Josh Pate kept Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss at the top of his SEC quarterback rankings after Week 4, even with the Rebels taking their first loss of the season and giving up 52 points at Florida.
Pate released his updated top 10 on Sept. 29 and again slotted Chambliss at No. 1 on what he called the “John Mateer Memorial” list, a nod to his own miss last season when he ranked the Oklahoma quarterback first before a hand injury.
Chambliss has backed up the faith through four games. He’s completed 102 of 144 passes for 1,222 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions, while also adding 108 rushing yards and four scores.
He already has two 300-yard passing performances, including his best showing in Week 3, when he threw for a career-high 363 yards in Ole Miss’ 32-24 win over LSU and former Rebels coach Lane Kiffin. Chambliss also scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 14-yard run in that game.
Pate has been high on the Grand Rapids, Michigan, native since the preseason, when he also put Chambliss No. 1 in his August rankings.
"He's the most dangerous player in college football to me," Pate said at the time. "He had eight games last year of 300-plus passing yards, obviously a really dynamic run element, and theoretically, his best could still be ahead of him."
That was a major rise from where Pate had him a year ago, when Chambliss checked in sixth in the SEC ahead of Week 9.
Ole Miss fell 52-28 at Florida on Sept. 26 and dropped to 3-1, but Chambliss still threw for 298 yards. The Rebels were without injured star running back Kewan Lacy, and the defense never found answers.
"This isn't going to define our season," Chambliss said after the game.
"I'm super confident in our team still," Chambliss added. "I feel like we can still compete for an SEC championship and national championship, but now we just have to go 1-0 every week."
The Rebels have a bye in Week 5, giving Chambliss two weeks to clean things up.
Behind him in Pate’s new rankings is Mississippi State’s Kamario Taylor at No. 2. Taylor’s 14 touchdown passes are tied for the most in the country.
Alabama’s Keelon Russell comes in at No. 3, and he’ll face Taylor on Saturday when No. 7 Alabama visits No. 16 Mississippi State.
Missouri’s Austin Simmons is No. 4 after losing the Ole Miss job to Chambliss when he was hurt last season. Georgia’s Gunner Stockton is fifth, followed by Florida’s Aaron Philo at No. 6.
LSU’s Sam Leavitt is seventh, Kentucky’s Kenny Minchey is eighth, Texas’ Arch Manning is ninth and Vanderbilt freshman Jared Curtis rounds out the top 10.
Manning was second in Pate’s preseason rankings, but he’s dropped to ninth even as Texas sits No. 1 in the AP poll. Over his last two games against UTSA and Tennessee, Manning has thrown for 362 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
Mateer, who was third in August, did not make the new top 10. South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed and Auburn’s Byrum Brown also fell out. Russell moved up from sixth to third, and Simmons climbed from 10th to fourth.
In Other News...
Ole Miss Running Back Room Faces Pressure Fans Can No Longer Ignore
A bye week after the loss to Florida gives Ole Miss a chance to take a hard look at a running back room that has quickly become one of the more intriguing parts of the roster. The Rebels went into the season with a wave of reinforcements at the position, adding transfers JT Lindsey, Makhi Frazier and Joshua Dye, while also bringing in recruit Shekai Mills-Knight, giving the coaching staff more bodies and more options than it had a year ago.
Now the challenge is sorting out how to use that depth with starter Kewan Lacy injured and the offense looking for a jolt. For a team trying to get back on track, the pause in the schedule could be useful if it leads to clearer answers about who can handle the load and who can help this offense become more consistent when the games start counting again. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Has A Trinidad Chambliss Problem It Must Fix Fast
Trinidad Chambliss put together the kind of night that can keep Ole Miss afloat, accounting for nearly 350 yards in a recent loss while throwing one touchdown and running for two more. Even in defeat, the Rebels got enough from Chambliss to see how dangerous he can be when the offense leans on his dual-threat ability, but the bigger picture is harder to ignore. Injuries have thinned the group around him, and the steady production Ole Miss needs from the rest of the offense has not shown up often enough.
Deuce Alexander remains one of the more important pieces in that effort at receiver, especially with Vanderbilt next on the schedule. The Rebels do not need Chambliss to be perfect, but they do need more of the burden spread around before SEC defenses can keep squeezing the same pressure points. If Ole Miss is going to get back on track, the answer has to come from more than one player carrying the entire load. [Read more 🡒]
Mississippi State Suddenly Looks Like A Real Threat To Alabama
Mississippi States rise has changed the feel of the SEC race in a hurry. After ending a 12-year drought in ranked-vs.-ranked wins by knocking off No. 19 Missouri, the Bulldogs are up to No. 16 and suddenly carrying the kind of momentum that gets everyones attention in conference play.
Now comes the bigger test: an undefeated matchup with No. 7 Alabama, and it looks far less like a routine Tide appointment than it did a few weeks ago. Alabama has seen real growth from quarterback Keelon Russell, while Mississippi State has its own answer in Kamario Taylor, who leads the nation in touchdown passes this season, setting up a game with real stakes and even more intrigue. [Read more 🡒]