receiving game (ninth total game), ending with 213 yards and a TD on 11 catches. Harris is the lone FBS receiver this season with both a 200-yard receiving game (213, vs. Texas A&M) and a four touchdown performance (4, vs. Mercer) — the latter of which is an Ole Miss record and also makes him the lone receiver in the Rebel record books to perform both feats across a career, let alone a season. Since the beginning of 2021, Harris is one of just five FBS receivers to have both a 200-yard game and a four-touchdown game, and he is the only one to have done so across separate games. Harris’ four TD debut against Mercer made him just the 22nd player in SEC history to haul in four in a single game. Harris is no stranger to the multi-TD effort, having caught three touchdown passes against Rice last October while a member of the Louisiana Tech football team. Harris — a preseason Biletnikoff Award watch list member — owns a career line of 153 receptions, 2,368 yards and 22 touchdowns.
OPTIONS THROUGH THE AIR
Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart has had plenty of targets in the passing game, but none more frequently than wideouts Jordan Watkins (53 rec., 741 yards, 3 TD), Dayton Wade (52 rec., 769 yards, 4 TD) and Tre Harris (47 rec., 851 yards, 8 TD). The Rebels are the lone team in the SEC and one of just three in the FBS alongside Colorado State and Washington State with three 700-yard receivers. Combined among them, that Rebel trio has 10 total 100-yard outings this season. All three have been crucial toward Ole Miss’ status as a big-play threat as well, combining for 87 catches of at least 10 yards, 44 of at least 20 yards, 22 of at least 30 yards and 10 beyond 40 yards.
THROWIN’ DARTS
Junior QB Jaxson Dart has been one of the top signal callers this season with both his arm and his legs, ranking fourth in the SEC at his 280.0 yards of total offense per game. As Dart goes, so have the Rebels so far this season, with his SEC No. 4 points responsible per game clip of 13.7 helping spur the Rebels to the No. 4 scoring offense in the conference (No. 19 FBS) at 34.8 points per game. Dart ranks third in the SEC in both yards per completion at 14.4 (FBS No. 10) and yards per attempt at 9.4 (FBS No. 7), and he also ranks No. 12 nationally at his passing efficiency rating of 161.9. Dart has been especially effective in the first quarters so far this season, standing at 74-of-106 (69.8%) for 1,016 yards and seven touchdowns in the opening frame. That includes a blistering 11-for-11 stretch to open the season against Mercer, making him just the seventh Ole Miss quarterback to ever throw 11 consecutive completions and the best such streak since Matt Corral set the school record at 19 in a row at Vanderbilt in 2020. Dart is starting to climb several Ole Miss career lists, as he now ranks fifth all-time in total offense (6,948) and seventh in 300-yard passing games (6), passing yards (5,959), passing touchdowns (40) and touchdowns responsible for (48). In his overall career combining totals from his freshman season at USC in 2021, Dart owns 7,312 yards passing, 8,344 yards of total offense, 1,032 yards rushing (989 at Ole Miss), and 49 passing touchdowns. Dart is one of just 23 quarterbacks in the FBS and four within the SEC with at least 4,000 career passing yards and 1,000 career rushing yards, one of 18 with at least 6,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards and one of just 17 at 7,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards.
DAYLIGHT FOR DAYTON
Senior WR Dayton Wade is in the midst of a career year in 2023 as one of Ole Miss’ top deep-play threats. At 769 yards on 52 receptions, Wade has more than doubled his prior high in yards (309) and catches (27) — both recorded in 2022, his first season at Ole Miss after three at WKU from 2019-21. Wade has had at least 64 yards receiving in seven games this year, including a career day against Vanderbilt with 120 yards and one touchdown on eight catches. He leads all Rebels and is among just six SEC receivers with six receptions of at least 40 yards.
DON’T BLINK
Ole Miss is once again running a lightning-quick offense in 2023, currently ranking second in the SEC and eighth in the FBS at 23.3 seconds per play. This season, Ole Miss owns seven scoring drives clocking in beneath the one-minute mark, including back-to-back opening drives against Mercer (51 seconds) and Tulane (48 seconds). The 51-second drive against Mercer was the fastest to open a season for Ole Miss since 2018, and the 28 first quarter points ranks as the most in available records since at least 1967. The 48-second debut against the Green Wave, meanwhile, was the fastest on any opening drive for the Rebels since finding the endzone in just 34 seconds against Liberty on Nov. 6, 2021. In the Kiffin era, Ole Miss is 28-6 when scoring first.
STINGY DEFENSE
The Landshark defense went on a tear in October, helping lift Ole Miss in three straight victories against Arkansas, Auburn and Vanderbilt, but doing so in different ways. The Rebel defense stifled the Razorbacks to just 36 yards on the ground back on Oct. 7, the fewest yielded to an SEC opponent by Ole Miss since shutting out Tennessee to zero rushing yards back on Oct. 18, 2014. Ole Miss followed that up with lockdown passing defense performances against Auburn, Vanderbilt and ULM that rank among the best by the Rebels since 2014 — with the 60 yielded to the Commodores tying to the fewest in that span. In terms of total offense, those three games against Arkansas (288), Auburn (275) and Vanderbilt (229) constituted the first three-game stretch of holding SEC opponents to fewer than 300 yards since a span from the end of the 2008 season (vs. Mississippi State, 24 yards) and the beginning of the 2009 season (at South Carolina, 285 yards; at Vanderbilt, 240 yards). The last time Ole Miss held three straight SEC opponents to fewer than 300 yards within the same season was in 1993 in a stretch against Alabama (279), LSU (299) and Mississippi State (279).
CAUSING MAYHEM
Ole Miss ranks as one of the most ferocious defenses in the backfield this season, ranking 16th nationally in sacks (2.8/game) and 25th in tackles for loss (6.4/game). The Rebels have been relentless, recording at least 3.0 TFL in 11 of 12 games this season, with eight of 12 games hitting at least 6.0 TFL, four with at least 9.0 TFL, and two in double-digits against Mercer in the season-opener (11.0) and against Arkansas on Oct. 7 (10.0). Those TFL have come at a huge cost for opposing teams as well, as the Rebels rank fifth in the SEC and are 15th nationally in lost yardage at 355 yards. Ole Miss has been equally as punishing in disrupting the passing game, notching multiple sacks in nine games, recording at least four sacks in five and notching five sacks twice this year. A wide range of defenders have been getting in on the fun, too, with a total of 14 Rebels contributing to a QB sack and 22 having chipped-in on a TFL. And all that mayhem is paying off, with nine forced fumbles (including a Khari Coleman sack fumble returned for a TD by Jared Ivey vs. Tulane), 12 interceptions, 47 QB hurries, 44 pass breakups and two blocked field goals. In the Kiffin era, Ole Miss has recorded multiple sacks in 34 games, at least 5.0 tackles for loss in 31 games, and at least 4.0 sacks in 18 games. In games under Kiffin with at least 5.0 tackles for loss, Ole Miss is 22-9, and in games with at least 4.0 sacks, the Rebels are 10-3.
NO-FLY ZONE
Ole Miss leads the SEC and ranks 22nd in the FBS with 12 interceptions this season. The Rebel secondary put together an excellent stretch of games beginning with S Daijahn Anthony’s game-sealing pass breakup against No. 12 LSU on Sept. 30, yielding just 437 combined passing yards over its next three games to Arkansas (250), Auburn (122) and Vanderbilt (60). Since, the Rebel defensive backs have combined for nine interceptions and 23 pass breakups for 32 total passes defended. Ole Miss picked off two passes apiece in all three games against Arkansas (LB Ashanti Cistrunk, S John Saunders Jr.), Auburn (Saunders Jr., CB Zamari Walton), and Vanderbilt (both by S Trey Washington), marking the first time since 2014 that Ole Miss came down with multiple picks in three consecutive games. Furthermore, Washington’s two INTs against the Commodores on Oct. 28 made him the first Rebel with two in the same game since A.J. Finley against Liberty in 2021 and currently makes him one of just seven defensive backs in the SEC to do so this season.
RACKING UP THE YARDS
Kiffin’s dynamic Ole Miss offenses have single-handedly dismantled the Rebel record books, recording three of the top-five offensive seasons in school history since 2020. Leading the way is the 2020 squad that ended the season ranked No. 3 in total offense nationally at an Ole Miss record 555.5 yards per game (5,555 yards). His 2021 team ranks fifth at 492.5 yards per game (6,402 yards), and last year the Rebels broke into the top-five again, this time notching the fourth-best season ever at 496.4 yards per game (6,453 yards). Impressively, Kiffin’s Ole Miss teams have done so with a balanced offensive attack, ranking seventh in the FBS in passing in 2020 (344.9 ypg) before shifting toward the running game in 2021 with the No. 12 ground game (217.6 ypg) before 2022’s single-season school record rushing attack of 3,336 yards (256.6) led the SEC and ranked No. 3 in the FBS behind only the service academies.
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