It wasn’t the prettiest season-opening win, but a win’s a win for No. 9 Ole Miss.
The Rebels watched No. 24 Louisville mount a 14-point comeback in the fourth quarter before Trinidad Chambliss led the offense quickly into field goal range and Lucas Carneiro nailed a 48-yard walk off field goal to win 41-38.
Afterwards, first-year coach Pete Golding spoke to reporters about the game and provided a crucial injury update for the host of Rebels who missed game time with an injury or ailment.
Here’s everything Golding said in his postgame press conference.
Pete Golding, Head Coach
On his overall thoughts on the win over Louisville…
Wow, what an unbelievable atmosphere. I think that’s really good for college football — opening at a neutral site with two Top 25 opponents. We kind of talked about it all week with our team that this was going to be like a playoff game. Obviously, Louisville is really well coached, has really good players and had beaten the last team that beat us in the semifinals, so they definitely weren’t overlooked coming in. In today’s day and age of college football, you assemble a really good football team on paper, then you go through scrimmages and fall camp, and then you get these opportunities to play and really figure out what you have. Coming out of it, I think we have a resilient group that was far from perfect in all three phases. It was kind of a tale of two halves on both sides of the football. I thought we came out pretty slow offensively, which I thought could be an issue. You have a new coordinator and a lot of new players doing it for the first time against a good football team, but I was really proud of how they came in at halftime and made really good adjustments. I thought the players responded really well. I thought JDB did an excellent job in the second half and was able to get us to a two-possession lead in the fourth quarter. On the flip side, defensively, I thought we played a pretty decent first half and limited the explosives. Field position wasn’t in our favor in the first half, and those last two minutes were kind of a six-point swing. We missed the field goal, then let them go down and get three before halftime. We came out in the second half and I just didn’t think we responded defensively the right way. There were a lot of mistakes, missed tackles and communication errors that led to explosive plays. That was the best thing for me about playing a really good football team in Week 1. When you make mistakes, they’re going to take advantage of them. Louisville is going to watch that tape, too, and they left some out there as well. They could have hit a couple more that they didn’t. It’s a good barometer to know we have a resilient group and we’re talented enough. I thought some guys came in because of injuries and played really well when they had their opportunities. That’s a great example for those guys who have been twos and some who have been threes that your preparation matters just as much as the starter’s because you don’t know when your time is going to come. Connor Howes came in. Tah’j Butler came in for Keaton Thomas. Kite went out early, so we had some guys come in and play meaningful snaps. My message to the team was that our goal is to go 1-0. It was a Top 25 matchup at a neutral site, and all of that sounds good. It’s good to get out of here with a win, but if we don’t go into this tape with an open mind and learn from the mistakes, then it’s going to take a loss to do it. That’s really important. We have to go through this tape and get these things corrected before Week 2.
On Kewan Lacy’s injury status…
We’ll get in there with the medical staff. I don’t think it’s anything serious, but they didn’t feel like putting him back in the game was the right decision at that point.
On whether the upcoming LSU game was a distraction against Louisville…
I could be naive, I guess, but I don’t think it had anything to do with the game. Our kids worked their tails off this summer and worked their butts off in fall camp. We were not overlooking Louisville at all. It wasn’t like there were days we were using to prepare for other people. We knew we had a lot on our hands and were going to have to play our best football to win the game. I don’t think our kids think like that. Hopefully, from Paul in the weight room all the way from the top down, from the chancellor to Keith, they understand we get 12 opportunities at this. We get 12. It’s 365 days, 24/7 for 12 opportunities. If you’re overlooking an opportunity to go compete at a neutral site against a Top 25 team, you shouldn’t be playing this game. I don’t think it had anything to do with it. At the end of the day, we didn’t take really good angles at times. We didn’t set leverage at times. We had coverage busts. When you’re up two possessions in the fourth quarter and have an opportunity to put them away on third down and you don’t, then you’re going to walk the kicker out there late and see if you can win or not. I like that the bar is where it is right now because that’s a real football team and they’re going to have a really good season, but we have to clean these things up. If anybody was looking ahead, I think this will show them real quick that you better not the next time. I don’t think it’s any different now for anybody. The team we’re playing next week lost to The Citadel in overtime and paid them to come play. A lot of guys are reading the press clippings and all that, but I didn’t feel that coming into this game. I really didn’t. Now, as a coach, did I know how good we were going to be? No. I knew we were talented, but as far as the execution and consistency, that hasn’t been consistent in the scrimmages. That’s something we’ve been hitting on and have to continue to improve. Right now, there are too many highs and lows. There are flashes where that’s an elite football team, and there are flashes where that’s a bad football team. We have to get those off the tape, and that’s our job. That’s coaching.
On Trinidad Chambliss’ performance, especially in the second half…
I don’t know how many times he has to do it. That’s just who he is. The kid has unbelievable competitive character. I think he could have made a lot of excuses in the first half and at halftime. We have a new OC, we have new players and all these things, and the first half didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but he didn’t. He took ownership and came out, and I think five of our first eight drives in the second half were scoring drives. He put us into a position where we were in control of the game. I’m really proud of how he competed. I think he probably wants a couple of those throws back. Obviously, they converted fourth down and then we fumbled. We have to take care of the football. That’s something Louisville has shown over the years. They have streaks where they win the turnover battle. In the first half, we didn’t, and in the second half we did, but it definitely wasn’t because we were knocking the ball off guys on defense, I know that.
On the defensive breakdowns and playing several new defensive backs…
I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. What I wasn’t going to do going into the game, because I know in these big games you have to be able to be multiple on defense, was go very vanilla early and let them have a crutch. I wasn’t going to do that because that’s not who we’re going to be, and that’s not what it takes to win in this league and compete for championships. There were some things from a coaching standpoint that we’ll have to clean up and understand who is in the game. They’ve shown us now whether they have the ability to do certain things or not, and we’ll obviously have to clean that up. You’re never really going to know until you get into it because at practice it doesn’t seem like it goes that fast. The drives aren’t as long and all those things. You try to simulate it, but it’s just different. Then we got a couple of guys banged up in the back end. Sharif Denson didn’t play in this game after starting all camp and having a really big camp. Kite went out early. When you start plugging some of those other guys in there, I should have done a better job in the second half with them, to be honest with you, and not put too much on them, which I probably did.
On how correctable the defensive mistakes are…
From a communication standpoint, they’re all correctable. Some of them are what we call LOVs — lack of violence — bad angles and not wanting to finish with effort. That’s a decision you have to make. Those are the ones we can’t put on tape and can’t allow to be on tape. We have guys behind them that we have to push as well and make sure we eliminate those things. The communication component, obviously, we can fix and we will. But we have to do a really good job on our Tuesdays when we go live tackling. You don’t get a ton of those opportunities. You create takeaway circuits, tackling circuits and all that, but I think there’s a lot to learn from this tape.
On having Lucas Carneiro in a close game…
You tell me. It won the game. The best thing about the kid was him walking off the field. He said, “Coach, I told you I got you,” because he felt so bad when he missed the earlier one. That’s all I told him. I said, “Look, man, that was the mulligan. I shanked my driver, too. We’re going to need you at the end of this.” We have all the confidence in him. The kid has a great demeanor and is super hard on himself. He’s an elite player, but he’s an elite kid, too.
On getting away from the off-field noise and finally playing football…
It kind of felt like a therapy session, to be honest with you. It didn’t go very well for half of it, but it was awesome. I think that’s what it’s all about. I was talking to Fish this morning, and he said if you can’t get to where you’re enjoying these opportunities — playing against really good football teams at a neutral site — then why do you do it? That was the message to the players. Y’all invest so much. If you don’t go out and compete your butt off and be excited to play with your teammates and your brothers, then why do you do it? I think it was really good for everybody to be away from their phones, away from everything else and go man-on-man. That was a heavyweight fight. That was a good football team, and we got punched in the mouth a lot. We didn’t always respond the right way. That was the one thing we talked about all week: You’re going to get punched in the face. It’s going to happen in this game. Are you going to pick yourself up or not? I think we had a lot of guys who did, and then I think with some other guys, we have to get a little tougher. That starts with me.
On the injuries to Keaton Thomas, Kam Franklin and others…
They’ll all be back. It was some soft-tissue stuff. Keaton’s was an ankle deal, and the X-rays were negative on all those guys. He went to the tent and was going to try to push through it late, but that’s the thing I’ve talked about between Keaton, Luke and Tah’j Butler. There’s not a huge difference between those three. Tah’j came in and was playing well, so it wasn’t one where Keaton needed to go back in. Kam just got stepped on and got cleated.
On the play of Ole Miss’ offensive tackles…
I haven’t watched it closely enough, to be honest with you. I never felt like they were an issue. Obviously, going into the game, there were some protection things where we were going to chip, help and move the pocket a little bit like everybody would when you have two new starters at tackle. But to the naked eye out there, it didn’t feel like that was a major concern. We’ll definitely evaluate the tape.
On whether the offense’s second-half improvement resembled what he saw during camp…
I think you see it. There are times where we can be explosive in the run game and the passing game. That offense kind of lives or dies on explosive plays, and we have explosive athletes, but we have to take care of the football. Our motto this camp has been that every possession has to end with a kick, and that didn’t happen tonight. When you play really good football teams, that’s going to get you. I think all those guys on offense, JDB and Joe, did a really good job. I think Garrison has done a really good job with the front. I think the backs were ready to play. Three backs played significant snaps, so Frank has done a great job with them. They had a really good second half, and we needed them to.
On Deuce Alexander’s impact…
I think he’s an elite player. The last guy I was on a team with who he reminds me of was Jamo Williams at Alabama. I think he has elite top-end speed and really good acceleration, and when he sticks his foot in the ground, he can go score. I think more guys are going to know where No. 1 is, and I think that’s going to cause some people problems with box counts. That’s going to open up some other things in the run game and all those things. I think he’ll continue to build on that. He’s a really good player.
On the biggest difference for the offense as the game progressed…
I think we were obviously a little more explosive in the passing game. We got some different matchups as well, and I think that was key. We caught them in some man, and Deuce took advantage of it. But taking care of the football was the biggest thing. We kind of kicked ourselves in the foot. Even on that second drive of the game, we’re going and then we have the bad snap. Now you’re playing from behind the chains. Then we’re driving, convert the fourth down and fumble. We just never stacked possessions. In the second half, we got to where we started stacking possessions, so it was the consistency of it. But taking care of the football more than anything is what it looked like to me.
On watching LSU’s season opener…
I watched. We had it on during the team dinner after chapel, so I watched probably two quarters of it. I thought it was a good football game. I thought they played really well on defense. I thought they had some really good players up front, so I think they are what everybody thought they were going to be on paper.
