Sunday’s college football tripleheader delivered the kind of chaos only Week 1 can produce, and the most entertaining game of the day came in Oxford, where Ole Miss survived Louisville 41-38 in a wild finish that featured big throws, a late rally, and a walk-off kick.
Trinidad Chambliss was the center of it all. ABC’s broadcast opened with Katie George revisiting his courtroom battle last winter for an extra year of eligibility, and after what followed, Mississippi Judge Robert Whitwell probably earned a few new fans.
The former Division II transfer looked every bit like a quarterback who had already been through a College Football Playoff run, throwing three deep touchdowns with pinpoint placement and adding another score on the ground. He finished with 397 yards of offense.
Ole Miss needed every bit of it. Kewan Lacy left in the third quarter with an injury, and the Rebels’ defense spent much of the second half looking slow and out of position. Even with Chambliss shining, Pete Golding’s team came dangerously close to coughing it up after losing several of its best players to the portal, and Sunday did not exactly quiet the doubts about whether this group can get back to the CFP.
Louisville, though, made it a fight. Jeff Brohm’s new quarterback, Ohio State transfer Lincoln Kienholz, arrived with a mystery wrapped around his name after his only real action had come as a third-string freshman in Ohio State’s 2023 Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri.
He looked shaky early, but the second half told a different story. Kienholz hit touchdown passes of 62 and 54 yards, then ran in a seven-yard score to tie the game and help the Cardinals erase a 38-24 deficit with 1:28 left.
That comeback still wasn’t enough, because Ole Miss has Lucas Carneiro. The same kicker who drilled both a 56-yard and a 58-yard field goal in January’s CFP games knocked through a 48-yarder at the buzzer to win it. Louisville entered the year as an ACC sleeper, and if Kienholz keeps playing like this, the Cardinals will be right in the thick of the conference race.
In South Bend, Notre Dame spent one half making people sweat before taking complete control. The No.
4 Irish led Wisconsin 13-10 at the break, and the run game wasn’t doing much to ease concerns. By the end, though, Notre Dame had rolled to a 41-13 win.
There was a useful glimpse here of what the offense could look like after Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. Aneyas Williams took over as the lead back and finished with 90 yards on 20 carries, while Nolan James Jr. turned two short CJ Carr throws into 28-yard gains, with the second becoming a touchdown.
The defining defensive play belonged to one of Notre Dame’s most important newcomers. Colorado cornerback DJ McKinney jumped a pass and returned it 55 yards for a pick six, and that was the moment the game opened up. It wasn’t the kind of statement LSU made, but it was still a good sign for the Irish.
Wisconsin had a few flashes from its new quarterback, Colton Joseph, the Old Dominion transfer. He connected on a 28-yard touchdown to Malachi Coleman, who came over from Minnesota, but the Badgers just couldn’t string enough plays together to stay on schedule. The positive for Luke Fickell is that the schedule is far more manageable this season.
The Apple Cup still has a place on the calendar, and that matters. But the latest edition felt a little less like a classic rivalry game and a little more like a messy Big Ten team trying to finish off a G6 opponent.
No. 16 Washington won 24-10 despite 130 penalty yards and an uneven day from Demond Williams Jr.
Williams still made a couple of key plays when it mattered, including a slick 21-yard run and a successful flea-flicker with a little more than two minutes left to help seal it. Washington State, now under its third head coach in three seasons with Kirby Moore, might still be better than expected in its return to the “Pac-12.”
In Other News...
Ole Miss Has An Early Kewan Lacy Concern Fans Will Feel
Kewan Lacys Ole Miss debut had plenty of encouraging moments before it turned uneasy in the second half against Louisville. The running back handled a heavy workload in the season opener, piling up 17 carries for 61 yards and a touchdown while adding four catches for 19 yards, but a thigh injury sent him to the sideline for most of the final two quarters with an ice pack.
For a Rebels team that leaned on Lacy early, his availability suddenly becomes a storyline to watch as the schedule tightens. His status remains uncertain for the upcoming games, including the Week 3 matchup with LSU, and Ole Miss will be waiting to see whether the injury is a short-term setback or something that lingers beyond the opener. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Fans ESPN Moment Became A Much Bigger Story Than Expected
The season opener against Louisville already had plenty of drama for Ole Miss, but one fans reaction ended up drawing almost as much attention as the game itself. ESPNs cameras caught Sara M. Smith in the stands after the Cardinals scored a touchdown, and her stressed, anxious expression quickly became a viral moment across social media as Rebels fans and neutrals alike latched onto the clip.
Smiths sudden visibility even prompted her to lock down her Instagram profile for a time as the reaction spread well beyond the stadium. For Ole Miss, it was one of those college football scenes that captured the anxiety of the moment before the Rebels steadied themselves and finished off a 41-38 win on a walk-off field goal. [Read more 🡒]
Deuce Alexander Just Gave Ole Miss A New Deep Threat
A quiet addition to the Ole Miss receiver room suddenly became impossible to ignore against Louisville. Senior wideout Deuce Alexander, who arrived in Oxford after two seasons at Wake Forest, flashed the kind of field-stretching speed that can change the way a defense plays. He had been building his college rsum with steady improvement, but this was the kind of breakout that makes coordinators start rewriting their game plan.
Alexander turned the third quarter into his personal highlight reel with a pair of 62-yard touchdown catches, each one swinging momentum toward the Rebels. For a team always looking for another reliable vertical threat, the performance offered a glimpse of what Ole Miss might have added in 2025 and why Alexander could matter far beyond one big night. [Read more 🡒]