Trinidad Chambliss didn’t hide how he felt about another nail‑biter.
“Honestly, I hate these games,” the Rebels’ quarterback said after Sunday night’s game. “I don’t know why we do this every time. We like close, one-score games, but we got the win. That’s all that matters. I’m happy that we’re 1-0.”
Ole Miss has lived in these moments for a while now. The final two games of last season came down to the final possession, and Sunday night’s 41-38 win over Louisville followed the same script.
If Chambliss hates these games, he still seems built for them.
The Rebels got the ball with just over a minute left, needing to move far enough to give Lucas Carneiro a chance to redeem himself after an earlier miss. What followed wasn’t a dramatic reinvention of the offense. It was calm, steady football from a group that has been here before.
The first throw went to Deuce Alexander for 15 yards, a simple play that settled everyone down. Chambliss missed on the next one, scrambled on the one after that, and then found Caleb Odom over the middle for the biggest gain of the drive.
“I had a boundary read first,” Chambliss said explaining the 18-yard completion to Odom. “It was a low-high-low with an arrow and then a corner. I felt like it was foggy to the boundary, and then I progressed to Caleb. He was my third read, honestly.”
That’s the part that defined the drive. No panic. No rush. Just progression, patience and trust.
Alexander said Chambliss is always like that.
“He’s great. He’s cool, calm and collected,” Alexander, who had a pair of touchdown catches himself, said. “He’s not too hyper, he’s not scared and his eyes don’t get too big. He just lets the game come to him.”
Alexander had his own message before the drive started.
“I was just telling all the guys, ‘Man, this is where legends are made.’ Just go out there, don’t do anything extraordinary, don’t try to be a hero and let the game come to you,” he said. “Just do what you’ve been preparing to do, and the game will be fine. We’ll be just fine.”
And that’s exactly how Ole Miss played it. A spike to stop the clock. A keeper to get a little closer. A timeout. A run to set up Carneiro. Nothing flashy. Nothing reckless. Just enough.
Chambliss never doubted Carneiro’s ability to win the game, either.
“I didn’t have a doubt,” he said in the post-game press conference. “It felt like we were back in the Sugar Bowl again, going toe-to-toe with Georgia. Like I said, I don’t know why we do it, but we like to win this way. It’s annoying, but it is what it is. We got the win.”
LUCAS CARNEIRO 🤯 @lcarneiro99 x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/oNP3A3ROqL
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 7, 2026
Alexander watched from the sideline, confident but anxious.
“I was just on the sideline praying, honestly. I knew he would be able to handle adversity, and for him to go out there after the missed field goal and put the game away was very encouraging for me to see. It makes us able to trust him even more.”
Golding didn’t hesitate when asked about Carneiro’s role in the win.
“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,” Golding recalled after the game. “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.”
That’s the mindset that carried Ole Miss through the final minute. A quarterback who hates close games but thrives in them. A receiver reminding everyone to stay within themselves. A kicker who shook off a miss and drilled the one that mattered. A team that didn’t flinch.
It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t smooth. But it was composed. And for Ole Miss, that was enough to start the season 1-0.
