Ole Miss left Nashville with another win over Vanderbilt, and the Rebels didn’t need one star to carry the day. Seven touchdowns came from seven different players, the kind of spread-out production that says plenty about how many ways this team could beat you on a given night.
The scoreboard swings started early, and so did the little surprises. The opening drives again brought a quick three-and-out feel, a familiar issue after what the Florida game revealed.
Against Florida, with no Kewan Lacy, Ole Miss ran the ball three straight times. Against Vanderbilt, with Lacy back in the mix, the Rebels threw it three straight times in the rain.
There’s probably a reason the game is being scripted by the staff and not by the outside observer, but the first-series wrinkle was still there.
From there, though, Ole Miss settled in and took control. Trinidad Chambliss got the Rebels on the board with a 10-yard touchdown run after the original lane wasn’t there.
It was just the kind of play he keeps turning into points. Chambliss has now scored a touchdown in 18 straight games, and he’s five away from passing Chad Kelly’s school record of 22.
He also kept the offense moving on a night when finishing drives mattered. Ole Miss went 20-for-20 in red-zone scoring chances, and Chambliss finished with at least 20 completions for the 11th straight game.
Another touchdown came on a pass from Chambliss to Jam Brown, and that one brought a little extra flair. The throw was right where it needed to be, and Brown made the play look easy, going up for it with soft hands before capping it off with the “Sexy Dexy” celebration with Will Echoles. It was Brown’s first offensive touchdown, and the first offensive TD by a primarily defensive player since JJ Pegues in 2024.
The defense added its own highlight before halftime. Suntarine Perkins forced the issue by helping create a turnover, and then he did the rest himself with a scoop and score - the first defensive touchdown of his career.
The sequence started with Blake Purchase punching the ball out from Jared Curtis. Purchase kept making noise after that, too, finishing with two sacks and three tackles for loss for 13 yards.
Perkins’ score wasn’t just a momentum play; it was part of a big statistical night for him as well. He recorded his 20th career sack in the first quarter, and he’s now 2.5 sacks behind Sam Williams for second-most in school history.
Ole Miss also got a burst from a younger back. On his first carry of the 2026 season, Shekai Mills-Knight hit the hole for 35 yards and his first career touchdown.
The run gave another glimpse of why the Rebels are excited about him, even with an All-American ahead of him on the depth chart. If Kewan Lacy needs a breather, runs like that could help earn Mills-Knight more work.
Makhi Frazier’s night won’t jump off the page, but it mattered. He ran for 73 yards on 13 carries, a 5.6 yards-per-carry average, and scored as well.
That kind of production let the Rebels ease up on Lacy and avoid pushing him any further. Not every useful performance becomes the headline, but this one had plenty of value.
There were other numbers worth noting from the win. Ole Miss scored seven touchdowns in the game, with each one coming from a different player. The Rebels also allowed just 103 rushing yards, their fewest on the road since LSU ran for 84 yards on 10/12/2024.
In Other News...
Missouri Brings A Dangerous Twist To This Huge Oxford Test
A big October test is waiting in Oxford, and Missouri is arriving with plenty of confidence after stacking wins over Florida and Texas A&M. The Tigers are ranked 13th nationally, and they have started to look like the sort of complete team that can punish any mistake, which makes this matchup a particularly important one for Ole Miss as it continues to chase momentum in a crowded SEC race.
What gives the game an extra layer is the familiar face factor, with former Rebels Austin Simmons and Cayden Lee now helping drive Missouris success. The Tigers also just showed how disruptive they can be defensively by slowing Floridas Jadan Baugh, who had previously been a problem for Ole Miss, so the Rebels will have to sort through both the emotional edge and the tactical challenge if they want to protect home field. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Defense Just Revived A Question That Will Define November
A week after the Florida loss raised real concerns about where Ole Miss defense stood, Pete Goldings unit responded the way a playoff hopeful needs to in October. The Rebels rolled past Vanderbilt 52-17, and the most encouraging part for Ole Miss wasnt just the margin. It was the defense settling back in, giving up only 17 points and doing a much better job against the run, which had been a sore spot in the previous outing.
That kind of bounce-back matters now because the schedule is about to get a lot more demanding. Ole Miss is heading into ranked conference games with November looming, and the defenses ability to hold up against better offenses may end up shaping whether this team stays in the College Football Playoff conversation. For Golding, the Vanderbilt showing was a useful reset, but the real test is still ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Took Another Shot At Ole Miss Territory
Lane Kiffin spent part of a recent press session talking about one of the more intriguing subplots on Ole Misss upcoming SEC calendar: Austin Simmons, the former Rebels quarterback who is now at Missouri. Simmons was with Ole Miss from 2023 to 2025 before moving on, and Kiffin, now at LSU, praised his former signal-callers upside while helping shine a little extra light on the transfer portal era that has turned these matchups into something more personal.
What made the exchange interesting was the way Kiffin threaded his comments through the always-messy college football rules conversation, even as he assessed Simmons as a player with NFL-level potential. The timing only adds to the intrigue, since Simmons is set to be on the other sideline in Oxford on Saturday, giving Ole Miss another chance to see a familiar name in an unfamiliar place. [Read more 🡒]