No. 9 Ole Miss walked out of Nissan Stadium with a 41-38 win over No. 24 Louisville, and the night belonged to Trinidad Chambliss.
The Rebels had to survive a messy, volatile opener. They scored 41 points after a rough start, and Chambliss was the engine behind the turnaround. He finished with 396 total yards and four touchdowns, throwing for 336 yards and three scores while adding 60 rushing yards and another touchdown.
It was not a clean performance from the Ole Miss quarterback. Chambliss threw an interception and lost a fumble, but he settled in after halftime and took over the game. In the third quarter, he hit Deuce Alexander on back-to-back 62-yard touchdowns, flipping the tone of the night.
Louisville made sure Ole Miss had to earn every bit of it. The Cardinals wiped out a 14-point deficit late and turned the finish into a nerve-wracking sprint. With 90 seconds left, Chambliss guided the Rebels 40 yards without a timeout.
The biggest snap came on third-and-6, when he found Caleb Odom for 18 yards. That catch set up Lucas Carneiro’s winning 48-yard field goal.
The performance immediately lit up the Heisman conversation. Former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel wrote on X, “ Trinidad Chambliss has officially launched his Heisman campaign…,” while former player Emmanuel Acho pushed the idea even further: “ Trinidad Chambliss has to be the early Heisman favorite!”
Acho pointed to the production against a ranked opponent on national television, and the numbers backed up the claim: 400 yards and 4 touchdowns vs. a ranked team on National TV! 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/OXxiAIlKpU
- Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) September 7, 2026
Chambliss called it a team effort after the win. “ We fought until the end, so just happy we got the win,” Chambliss said after the win.
There’s still a long way to go before any Heisman talk turns into something real, but this was the kind of opener that gets attention fast. Ole Miss had the ranked opponent, the national stage, and a quarterback who delivered when the game started slipping away.
And the schedule won’t slow down. The Rebels host Charlotte on Sep. 12, then face No.
11 LSU on Sep. 19 before traveling to Florida on Sep. 26.
For now, though, Chambliss has done exactly what you’d want from a quarterback in a big opener: he answered the first real test, finished the game with his best work, and put himself squarely into the early Heisman conversation.
In Other News...
Louisville Saw Enough From Lincoln Keinholz To Fuel A Bigger Question
Lincoln Keinholzs first start for Louisville gave the Cardinals a real opening to assess where they stand at quarterback, and there was plenty to like in the way he settled in against Mississippi. The debut came in a high-scoring opener that asked a lot of him early, and he responded better as the game went on, showing clear progress in the second half as Louisville hung around in a back-and-forth matchup.
Jeff Brohm left the night with a familiar mix of encouragement and concern, praising the way his team competed while also pointing to the need for more plays against quality opponents. For Louisville, the bigger question now is not just what Keinholz showed in the opener, but how much of that performance can carry over when the schedule tightens and the margin for error shrinks. [Read more 🡒]
Louisville Just Found A Quarterback Fans Can Dream On
Louisville came up just short in its Week 1 battle with Ole Miss, but the game still offered a glimpse of something the program has been searching for at quarterback. Lincoln Kienholz, the 4-star transfer from Ohio State making his first start, settled in quickly and gave the Cardinals a legitimate dual-threat presence, throwing for 307 yards while adding 69 on the ground.
The debut mattered because it showed Louisville more than survived a tough opening test against a ranked opponent, it found a passer who can tilt a game with both his arm and legs. Kienholzs production also put him in a rare category for the program, with the kind of early return that can change the feel around an offense even in a loss, and now the bigger question is how far that carryover can go once the schedule keeps moving. [Read more 🡒]
Louisville Just Took A Painful Recruiting Hit At Center
Louisvilles frontcourt recruiting board took a hit when five-star center Darius Wabbington backed away from the program, ending a run that had the Cardinals among his final six schools. Wabbington, one of the top centers in the country, had been scheduled to make an official visit on Sept. 11, but that stop is now off the calendar as Louisville loses ground in a pursuit that once looked promising.
The timing makes the setback sting a little more, because the Cardinals are still trying to stay active with another elite big man in Lewis Uvwo. Louisville has made a late push there, but Duke is currently out front, leaving the Cardinals searching for a way to recover from one miss while trying to keep another high-end option within reach. [Read more 🡒]