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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Football vs. Georgia State: Fresh off the Field
8/31/2025 | Football
Presented by Kroger
No team moved the ball more on offense than Ole Miss, which stands No. 1 in the nation in total offense by a margin of 57 yards after posting 695 to race past the Panthers. The defense was stout as well, allowing just 69 yards through the air, good for eighth in the nation.
It wasn't a flawless performance for Ole Miss. A couple of early hiccups kept the game close in the first half before the Rebels ran away with it. In all, Kiffin came away pleased with his team's first time out.
I thought our guys did a really good job today," Kiffin said. "I don't take for granted these types of games. You know, maybe sometimes some people do, and fans, especially, understand that Georgia State is a much-improved player-wise from what they added in the portal, and they beat Vanderbilt last year. So, you know, to play 63-7, so what is that, 46-0 run after they scored. So, when you play 46-0 football, you're doing a lot of things really well on offense, defense, and special teams. So, really pleased by the offensive balance, 695 yards and 295 on the ground in a game that only had two returning starters on offense and two on defense. I thought our defense did really well outside of one play, but we got a lot to work on, too. You know, we had the two turnovers, and we have to tackle better. So, obviously, we have a huge challenge next week. So I'm excited to go back to work with these guys, and I think you saw a team that's got a chance to be good. You know, you look around the country and a lot of times these games, you know, are one- two score games and stuff. So, I was really pleased with that. I'm pleased with how our team played pretty clean today. So, good start.
Lacy's Out
Kewan Lacy came out strong in his Ole Miss debut, finding the end zone three times and crossing the century mark on the ground with 108 yards on 16 carries. The Missouri transfer highlighted his Rebel debut with a 42-yard breakaway touchdown to open the second half.
Yeah, it was awesome," Kiffin said. "I mean, I'll just tell you how it is. We didn't have that, you know, a year ago, and so it was really good to have it back. I was looking forward to that. Kind of thinking he was going to play like that because that's how he practices, and he's got a unique skill set of speed and power. So, it's great to see where a ball can break and go score and not get caught. Makes it a lot easier not to call more plays afterwards, so that was great to see.
Lacy joined BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Scottie Phillips to become the third Rebel since 2000 with multiple rushing touchdowns in his debut. Ole Miss finished with 295 rushing yards in total, its most since 2023 against LSU. The sophomore from Dallas was happy with his starting point in Oxford.
It was great just experiencing it with my teammates. We had a tough fall camp, you know just being able to come out there and play a new opponent," Lacy said. "It proved to me that I can play at this level. I just still need to get better and still work every day.
Passing Grade
Austin Simmons' long-awaited debut arrived, and the redshirt sophomore out of Miami looked sharp in his first career start after watching Jaxson Dart lead the offense for the past two seasons.
The 19-year-old was hit as he threw for one interception and made a poor decision on a throw to the end zone for his second INT, but he settled in and posted an overall impressive debut, finishing 20-for-31 for 341 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Yeah, he had one really bad play. You know, the second interception. The first one's not his fault, the right guard gets beat, there were blown covers. We're going in to score a 75-yard touchdown, walk in the endzone, and the guy that blows the coverage picks it off. So, that's not his fault. The other one is. We've seen that before, young quarterback, kind of almost the same interception we saw Jaxson (Dart) threw at home to his right his first year," Kiffin said. "But I thought he did some really good things. Scrambled the way that we would want, you know, slid and took care of himself, but also showed that he could move around and make some plays with his feet. I thought Trinidad did a really good job coming in and so I'm really glad that both of those guys did well aside from one really poor play.
Simmons was happy with his first outing, particularly with the overall production of the offense.
First start, it felt so surreal being out there for the first time, first snap of the game. I wasn't really nervous. I was just trusting myself. The first drive we scored on three plays," Simmons said. "Of course, I'm going to have some mistakes here and there, some mental errors like the interception early in the game. But as far as I can say, I think I did a pretty good job. Especially with the whole offensive unit. We were very explosive down the field. We were moving the ball pretty well. I'm really excited for this whole team.
Monster in the Middle
Aside from the new playmakers on offense, perhaps the spot most in the spotlight for Ole Miss was its defensive line, which had to replace an incredible amount of talent with the departures of Walter Nolen and JJ Pegues on the interior and Princely Umanmielen and Jared Ivey on the outside.
With those stars now in the NFL, the second unit that made Ole Miss one of the nation's deepest D-line units last year, steps into the lead role. After one game, Zxavian Harris has made the case to be the new pacesetter on the defensive front.
He's a force. He had a great camp and really presents a lot of problems for opposing offenses. It was exciting to see him today," Kiffin said. "He created a lot of havoc.
Harris finished with five tackles, including the team's only sack, his first career interception and two QB hurries. Then, on his celebratory sideline dunk, the 6-foot-8, 330-pound senior did his best Shaquille O'Neal impression and snapped the basketball goal in half.
I gave him 50 points, 10/10," said TJ Dottery. "He broke the rim and I have never seen that before.
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