Ole Miss Rebels Hold Slim Lead Over Louisiana-Monroe After Sloppy First Half

The Ole Miss Rebels have played poorly in the first half of Saturday's game in Oxford.
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OXFORD, Miss. -- It appears that the No. 13 Ole Miss Rebels are sleepwalking on Saturday, holding a 7-3 lead over the 2-8 Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks at halftime of Saturday's game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

The Rebels have struggled on offense outside of a single drive that saw running back Ulysses Bentley IV reach the end zone from 14 yards out. As a team, Ole Miss turned the ball over on downs twice in the first half and has 199 total yards at the intermission.

Of those 199 yards, 122 of them belong to quarterback Jaxson Dart in the passing game.

Ole Miss Rebels QB Jaxson Dart
Ole Miss Rebels QB Jaxson Dart / USA Today Sports

Fortunately for the Rebels, ULM's offense has been mostly stagnant as well, only having 16 passing yards through two quarters. The only offensive success for the Warhawks has come on the ground, and the offense as a whole has 103 yards.

One of the few highlights of the first half for Ole Miss outside of Bentley's touchdown carry was an interception by Trey Washington, but the ensuing drive stalled out after a sack of Dart. The Rebels quarterback has been sacked three times on the day.

LIVE UPDATES: No. 13 Ole Miss Rebels Host ULM Warhawks In Final Home Game of 2023

The final drive of the half for ULM resulted in a field goal as time expired to give it its the first points of the day. Louisiana-Monroe put together a successful drive up to that point, but an incomplete pass with one second remaining forced the field goal unit onto the field.

The Warhawks will receive the football to start the second half. You can follow along for live updates from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium here.


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John Macon Gillespie
JOHN MACON GILLESPIE

John Macon Gillespie is the publisher of The Grove Report and has experience on the Ole Miss beat spanning five years.