The No. 14 Ole Miss Rebels cruised to a 52-20 victory over the Duke Blue Devils in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on Thursday night, buoyed by several NFL draft prospects who decided to end their college careers with one final appearance finish.

This attack was led by quarterback Jaxson Dart, who set more program records with the win and earned Gator Bowl MVP honors. Dart ended his Ole Miss career the way it began: He got his nose dirty and committed to playing until the final whistle.

Although the Rebels coaching staff tried to get Dart to leave the game in the second half, he refused until the final series when backup quarterback Austin Simmons came on. Late in the fourth quarter, Dart could even be heard as his run-to-pass play led to a 69-yard touchdown connection with Jordan Watkins, much to the chagrin of coach Lane Kiffin.

Still, Kiffin is proud of his quarterback and the way he ended his Rebel career.

“That’s just who he is. “Obviously he’s not listening very well because we subbed him out, if you noticed,” Kiffin said after the game. “Austin comes in and (Dart) just waves him away. I think that children stop listening to you after a certain age. I feel like that was the case today with his touchdown pass, where he ran over people instead of sliding and then not getting out of the game.

“He’s great. I said at the beginning of the year: Regardless of the wins and losses, I hope our fans appreciate this time frame that shows what’s going on in Ole Miss football, especially with this quarterback.”

Dart wasn’t the only one who had the option to sit out, but chose to continue playing. There were other Ole Miss veterans who wanted to end their careers the right way, including names like JJ Pegues, Jordan Watkins, Jared Ivey and others.

What’s most impressive, however, is that some of the new additions to the Rebels roster chose to play on in the second half, even though they have bright NFL futures ahead of them.

“I think it was an amazing statement of what they did,” Kiffin said. “There were some guys who had been here for a while, but then there were newer guys like Walter Nolen, a potential first-round pick, Princely (Umanmielen), a really high pick, who played. I met with Walter at halftime and said, “You should come out now,” and he still played in the first few series of the second half.

“Last night I told them, ‘In this mentality, you’re an old-school football team. You actually care about your team and your brothers in the locker room and you play for them.’ Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen that often anymore.”

This seems to speak volumes about the culture of the Ole Miss locker room as the season comes to a close, at least from Kiffin’s perspective. The Rebels had big ambitions to make the College Football Playoff that year and fell short, but the players still decided to suit up and go to the Gator Bowl.

After the game was decided, many of them continued playing and wanted to end their Ole Miss careers on a high note. That decision paid off, as the Rebels defeated the Blue Devils to earn their second straight season with more than 10 wins, a feat not achieved since 1959 and 1960.