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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Football at Kentucky: Fresh off the Field
9/7/2025 | Football
Presented by Kroger
Ole Miss overcame adversity in the win, coming back from a 10-point deficit to start the game and holding off a late rally by the Wildcats to move to 2-0 on the season and 1-0 in SEC action.
Hear what Kiffin and the Rebels had to say about the key road win in this week's Fresh off the Field, presented by Kroger.
Really proud of our guys," Kiffin said. "You know, coming down the road in the SEC and win is a hard thing to do. We play for it every year, and it's hard. So, proud of our guys. We started down ten to nothing, and then we got the ball in our territory, got aggressive, made some plays, and that was a big turning point. Proud of our guys, how they played wasn't perfect, but Austin was okay to go back in, and we just got to plan for the next game. Really that game was a lot like last year. Just all three phases went the other way. Last year we had the ball out before I said, we gave the ball back, we didn't stop them, and they went down the field and scored, and then we missed the field goal. This was exactly opposition score, two scores, make the field goal.
Key Conversion
Early in the second quarter, nothing had gone Ole Miss' way. Kentucky had just turned its second interception into a 10-0 lead, and the Rebels were facing a 4th-and-1 in their own territory, needing a spark to get going.
Kentucky stacked all 11 defenders in the box to stop the short-yardage attempt, but Ole Miss rolled the dice, calling play action, and Austin Simmons tossed a strike to Harrison Wallace III, who slipped 55 yards up the sideline to the goal line to set up a 1-yard Kewan Lacy touchdown, which started a 30-10 scoring run for the Rebels.
You know it's a play. We practiced the play in practice all the time, just for whenever it comes up. So, once we saw that look, I kind of had a feeling the ball was going my way," Wallace said. "I definitely felt there was a swing of momentum, you know just always trying to make a play for the team.
Above Adversity
Ole Miss fans were likely feeling some déjà vu when Ole Miss fell down 10-0 to Kentucky on Saturday, fearing they would be in for another defeat to the Wildcats. But Ole Miss settled in, quickly took control of the game, and fended off any UK comeback attempts.
The Rebels had success in all three phases. The defense notched six three-and-outs, forced two turnovers on downs and held the Wildcats to 5-for-16 on third downs. Two of Kentucky's scoring drives came off turnovers and spanned just 48 yards. All six of Ole Miss' scoring drives went 50 or more yards. The pieces are there, the Rebels just need to continue to put it all together.
Creating ChancesI think it says a lot," Kiffin said. "I think it says they got a chance to be really good because if you can see in phases that go right down the field and score, they'll stop people and shut them down. So, I think they have a chance. It was a good SEC start. Winning in the SEC is hard.
The Ole Miss defense allowed one yard on its first series and eight on its second. After those consecutive three-and-outs, Kentucky benefitted from short fields after back-to-back interceptions, leading to a 10-0 lead.
But after Ole Miss' first touchdown on offense, the Rebel defense turned right around and notched another three-and-out to allow the Rebels to gain the lead.
It's just the mentality of the defense," Dottery said. "Just showing up, spot the ball and being able to execute when it really, really matters, getting off the field and continuing to give our offense opportunities to go and put points up on the board.
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