No. 9 Ole Miss came out of its bye week looking more like the elite, playoff-caliber team we expected than the one that got ran over by Florida two weeks ago.
The Rebels defeated Vanderbilt 52-17 behind a strong defensive showing and efficient offensive attack.
Afterwards, Ole Miss coach Pete Golding spoke to reporters about the game and discussed everything from the defense’s improvement to a touchdown pass to a defensive lineman. Here’s everything he said.
Pete Golding, Head Coach
On his overall assessment of the win over Vanderbilt…
Golding: I thought it was good to get back out there. Obviously, it’s been two weeks since we had an opportunity to play. I think our guys over the last two weeks have been working extremely hard and put a lot of energy and effort into a lot of things. We put a lot of things on tape that we had to correct and clean up. I thought it wasn’t perfect. I told them coming into it, it’s not going to be perfect. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but I thought there was an emphasis on the effort. I thought there was an emphasis on the defensive side of the ball, leveraging the football, being a little more violent on contact. Wasn’t perfect. Still had some missed tackles, still had some lost leverages, but that’s week in and week out. But to come on the road versus a good football team that takes everybody down to the wire, that’s really well coached — a lot of respect for Clark and how his group plays. I think that’s their first loss here since 2024. It’s hard to go on the road in the SEC and win, especially in this environment with the weather. So I just loved how the kids responded. They bought in, they played extremely hard, played for each other, didn’t get caught up in the scoreboard. Came out in the third quarter, didn’t play perfect, but kept it close and were able to get some other guys some opportunities that worked their butts off throughout the week as well. I think some of those guys came in and took advantage of it, which is really good to see.
On how badly Ole Miss needed a performance like this after the Florida loss…
Golding: I think we’re going to have to have another one next week. That’s this game. I think week in and week out, every week is independent of its own. I know y’all hear me say that, but y’all don’t believe that, right? I mean, you go watch the game last night. I watched Florida State, where they held Virginia to 32 yards rushing last week, and it’s 400 last night. Every week’s independent. You’ve got to show up every week and come to work. When you don’t, man, you’re going to get exposed. So I think sometimes it takes a game like that for guys to really get embarrassed by what we put on tape. But we’ve got to come back and do that consistently, which I was really proud of tonight, of the effort of them focusing on that and trying to do that. But we know we’ve got Missouri coming to town now, right? So it’s not like you take a deep breath. I want them to go and enjoy the heck out of this tonight. They’ve been working their butts off, heard a lot of things over the last two weeks, but guess what? You’re going to hear the same thing next week if you don’t play well, right? Does that make sense? So we’ve got to make sure we keep on focusing and getting better, and I think this group will.
On Kewan Lacy returning to action and his impact on the offense…
Golding: He’s been battling back. I mean, Pat and [unclear] in the training room have done an unbelievable job with him. Really, his first contact was in pregame. We don’t BS the injury piece of it, right? We got him through practice this week, and it was going to be a game-time decision based on how he felt coming out of pregame. He came out and said, “Coach, I’m good. I’m ready to go.” So it gives us a different spark, obviously. When he’s back there, from a defensive standpoint, that’s a different concern. You’ve got one outside, you’ve got Odom, you’ve got a lot of pieces, you’ve got an athletic quarterback. So it’s a different element. I thought the other guys, Makhi came in and ran well. [Unclear] came in and got a big run. I thought other guys are still improving at the position, which they’re going to have to. But I think it was good to see him come in and give us spurts. I think we’re a lot more explosive with him.
On which players stepped up as leaders following the Florida loss…
Golding: I think I saw a lot of guys focus on themselves and making sure they were doing what they were supposed to do in order to be able to say something to somebody else. I think that’s what the bye week allowed us to do, to kind of set the right habits for those guys. Then coming into a game week, they were able to hold some more guys accountable around them. So there’s several of those guys. You’ve got the constants of the Patrick Kutases of the world and all those types of guys that do everything right. But I think we had some guys that were half in, half out as far as being consistent on doing the little things right, and it took getting embarrassed to be able to do it. So I think we had several guys step up and do the right things and also take some people with them.
On the defense forcing multiple turnovers against Vanderbilt…
Golding: It’ll be interesting to go back and see, did we actually force them or did they give them to us? I mean, that’s a part of it. I know we all look at the stat line, but I thought we were able to affect the quarterback a little bit. I thought we played tighter in some coverage. We tipped some balls. I felt like a couple of them were tips. I thought we had more guys taking shots at the ball. The weather might have had something to do with, obviously, the ball control on both sides a little bit. But definitely in college football now, you have really good offenses that are really well designed, right? Complementary plays. If you’re not taking the football away and you’re not good on third down, it’s hard to win. So it was really nice to be able to get some takeaways for our offense and for our defense from a confidence standpoint. Hopefully, we can build on it.
On whether the defense made schematic adjustments or simply executed better…
Golding: There wasn’t one new call that we put in for this game that wasn’t already a part of the system. That’s what I tell you guys all the time. We build a buffet in the offseason, in the summer, right, that we know you’re going to pick from week in and week out. That’s based on who you’re playing and who you’ve got healthy. So it looks different some weeks, right? You carry certain things into the game plan, but it’s always been a part of the system. I think the execution was a little better, and I think we played harder. I think we had some guys win one-on-ones. I think that’s the biggest thing on defense. We’re not always going to have a free guy. Offenses are designed to get a hat on a hat. You’ve got to win your one-on-one, and I thought we had some guys that played physical tonight and won their one-on-ones, which I was happy to see.
On which defensive players responded to the Florida loss over the past two weeks…
Golding: I think there was a different feel on defense from the Keaton Thomases of the world, the Kam Franklins and the Will Echoles, and guys that have always loved football. But the holding other people accountable piece, they’re like, “This is not OK. We’re not going to do it again.” I think from a defensive standpoint, Kite had his best two weeks of practice coming off of Florida. He didn’t play well. I thought he came back, didn’t play perfect, but responded, right? So I think a lot of those guys, there are a lot of examples. We had a lot of examples of how not to do it, so there were more guys that had the opportunity to improve that today. But I think a lot of guys focused. And we focused as a staff, too, just like the players. We focused as a staff on the things that we’ve got to get better, and we’ve got to improve, and we’ve got to give a better shot.
On Jamarious Brown’s touchdown reception…
Golding: Well, JDB and Joe and those guys, and Garrison and all of them, they do a great job. They always have complementary plays with the big boys. They always run them versus us, and we were going to run these in the game. I think the opportunity presented itself. Great design, great execution. That dude was a hell of an athlete in high school, man. Wildcat quarterback, tight end. So he made a heck of a play, man. It was awesome.
On updates on injuries to Andy Jaffe and Edwin Joseph…
Golding: I don’t. I do not.
On Trinidad Chambliss’ performance against Vanderbilt…
Golding: I think probably he’d want a couple balls back, but I thought he played well. That wasn’t a perfect game to play quarterback in. I think they do a lot on defense, too, right, to cause problems. A lot of seven-up, six-up, a lot of different looks, dropping in, dropping out. So that’s a tough game to manage, but I thought he did a good job for the most part taking care of the ball. I think there were about three or four throws that I noticed that were like, “All right, hold on. What’s going on?” Did it slip or whatever? But that was tonight. He played well, and those guys believe in him, and he shows up every week.
On Vanderbilt freshman quarterback Jared Curtis…
Golding: I think that kid’s going to be special, man. Elite arm talent. He’s really big. He’s more athletic than you think. Throws a really good ball. Extended a couple third downs. I think he’s going to be a problem in the future. I think he’s getting more comfortable week in and week out. Obviously, missing last week at that age isn’t helpful. So I think he’s going to be a really good player. We were concerned coming in for both of them because it was so different. It was like a two’s in based on a one’s in, and we saw the one in late, and they started moving the ball a little bit. So he’s going to be a really good player.
