Sure, the 2024 Ole Miss Football season did not go as planned, with the Rebels finishing with nine wins and just short of reaching the College Football Playoff, yet the group of Ole Miss seniors that has stayed true to Coach Kiffin since day one as opted to make the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl into a personal last ride as a proper send off for a group of Ole Miss Football legends that helped pave the way for the next crop of Rebels to continue building on their legacy. In today’s society, it’s easier for a college football player to opt out of the postseason rather than finish the job he started with his brothers for the final time. For Jaxson Dart and the entire team, the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl matchup with Duke is personal, as they like to give Rebel Nation one final curtain call before this era of Ole Miss Football is in the books. 

For a group like the present seniors, playing in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against Duke was not even a question; they wanted to have a final game wearing the red and navy. In recent memory, there has yet to be a group of seniors who have done more for the program than the ones of this year’s Ole Miss team. When all the noise shifted to the players who didn’t care or were only there for themselves, they stood behind the leadership of Coach Kiffin and trusted what he was building in Oxford. 

Despite the noise and the draw of the NFL Draft, Ole Miss players decided that playing in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl is a crucial final stepping stone for the program. You often hear about the culture of programs and what the core group of guys did during their time as Rebels, which will stay with Rebel Nation for generations to come. Things might not have ended as they had hoped, but they’re giving it one last game to earn a 10th win by defeating the Duke Blue Devils in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. 

Ole Miss and Duke will kick on January 2nd under the lights in Jacksonville, Florida, in the 88th annual TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.