Ole Miss had 21 points less than 24 minutes into its season-opening tilt against Troy, and the Rebels had scored their fourth touchdown less than five minutes into the third quarter.
Then, with what at the time was a 28-3 advantage against visiting Troy, the Rebels appeared to do the exact opposite of that for which their head coach Lane Kiffin is known: they bottled up their own offense.
So much so, in fact, that Kiffin admitted the home fans hardly appeared entertained.
“It seemed like it was really good, especially in the first half,” Kiffin said of the Ole Miss crowd. “But they probably got bored in the second half.
“I would too with our offense.”
The Rebels closed with an 28-10 win against Jon Sumrall’s first Trojans’ team; they face Football Championship Subdivision team Central Arkansas at home again next Saturday before a Sept. 17 trip to Atlantic Coast Conference foe Georgia Tech.
Though Kiffin termed his team’s second-half offense boring, that’s hardly the case with the Rebels’ quarterback situation.
Kiffin confirmed after the game that the Rebels would start Luke Altmyer next week at quarterback after they gave the season-opening nod to Jaxson Dart.
“That's the plan,” Kiffin said of giving each quarterback a chance to start before seeking to finalize a starter with the Tech game. “They knew. I talked to both of them. I just said 'Hey, this thing is so even. It's not really fair for us just to pick one because it's so even.’
“We needed to see them play. In the NFL that's the reason why they have preseason games. We said we were going to go first with one today and then the other one, Luke will go first next Saturday.”
Dart completed 18 of 27 passes for 154 yards, one touchdown and one interception; Altmyer attempted just two passes, completing one for a 13-yard gain.