Furman suffers "embarrassing" loss at Ole Miss

Furman's Carson Jones completed 15-of-25 passes for 119
yards Saturday at Ole Miss. Photo courtesy of Furman

For a young Furman secondary - that got younger in the last couple of weeks, opening the season at Ole Miss had the makings of a nightmare scenario. I don't think anyone could've imagined just how Freddy Krueger-like the Rebels would be. Ole Miss entered parts of the Furman record book that haven't been touched in years in a 76-0 win Saturday night in Oxford, Miss.

It's the most points the Paladins have allowed since a 77-14 Davidson win in the "football for fun" non-scholarship days of 1969. It's the fifth-most lopsided loss in Furman history, the most lopsided since an 81-0 loss to Army in 1955. To put it in more recent perspective, the Paladins' defense allowed more touchdowns (10) Saturday night than it did over the final seven games (9) of last season.

"I'm embarrassed. Embarrassed by the job I did in getting our guys ready to play. ... I'm just disappointed in how we self-destructed in the first half," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "I didn't see anybody quit. They hung in there and fought."

After making the eight-hour bus ride from Greenville to Ole Miss, the Paladins faced a quarterback who could scoff as such humble means of transportation. One of Jaxson Dart's NIL deal partners is Nicholas Air, which allows him access to their full fleet of private jets to "travel with family, for training and to support his philanthropic efforts." That's only one of Dart's deals, which have a total NIL valuation of $1.3 million according to digital media company On3.

So Dart is compensated like a pro quarterback and on Saturday night, he played like one. He completed 22-of-27 passes for 418 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions, while rushing six times for 31 yards and a score. By the way, that was all in the first half. The Rebels missed a 53-yard field goal as time expired to settle for a 52-0 lead at halftime, at which point Dart clocked out for the night.

Going into this season, Furman was tasked with replacing its entire starting secondary as well as a few experienced reserves there. That task got tougher as preseason camp went along as Justin Hartwell and A.K. Burrell both suffered season-ending knee injuries. Both had chances of starting this season.

Dart, who played as a freshman at Southern Cal in 2021 before transferring to Ole Miss, spread the wealth to a bevy of talented receivers. They were led by Louisiana Tech transfer Tre Harris ($613,000 NIL valuation), who caught eight passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns. Cayden Lee had four catches for 78 yards and a touchdown. Caden Prieskorn ($334,000 NIL valuation), a 6-foot-6 tight end who transferred from Memphis and will turn 25 this month, had three catches for 77 yards and a score. In his first game with the Rebels, South Carolina transfer Juice Wells ($377,000 NIL valuation) caught two passes for 70 yards, including a 61-yard score.

"I knew that was a brutally tough matchup. Obviously, we won't face anybody close to that talented," Hendrix said. "The two safeties that were out hurt us, but we just didn't play up to our standard. Regardless of what the score is, that's what really matters." 

All those bombs helped open up running lanes for the Rebels, who finished with 243 yards rushing. Their ground game was led by Matt Jones, who carried three times for 68 yards and two touchdowns. Ole Miss also got a touchdown run from 325-pound defensive tackle J.J. Pegues ($293,000 NIL valuation), a transfer from Auburn. Pegues had four tackles, including two tackles-for-loss, on defense.

Ole Miss averaged 9.4 yards per play and finished with 772 yards of total offense, obliterating the previous record set by a Furman opponent. That was set two years ago when the Paladins defeated Western Carolina 47-40, despite 691 yards put up by the Catamounts. The Rebels also had 37 first downs.

Meanwhile, Furman was held to 172 yards of total offense and seven first downs. The Paladins had 30 rushing attempts for just 26 yards and were 3-of-17 on third down. Carson Jones got the starting nod at quarterback and made some nice throws early on. He finished with 119 yards on 15-of-25 passing with an interception. Freshman Trey Hedden came on in the second half and completed 5-of-8 passes for 27 yards. They were both sacked twice.

Joshua Harris had three catches for 59 yards, while Florida State transfer Joshua Burrell had two receptions for 43 yards. Myion Hicks led the Paladins in rushing with six carries for 23 yards, including a long of 19.

"We've just got to be better at finding ways to get off the field (defensively) and stay on the field (offensively)," Hendrix said. "We didn't do either one very well. We will learn from it, get better as coaches and move forward."

Furman (0-1) hosts Charleston Southern (0-1) in the home opener next Saturday at 6 p.m. The Buccaneers are coming off a 22-21 loss to The Citadel in which they missed a field goal as time expired after seeing a 21-3 third quarter lead disappear.