Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart surpasses Eli Manning’s record for most passing yards in school history

Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart surpasses Eli Manning’s record for most passing yards in school history

Ole Miss senior quarterback Jaxson Dart concluded the regular season in illustrious fashion, surpassing Eli Manning’s record for most passing yards in school history.

Dart entered Saturday’s game against Mississippi State with 10,070 career passing yards, 49 yards shy of Manning’s record (10,119). After Dart’s 80-yard score in the first half, the title was no longer Manning’s.

“Normally I don’t get too excited when my record is broken, but after getting to know you over the years and following your career, I’m glad it’s someone like you,” Manning said in a video in which he Dart congratulated.

Manning, the two-time Super Bowl champion, set the record as a three-year starter from 2000 to 2003. He finished his tenure with the Rebels with 81 touchdowns and other school career records for completions (829) and pass attempts (1,363).

Dart, who also was a three-year starter for Ole Miss after transferring from USC after his true freshman season, is the winningest quarterback in the school’s modern history with 26 career wins.

Earlier this season against Arkansas, Dart set the Ole Miss single-game record for total yards (562), breaking Archie Manning’s single-game record of 540, which had stood since 1969. Dart’s 515 passing yards in that game also broke the Ole Miss single-game passing record.

Archie, Eli’s father, had an All-American quarterback career at Ole Miss from 1968 to 1970, which earned him the SEC records for most pass completions in a game (33), most total offenses (5,576 yards) and the SEC player from completed annual awards as well as a plethora of Heisman votes in his final two seasons.

Eli (No. 10) and Archie (No. 18) are two of four former Ole Miss football players to have their numbers retired by the school. Chucky Mullins (No. 38), whose injury in a 1989 game against Vanderbilt ended his playing career and left him paralyzed, and Ben Williams (No. 74), the first black athlete to play in a varsity football game for Ole Miss, round from the list.

Ole Miss, which enters Saturday’s game with an overall record of 8-3, is likely out of the College Football Playoff race. None of the three teams the Rebels defeated — Kentucky, LSU and Florida — are ranked by the committee, with the Tigers (7-4) having the best record.

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(Photo: Andy Altenburger / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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