Lucas Carneiro’s 48-yard field goal at the final horn gave Ole Miss a 41-38 win over Louisville.
But the Rebels don’t get that shot without an offensive line that held its ground all night.
Patrick Kutas said having a kicker who can hit from that distance is only part of why the offense felt so calm in the moment.
“It’s pretty nice knowing you have that in your back pocket,” Kutas said. “You’ve got Trinidad, too. You’ve got Kewan, you’ve got Deuce, Caleb Odom, Luke Hasz. Guys that can go make plays. You also have Lucas who can go make a long kick for you if needed.”
That confidence showed up when Ole Miss got the ball back one last time, needing to answer Louisville’s late tying score. Nobody in the huddle panicked.
“Get first downs, eat the clock, get in field-goal range and nail the field goal,” Kutas said. “We just had to operate like we operate, do what we do, and we did that.”
Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss matched that mindset, according to Kutas.
“He’s super calm. It’s kind of scary, honestly,” Kutas said. “He’s so confident in his ability, and we are, too. It’s never, ‘We’re nervous,’ or anything. It’s just, ‘We’re going to go get a first down. There’s nothing you can do about it.'”
How the trenches held up all game
That kind of finish doesn’t happen without the offensive line doing its job for four quarters first. Kutas said the group set out to play physical and reliable football, and he felt it delivered on both fronts.
“I think I played personally pretty good,” Kutas said after Tuesday’s practice. “I went out, played physical, kind of played my brand of football. As a unit, I thought we played really well. We played really physical, and it was just great to see that.”
The offense didn’t find its footing right away. Ole Miss struggled to move the ball in the first half, then scored 31 points after the break.
Kutas picked up the Kent Hull Trophy last year, an award given to the best offensive lineman in the state, and this wasn’t his first time seeing a team push through a slow start.
“Just staying true to ourselves, knowing that the game plan was going to work, just being confident,” Kutas said. “Kind of like last year. Not that it’s last year, but whenever we faced adversity, we always worked through it. It was never like, ‘Oh, we’re screwed.’ It was always, ‘We’re ready for this. We know that what we have works.'”
He credited the turnaround to the whole line executing together rather than any single adjustment.
“If you’ve got 10 dudes doing the right thing and one guy not, then that can lead to a busted play,” Kutas said. “Really, just keep doing what we were doing and execute. The big plays were there.”
Depth answered the call
The line’s night got harder when starting right tackle Tommy Kinsler went down with an injury, forcing sophomore Connor Howes into his first real college action. The two had built enough trust in practice that Kutas wasn’t worried.
“I know how he operates,” he said. “Being his first snaps, I knew he was going to be a little bit nervous, but I just tried to calm him down with elite communication and let him know, ‘We’re going to be on the same level. We’re fine. Just go out there and play. I got your back, you got my back. We’re going to be totally fine.’
“He played great.”
The numbers backed that up. Louisville managed just one pressure on Howes despite 21 chances to get after him in pass protection, and he was on the field for 35 total snaps. Louisville’s pass rush wasn’t an easy assignment either. Edge rusher Clev Lubin ranked near the top of all returning Power Four pass rushers in Pro Football Focus grading heading into the season, and Ole Miss still didn’t give up a sack.
Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said Tuesday that Kinsler’s injury isn’t expected to linger.
“It was a heavyweight fight, so we’re definitely banged up,” Golding said. “The good news is all the X-rays were negative. The MRI on Keaton Thomas’ foot was negative. There are a lot of bumps and bruises. We’re only 48 hours out right now, so a normal Tuesday was more of a jog-through today to try to get some of those guys healthy. The good news is nothing was significant. Nothing is long-term.”
Golding said he expects the banged-up group to be ready when LSU comes to Oxford on Sept. 19.
Looking ahead to Charlotte
Before that showdown arrives, Ole Miss hosts Charlotte at 6:45 p.m. CT Saturday in a first-ever meeting between the two programs.
Charlotte dropped its last outing to The Citadel and now heads into Oxford for a series opener between the two schools. Ole Miss hasn’t lost a home game in 12 tries, a streak that ranks among the longest active runs in the FBS.
Kutas said the bigger game on the horizon doesn’t change how this week gets approached.
“We’ve got a game this week, so you can’t look past anybody, no matter who you’re playing,” Kutas said. “It’s pretty simple for us. We’re playing this week, so that’s who we’re focused on.”
