The version of Ole Miss that got steamrolled by Florida on Saturday looked nothing like the group that took down LSU a week earlier.
That’s the unsettling part for the No. 9 Rebels after a 52-28 loss to the No.
8 Gators in The Swamp. One week they were coming off a 32-24 win over No.
11 LSU and looking every bit like a contender. The next, they were undone by the kind of performance that makes a team look completely out of sync.
And it wasn’t just one bad quarter or one broken stretch. The gap between those two outings was huge enough to make it seem like two different teams had shown up.
Ole Miss is 3-1 through four games, but that record has come with plenty of strain. The Rebels needed a walk-off field goal from Lucas Carneiro to beat Louisville 41-38, and even that game hinted at some of the problems that would keep surfacing later.
Trinidad Chambliss has carried a huge load in all of it. The Ole Miss quarterback has been the engine of the team and is trying to put together a Heisman season. He did his part against Florida, too, piling up more than 300 yards and three total touchdowns.
The issue has been everything behind him.
The Louisville game was the first clear warning sign. At the time, the Cardinals were ranked, and their offense found too much room, scoring 38 points against an Ole Miss defense that struggled in the passing game and had trouble with a mobile quarterback. Louisville’s Lincoln Kienholz, making his first collegiate start after three seasons as a backup at Ohio State, put up 376 total yards and three touchdowns.
There was at least some reason for optimism after that because the Rebels had mostly kept Louisville’s Isaac Brown and Keyjuan Brown in check on the ground. That feeling carried into the Charlotte game, then seemed to hold through the LSU win.
The Magnolia Bowl was Ole Miss at its best offensively and, for stretches, its most convincing overall performance. But even in that 32-24 victory, the defense showed cracks.
LSU erased a 24-7 deficit and tied the game at 24 before Chambliss answered with a go-ahead touchdown and a two-point conversion. A red-zone tipped interception ultimately sealed it for the Rebels.
Florida exposed the bigger problem in the harshest way possible. Ole Miss had no answer for the run, giving up more than 300 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns, with many of those yards coming after contact.
That’s where the criticism will land on head coach Pete Golding, who calls the defensive plays. But the source of the issue goes beyond the sideline if players are in position and still can’t finish the job. That points to a toughness problem.
Tackling will be a major focus during the upcoming bye week. The Rebels have shown enough flashes to suggest real potential, but if they can’t turn that into something consistent, this season can unravel fast.
In Other News...
Mississippi State Has Earned A Ranking Debate Fans Wont Ignore
Mississippi States fast start has turned what looked like a solid opening month into a real ranking conversation. The Bulldogs are 4-0 and already 2-0 in SEC play, with a win over No. 25 Missouri helping push them up to No. 16 in the AP Poll, and sophomore quarterback Kamario Taylor has been one of the biggest reasons for the surge. Taylor has thrown for 1,192 yards and 14 touchdowns, tying for the national lead in passing scores and giving Mississippi State the kind of offensive punch that can make voters take notice.
The debate now is whether the Bulldogs have done enough to climb higher despite the company they still have to keep in the schedule. Teams ahead of them have stumbled, which only sharpens the argument around Mississippi States place in the poll, but the next stretch will say plenty about how serious this start really is. No. 7 Alabama is looming, and LSU is not far behind, leaving the Bulldogs with a chance to turn an early ranking into something much more difficult to dismiss. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Has A Heisman Problem Fans Can't Ignore
The late-September Heisman conversation had a few familiar faces in it, but Ole Miss had its own reason to pay attention. Across the weekend, standout performances from quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers around the country kept the race crowded, with individual game breakthroughs and efficient stat lines nudging certain players into the spotlight as the season starts to settle into its next stretch.
For Rebels fans, the issue is less about the national debate itself and more about what it says about where Ole Miss fits in that race. The review of the weekend's biggest efforts, along with a look ahead to upcoming matchups for some of those players, underscores how quickly the conversation can shift once October football gets rolling. Ole Miss can still make noise, but the path to having a true Heisman contender is starting to feel like a problem fans can't ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Trinidad Chambliss Gives Ole Miss Hope Despite One Ugly Warning Sign
Ole Miss left the loss to Florida with a sharp reminder of how quickly a game can get away from it when the defense cannot slow the run. The Gators piled up more than 300 rushing yards, turning the afternoon into a long one for the Rebels and exposing a problem that will need fixing if this team wants to hold up in SEC play.
Trinidad Chambliss still gave Ole Miss a reason to keep looking forward, though, because the quarterback handled a heavy load and produced one of the better individual outings of the day. He completed 25 of 34 passes for 298 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and added 44 rushing yards with two scores, giving the Rebels a clear offensive centerpiece even in a loss that raised more questions than answers. [Read more 🡒]