November 23, 2024 Week 13 · Regular Season Belt changed hands

Florida takes the belt, 24–17, at home over Ole Miss.

Home · New Holder

Florida 24

Away · Defending Holder

Ole MissAP No. 9 17

AP poll, week 13: Ole Miss No. 9 at Florida unranked · No. 1 that week: Iowa State. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Florida took the belt here, ending Ole Miss’ run of 14 days and 0 defenses (reign #325) and starting reign #326. It lasted 287 days and 3 defenses, until South Florida took it on September 6, 2025.

For Florida this was its 24th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 5 times before — and it took it back here.

It was the 2nd of 2 belt games between the two; going in, Florida led the belt series 1–0; all-time Florida leads 2–0.

AI-Written

Recap

Florida claimed the College Football Belt with a 24-17 victory over Ole Miss in Gainesville, surviving a fierce second-quarter shootout to pull away late. The Rebels struck first with two touchdowns in quick succession—Tre Harris's 43-yard receiving TD followed by Cayden Lee's 22-yard score—but Florida answered each time, with DJ Lagway finding Elijhah Badger for 8 yards and Jadan Baugh for 25 yards to keep pace at 21-14 by halftime. The second half turned into a defensive battle with both teams relying on field goals, but Florida's Trey Smack connected on a 53-yarder in the third quarter to push the lead to 24-14. Ole Miss couldn't recover despite Jaxson Dart's heroic efforts, as two fourth-quarter interceptions—including a crucial pick-six situation with just seconds remaining—sealed Florida's grip on the belt.

Jadan Baugh's 25-yard TD catch in Q2 (6:52) — Florida answered Ole Miss's second touchdown to stay within striking distance heading into halftime
Trey Smack's 53-yard field goal in Q3 (10:57) — Extended Florida's lead to 24-14 in a defensive second half
Montrell Johnson Jr.'s 9-yard rushing TD in Q4 (7:40) — Gave Florida crucial insurance with under 8 minutes to play
Bryce Thornton's interception in Q4 (0:17) — Sealed the victory as Ole Miss's final desperation drive ended in turnover

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

FloridaOle Miss

Total yards345464

Rushing yards165141

Passing yards180323

First downs1924

3rd down conv.7/153/14

Turnovers13

Penalties–yards5–444–45

Time of possession29:5630:04

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q2 14:56	Florida	+8 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Elijhah Badger for 8 yds for a TD (Trey Smack KICK)
Q2 12:01	Ole Miss	+43 yd	Jaxson Dart pass complete to Tre Harris for 43 yds for a TD (Caden Davis KICK)
Q2 11:21	Florida	+0 yd	DJ Lagway pass intercepted John Saunders Jr. return for no gain to the MISS 45
Q2 9:45	Ole Miss	+25 yd	Jaxson Dart pass complete to Jordan Watkins for 25 yds to the FLA 22 for a 1ST down
Q2 9:05	Ole Miss	+22 yd	Jaxson Dart pass complete to Cayden Lee for 22 yds for a TD (Caden Davis KICK)
Q2 6:52	Florida	+25 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Jadan Baugh for 25 yds for a TD (Trey Smack KICK)
Q2 7:43	Florida	+27 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Elijhah Badger for 27 yds to the MISS 40 for a 1ST down
Q2 6:25	Ole Miss	+25 yd	Jaxson Dart pass complete to Antwane Wells Jr. for 25 yds to the 50 yard line for a 1ST down
Q2 6:05	Ole Miss	+30 yd	Jaxson Dart pass complete to Dae'Quan Wright for 30 yds to the FLA 20 for a 1ST down
Q2 5:04	Ole Miss	+34 yd	Caden Davis 34 yd FG MISSED
Q3 10:57	Florida	+53 yd	Trey Smack 53 yd FG GOOD
Q3 10:08	Ole Miss	+20 yd	Jaxson Dart run for 20 yds to the MISS 44 for a 1ST down
Q3 0:45	Ole Miss	+42 yd	Caden Davis 42 yd FG GOOD
Q3 3:29	Ole Miss	+23 yd	Jaxson Dart pass complete to Cayden Lee for 23 yds to the FLA 39 for a 1ST down
Q4 9:20	Florida	+41 yd	DJ Lagway pass complete to Chimere Dike for 41 yds to the MISS 26 for a 1ST down
Q4 7:40	Florida	+9 yd	Montrell Johnson Jr. run for 9 yds for a TD (Trey Smack KICK)
Q4 7:30	Ole Miss	+35 yd	Jaxson Dart run for 35 yds to the FLA 40 for a 1ST down
Q4 1:32	Ole Miss	+0 yd	Jaxson Dart pass intercepted, touchback. Bryce Thornton return for no gain
Q4 0:17	Ole Miss	+0 yd	Jaxson Dart pass intercepted Bryce Thornton return for no gain to the FLA 22

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Florida

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
D.J. Lagway	10/17	180	10.6	2	1	66.5

Ole Miss

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Jaxson Dart	24/41	323	7.9	2	2	86.3
Austin Simmons	0/1	0	0.0	0	0	5.5

Rushing

Florida

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Montrell Johnson	18	107	5.9	1	16
Jadan Baugh	13	46	3.5	0	17
Ja'Kobi Jackson	8	21	2.6	0	8
D.J. Lagway	5	-9	-1.8	0	6

Ole Miss

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Jaxson Dart	14	71	5.1	35
Micah Davis	11	27	2.5	6
Domonique Thomas	3	20	6.7	10
J.J. Pegues	6	19	3.2	8
Matt Jones	1	4	4.0	4

Receiving

Florida

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Elijhah Badger	5	87	17.4	1	27
Chimere Dike	3	54	18.0	0	41
Jadan Baugh	1	25	25.0	1	25
Ja'Quavion Fraziars	1	14	14.0	0	14

Ole Miss

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Cayden Lee	6	94	15.7	1	23
Jordan Watkins	8	70	8.8	0	25
Dae'Quan Wright	4	57	14.3	0	30
Tre Harris	1	43	43.0	1	43
Antwane Wells Jr.	1	25	25.0	0	25
Caden Prieskorn	2	22	11.0	0	12
Micah Davis	2	12	6.0	0	11

Show more stats (6 more categories)

Defense

Florida

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Bryce Thornton	14	5	0	0	0	0
Trikweze Bridges	11	8	0	0	1	0
Sharif Denson	6	3	0	0	1	0
Jack Pyburn	5	0	0	0.5	0	0
Caleb Banks	4	3	2.5	3.5	1	1
Shemar James	4	2	0	0.5	0	0
Jordan Castell	4	2	0	0	1	0
CamRon Jackson	4	1	0	1.5	0	0
Myles Graham	4	0	0	0	0	0
Dijon Johnson	3	2	0	0	1	1
Tyreak Sapp	3	1	1.5	2	0	1
Jaden Robinson	3	1	0	0	0	0
T.J. Searcy	3	0	0	0	0	0
George Gumbs	2	2	0	0	0	0
Desmond Watson	2	1	0	0	0	0
Ja'Quavion Fraziars	1	1	0	0	0	0
Kamran James	1	1	0	1	0	0
R.J. Moten	1	0	0	0	0	0
Aaron Gates	1	0	0	0	0	0
Aaron Chiles	1	0	0	0	0	0
L.J. McCray	1	0	0	0	0	0
Michai Boireau	1	0	0	0	0	0
Derek Wingo	0	0	0	0	1	0
Joey Slackman	0	0	0	0	0	1

Ole Miss

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD
Suntarine Perkins	10	4	0.5	0.5	0
Louis Moore	10	3	0	0	0
Walter Nolen	8	7	1	3	1
Chris Paul Jr.	8	2	0	0	0
Princely Umanmielen	7	1	1	1	0
Jadon Canady	5	1	0	0	0
Jared Ivey	4	1	0	0	1
Trey Washington	4	0	0	0	0
John Saunders Jr.	3	1	0	0	0
Khari Coleman	3	0	0	0	0
Trey Amos	2	1	0	0	1
Yamarus Banks	2	1	0	0	0
TJ Dottery	2	1	0	0	0
J.J. Pegues	2	0	0.5	0.5	0
Tyler Banks	1	1	0	0	0
Akelo Stone	1	0	0	0	1
Zxavian Harris	1	0	0	0	0
Jamarious Brown	1	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Florida

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
DJ Douglas	0	0	1

Ole Miss

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Micah Davis	1	1	0

Interceptions

Florida

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Bryce Thornton	2	0	0

Ole Miss

Player	INT	YDS	TD
John Saunders Jr.	1	0	0

Kicking

Florida

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Trey Smack	1/1	100.0	53	3/3	6

Ole Miss

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Caden Davis	1/2	50.0	42	2/2	5

Punt Returns

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Chimere Dike	1	10	10.0	10	0

Ole Miss

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jordan Watkins	1	4	4.0	4	0
Micah Davis	1	-5	-5.0	0	0

Punting

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Jeremy Crawshaw	7	327	46.7	2	1	62

Ole Miss

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Fraser Masin	4	175	43.8	0	2	54

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401628429) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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