Ole Miss opens the season in Nashville with a Week 1 game that should tell Pete Golding plenty about where his team stands. The Rebels meet Louisville in the Liberty Mutual Music City Kickoff, and it’s a rematch of sorts from 2021, when Ole Miss last opened against a Power Four opponent and faced the Cardinals in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.
A lot has changed for both programs since then. Different coaches are running the show now, and both teams are carrying bigger expectations into this season. Louisville wants a playoff run just as badly as Ole Miss does, which is why this matchup feels like such a clean early measuring stick.
Last season, Jeff Brohm’s Cardinals went 9-4. They picked up a win over then-No.
2 Miami, but still finished just 4-4 in ACC play. Three of those conference losses came in overtime, and if those games had broken their way, Louisville would have ended up 11-1 and in the College Football Playoff conversation.
But this version of Louisville is a reset job. The Cardinals lost 19 players from last year’s team and had to rebuild almost everything for the 2026 season. That includes their starting quarterback, three wide receivers, and a large chunk of the offensive line.
Brohm’s new quarterback is Ohio State transfer Lincoln Kienholz, and his top targets will be Tre Richardson, Lawayne McCoy, and TreyShun Hurry. Richardson is the one Ole Miss has the clearest reason to circle. He’s the only one of the group with SEC experience, and last season at Vanderbilt he hauled in 46 catches for 806 yards and seven touchdowns.
Louisville took hits on defense too, losing 10 key players from last year’s unit. Still, there are a few names the Rebels need to know.
Defensive end Clev Lubin is coming off a season with 13.5 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, and three forced fumbles. In the secondary, Iowa transfer Koen Entringer brings 73 total tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and four pass breakups, along with all-Big Ten honors from last year.
For Ole Miss, this is the kind of opener that should help reveal a lot without feeling easy. The Rebels are more experienced, and they’ve had more time settling into their schemes, so they should be in position to win. Even so, Louisville is new enough on both sides of the ball to make things interesting.
The game also gives Trinidad Chambliss a chance to get comfortable with his new receivers against a solid secondary. On top of that, it will be the first real look at how John David Baker’s new offense functions against a Power Four defense.
Defensively, Ole Miss will also get a good look at its own new pieces. Several transfers are in line to start or rotate in, giving Golding a chance to see what they can bring to the roster right away.
Ole Miss should take this one, but it won’t be a walkover. More importantly, Golding should leave Week 1 with a much clearer picture of his team.
In Other News...
Herbstreit Just Raised The Stakes Around LSU And Ole Miss
Kirk Herbstreits latest praise for Trinidad Chambliss only adds to the sense that Ole Miss may have found another quarterback capable of driving a serious run in 2025. Herbstreit pointed to Chambliss breakout season in Oxford and the way he handled both the passing game and the ground attack, the kind of dual-threat profile that tends to keep defenses off balance and gives a team real staying power over a long fall.
For Ole Miss, the bigger picture is what that kind of quarterback play could mean in the playoff race, especially with expectations already building around a return to the College Football Playoff. Herbstreit also noted the lane connecting Ole Miss and LSU through Lane Kiffin, which keeps the SEC backdrop interesting even when the focus is on one quarterbacks rise and the ripple effects it could have on the teams chasing the same standard. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Fall Camp Is Putting Two Key Position Battles In Focus
Ole Miss has opened its 2026 fall camp, and the first real evaluations are already underway as the staff sorts through a handful of important jobs. For a roster trying to sharpen its depth before the season, the early days of camp are especially revealing, because a few players are getting the kind of reps that can change their standing quickly.
Among the names drawing attention are transfer Horatio Fields Jr., Oregon transfer Blake Purchase and freshman Caleb Cunningham, each of whom has a real chance to carve out a meaningful role if their camp progress continues. Fields and Purchase both arrive with different backgrounds but the same opportunity in front of them, while Cunningham is trying to turn his first camp into something more than just an introduction. For now, the battles remain open, and the biggest question is which of these players can separate himself before the staff has to start making harder choices. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Enters Camp With One Big Question Around Trinidad Chambliss
Trinidad Chambliss comes back for Ole Miss with the kind of recognition that usually brings even more scrutiny, and he is not the only familiar name lining up for 2026. Kewan Lacy also returns, giving the Rebels a backfield anchor as preseason watch lists start to shape the early national conversation and the team moves toward camp looking for a strong reset after offseason turnover.
The bigger issue is how smoothly everything fits around those proven pieces. Ole Miss has a new permanent offensive coordinator in John David Baker, and the staff has spent the portal season rebuilding at receiver after departures to the NFL, so the offense will spend August trying to turn continuity at quarterback and running back into stability everywhere else. For a team with real expectations, the unanswered question is whether the pieces around Chambliss can be put together quickly enough to keep the Rebels moving forward. [Read more 🡒]