Ole Miss football is back and off to a 1-0 start.
No. 24 Louisville mounted a 14-point fourth quarter comeback, but the No. 9 Rebels managed to hold on for the 41-38 win.
Below is how yours truly reacted at the end of the game and at halftime, in case you missed that earlier.
Second Half Reaction
The biggest reaction after the second half is that the Ole Miss secondary has some serious issues.
Busted coverages and missed tackles led to two more long touchdowns for Louisville, including one that made the score 38-31 with 4:42 left to play in the game. Golding talked about communication issues needing to be fixed earlier this week. Those problems were on full display Sunday night.
That will be something that’ll need to be fixed considering you-know-who is coming to Oxford in two weeks and just put 51 points to open the season.
The miscommunication and missed tackles in the secondary nearly cost the Rebels the game, if not for the offense getting downfield in time for Lucas Carneiro to make a 48-yard field goal to win the game.
But the Rebels’ offense did and the final drive was the culmination of it finding its groove in the second half.
Someone much smarter than this writer could figure out the odds of three, 62-yard touchdown passes but it has to be pretty small. Yet, that’s what happened in what was an exciting third quarter shootout.
Ole Miss needed a pass catcher to step up and Deuce Alexander was the one. He caught two of those long touchdown passes, beating man-to-man coverage each time, and ended with 144 receiving yards on four catches.
A big reason for that was better play by Chambliss and a running attack that didn’t let up when Lacy left with an upper leg injury. Lacy had just six rushing yards in the second half, while Makhai Frazier and JT Lindsey combined for 52 yards on 14carries.
Chambliss ended the game with 336 passing yards, 50 rushing yards and four total touchdowns. Most of that came in the second half, which may be a sign of him needing to get the first-game jitters out of the way.
Good thing, too, because Ole Miss needed him and the offense to be much better. Fortunately for the Rebels, it was.
First Half Reaction
Pete Golding used the word “sloppy” multiple times in his halftime interview to describe Ole Miss in the first half. High snaps. Fumbles. Miscommunication. Penalties. All the mistakes you expect from a team playing its first game against a good opponent. There was even an early injury scare when Kewan Lacy stayed down after a play, though he was fine.
But the important thing is that Ole Miss leads Louisville at halftime, 10-6 after a late Louisville field goal that came after Lucas Carneiro had a rare missed one.
The best thing we’ve seen is the Ole Miss defense.
The Rebels haven’t been perfect. Louisville moved down the field easily on the opening drive and kicked a short field goal. But three of the next four drives ended in punts, and the outlier was a high snap on a Cardinals punt that set Ole Miss up for an easy touchdown.
Isaac Brown has been held in check. He’s had nine carries for just 18 yards, and a few Louisville drives didn’t feature him at all. Keyjuan Brown has been more effective, but most of his 31 yards came on the final drive of the half.
Ole Miss has gotten a good push up front, recording four tackles for loss. They’ve also pressured Lincoln Kienholz consistently even if the box score shows only one sack. He missed a wide‑open receiver on a miscommunication in the Rebels’ secondary that would’ve gone for six.
So Ole Miss fans should feel good about the defensive performance overall.
Offensively, there are concerns — and not in the areas anyone expected.
Lacy has looked great. He had 14 carries for 55 yards and the first Ole Miss touchdown of the season. The offensive line, especially both tackles, has opened running lanes and kept the pocket clean for Trinidad Chambliss. The high snaps early in the first quarter seem to have been corrected.
Everything else has looked shaky.
Chambliss has had good moments, including handling a high snap and running for a first down. But he also had two turnovers and is 9-of-17 for 75 yards. The passing game hasn’t produced much outside. Lacy leads with four catches, Horatio Fields has three, and two others have one. Traylon Ray has the longest reception at 31 yards.
That needs to change in the second half.
