The No. 4 Ole Miss Rebels left Gainesville with a mess to sort through after a 52-28 loss to No. 21 Florida, and the biggest problem was impossible to miss: Pete Golding’s defense got pushed around from start to finish.
That part of the story overwhelmed everything else, because Ole Miss actually got enough from Trinidad Chambliss to stay within range for stretches. He finished 25-of-34 for 342 total yards, with three total touchdowns and one interception. He also had an early injury scare, but stayed in the game and kept firing away while the Rebels spent most of the afternoon trying to dig out of a hole.
They never really got the chance to settle in. Florida kept the pressure on, and Ole Miss was playing catch-up almost the entire game.
The loss of Kewan Lacy mattered, too. He sat out with a shoulder injury, and the Rebels felt that absence in the backfield.
JT Lindsey averaged 2.8 yards per carry on 11 touches, while Makhi Frazier ran eight times for 42 yards. Once Florida started pulling away, Ole Miss leaned even harder on the passing game and largely shelved the run.
The bye week now looks like a valuable reset, especially if it gives Lacy time to recover.
There were bright spots through the air. Deuce Alexander kept stuffing the box score, catching seven passes for 134 yards and a touchdown.
Caleb Odom added five receptions for 47 yards. Johntay Cook finished with four catches and Caleb Cunningham had three, but Ole Miss is still waiting for another receiver to become a reliable weekly threat alongside Alexander.
The offensive line at least had some moments where it held up. Chambliss was sacked only once, and the Rebels piled up 128 rushing yards overall. In a game that went sideways quickly, that was one of the few areas that didn’t completely unravel.
The defense, though, was another story entirely. Florida did exactly what it wanted on the ground and Ole Miss had no real answer.
The Gators rolled for 302 rushing yards and produced two 100-yard runners in Jadan Baugh and Duke Clark. The Rebels never found a way to slow the surge, and the front seven was repeatedly pushed back at the point of attack.
The pass rush never arrived either. Ole Miss failed to sack Aaron Philo, and the defensive line spent much of the afternoon getting beat cleanly at the line of scrimmage.
Keaton Thomas led the tackling effort with a season-high 11 total tackles, and Luke Ferrelli added eight, but those numbers didn’t change the bigger picture. The linebackers were part of the problem as Florida kept churning out yards on the ground.
The secondary had its own issues. Joenel Aguero was ejected after a targeting call on Bailey Stockton, and the back end was stressed all game long. Big plays popped up, coverage broke down, and the same old issues surfaced again.
Ole Miss heads into its bye week with a lot more to clean up than it likely expected. Saturday didn’t just end in a loss; it exposed how much work still sits in front of Golding’s defense.
In Other News...
Nick Saban Just Raised The Stakes For Florida Against Ole Miss QB
Nick Sabans latest TV turn landed right in the middle of Ole Miss momentum swing, and it came with a fresh dose of respect for Trinidad Chambliss. After Chambliss helped the Rebels beat LSU, the former Alabama coach praised him on The Pat McAfee Show and called him a top playmaker, a notable endorsement from someone who has spent years sizing up quarterbacks in the SEC.
Saban also made it clear he had learned his lesson after backing LSU before that matchup, saying he regretted picking against Chambliss and would not do it again. With Ole Miss headed toward Florida, the comment only adds a little more intrigue to a game that already carries plenty of attention, because now the Rebels quarterback arrives with a high-profile seal of approval and a fresh target on his back. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Fans Turned College GameDay Into A Lane Kiffin Message
Tennessee fans made their feelings about Lane Kiffin clear on ESPNs College GameDay ahead of their showdown with Texas, turning the pregame spotlight into a reminder of how deep the resentment still runs. Kiffin, now the head coach at LSU, has long been a sore spot in Knoxville because of his brief and contentious stint leading the Volunteers in 2009, and the crowd response underscored that the history never really faded.
The timing only added to the edge, with both SEC programs staring at demanding weeks ahead. LSU has Texas A&M coming up, while Tennessee now has to turn around and host Texas, keeping the focus on the field even as Kiffin once again became part of the conversation around the Vols. [Read more 🡒]
Alabamas SEC Title Position Just Got A Lot More Interesting
Week 4 is starting to reshape the SEC race, and the picture is suddenly a lot less settled than it looked a week ago. ESPN Analytics now has Texas and Georgia as the conferences leading contenders, with Texas at 33 percent and Georgia at 32 percent, but Alabama and Ole Miss are still very much in the mix as the league heads into another round of telling matchups.
For Ole Miss, the spotlight only gets brighter with a trip to Florida on deck, one of several games that could begin to separate the true contenders from the rest of the pack. Texas at Tennessee is another measuring-stick game on the slate, and with Alabama also facing a significant test ahead, the path to Atlanta already feels crowded and fragile in a way that should keep the SEC race interesting for a while longer. [Read more 🡒]