Kirk Herbstreit didn’t wait long to make his point about Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.
On College GameDay, the ESPN analyst called Chambliss the best quarterback in the country just hours before the No. 7 Rebels head into Austin for a 7:30 p.m.
ET kickoff on ABC against a No. 19 Texas team trying to save its season.
“Here comes Trinidad Chambliss, who we haven’t even really talked about, and he’s the best quarterback in the country,” Herbstreit said.
The comment fit the way Herbstreit has talked about Chambliss for months. During the preseason, he identified the Ferris State transfer as the next face of college football, and earlier this month on his Nonstop podcast he said, “There’s Trinidad Chambliss, who I would probably take over everybody.”
Chambliss backed up that kind of praise in 2025, throwing for 3,937 yards with 22 touchdowns and three interceptions while leading Ole Miss to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
This season, the Grand Rapids, Michigan, native has stayed on that same track. He has completed 142 of 210 passes for 1,676 yards with 14 touchdowns and four interceptions, and he has added six rushing scores.
Last week, he accounted for four touchdowns in Ole Miss’ 31-3 win over then-No. 13 Missouri, and Rebels coach Pete Golding kept his praise in check afterward.
“He wasn’t perfect either, but I’m glad he’s on our side,” Golding said.
Texas is walking into the matchup under real pressure. The Longhorns have dropped back-to-back 27-24 games to Oklahoma and Florida, and Herbstreit made clear how little room he believes they have left.
“This is Texas backed into a corner after two 3-point losses. Everything’s at stake,” he said.
Two days after the Florida loss, Herbstreit had already sounded the alarm on his Monday show. “To me, their wiggle room is over.”
He also wondered aloud whether Texas coach Steve Sarkisian would consider a change at quarterback if the game turns sour early. “If you get down 7-nothing, 10-nothing, at what point, if it goes that way, if you’re Sark, do you go to KJ Lacey, who’s a very talented, Bryce Young kind of guy?” Herbstreit asked.
Arch Manning has thrown for 1,295 yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions and has been sacked 17 times. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Monday that redshirt freshman KJ Lacey Jr., a former Alabama Mr.
Football from Saraland, would get more first-team reps this week. But Sarkisian stuck with Manning at his weekly press conference.
“Arch can play better for us. He’s our starter. I need to see a better version of Arch Manning,” Sarkisian said.
Ole Miss’ quarterback will also be working behind an offense that has protected him well. Chambliss has taken only five sacks, while Texas will be without edge rusher Colin Simmons and Richard Wesley. That leaves defensive lineman Maraad Watson, who has three, as the only Longhorn with more than one sack.
After this game, Texas still has a long road ahead: Mississippi State comes next, then trips to No. 22 Missouri and No. 18 LSU, followed by home games against Arkansas and a regular-season finale at Texas A&M.
In Other News...
Arch Manning Added One More Twist To Ole Miss Loss
Saturdays loss to Texas already came with the kind of national-stage weight Ole Miss fans know all too well, and ABCs top broadcast crew only added to the spotlight. Holly Rowe was on the sideline for the game, which Texas won to stay unbeaten in her presence, and the postgame scene had a little extra edge because of the attention around the Longhorns all afternoon.
Arch Manning leaned into that bit of theater after the game, joking with Rowe that she ought to cover more Texas games. It was a light moment after a tense matchup, and a reminder of how quickly these broadcasts can turn into their own subplot, especially with the earlier Manning-Rowe-Steve Sarkisian controversy now in the rearview. [Read more 🡒]
Paul Finebaum Just Reopened A Painful Ole Miss Quarterback Debate
The late-game mistakes that decided a pair of recent SEC showdowns have put quarterbacks back at the center of the conversation, and Paul Finebaum made sure the Ole Miss angle stayed in focus. On ESPN, Finebaum criticized both Texas quarterback Arch Manning and Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss for the turnovers and miscues that helped shape those outcomes, including the Rebels rally in their loss to Texas.
For Ole Miss fans, the frustration is less about one bad stretch than the familiar discomfort of a quarterback debate that never seems to go away cleanly. Finebaum also pointed to Tennessee quarterback George MacIntyres late errors in a loss to South Carolina, but Chambliss three interceptions in the close game against Texas are the part Rebels followers will hear most loudly, because it puts the spotlight right back on how much trust the offense can place in him when the game tightens. [Read more 🡒]
Kirk Herbstreit Had The Perfect Reaction To Ole Miss Wild Finish
Ole Miss pulled off a frantic late rally against Texas in Week 8, even if the comeback ultimately fell short. After tying the game, the Rebels had one more surge of drama in them with an onside kick recovery that sent the broadcast booth into the kind of disbelief college football lives for, and Kirk Herbstreit made it clear he was enjoying the moment as much as anyone watching at home.
Herbstreit later shared video of his reaction, saying he was rooting for the sequence itself rather than either team, which fit the chaos of the finish. Hell be back on College GameDay in Week 9 for Minnesota-Indiana in Bloomington, but for one wild stretch on Saturday night, the spotlight belonged to Ole Miss and a finish that had everyone glued to the screen. [Read more 🡒]