Heading into Saturday’s home opener against Charlotte, the assumption was No. 9 Ole Miss would do a lot of things right.
After all, the 49ers are coming off a season-opening, triple overtime loss The Citadel, a FCS school. Ole Miss aspires to play in the College Football Playoff. These are not two equal teams.
And, unsurprisingly, the Rebels did a lot of things right in a 41-9 win that lasted barely three hours. Here’s three of the things Ole Miss did right against Charlotte.
What went for Ole Miss
Better defensive communication
One thing every Ole Miss fan was on the lookout for was how the defensive secondary played. Would there be more coverage busts? Last-second shifts to get into position? That and more showed up in the season-opener against Louisville and if it couldn’t be fixed this week, next week would be very stressful.
The good news is that the communication was better. There were a couple of mistakes that we’ll address in the “what went wrong” version of this article. But the Rebels allowed just 179 passing yards and nabbed an interception. Allowing a 71% completion percentage isn’t great, but Charlotte had just one completion longer than 20 yards.
However, and I’m sure Pete Golding is talking about this in his post game press conference, there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Offense did whatever it wanted for most of the night
One of the first notes in my notebook is the Rebels’ offense was able to do almost whatever it wanted. They scored on all but one first half possession, Kewan Lacy had 82 rushing yards in the first half and two touchdowns. Trinidad Chambliss was 18-for-20 for 155 yards and a touchdown, too.
KEWAN LACY TOUCHDOWN#H6I5MENpic.twitter.com/mh9MRCGSdy
— Sidelines – Ole Miss (@SSN_OleMiss) September 13, 2026
Ole Miss led 27-0 at halftime and the biggest complaint anyone could make about the offense was that it ended the last two drives of the first half with field goals. It was clear the Rebels’ offensive line was able to handle the 49ers’ defensive front. Chambliss didn’t spend a lot of time running away from pass rushers or getting up off the ground, too.
The third quarter saw the entire Ole Miss team stumble until late in the quarter when the Rebels’ offense started driving for another Chambliss passing touchdown.
When there is smoke, there is FIRE 🔥@HoratioFields x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/n16QNBRRDD
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 13, 2026
Again, like most everything in football, the offense wasn’t perfect. But watching the film tomorrow won’t be that bad of an experience for Ole Miss.
Lucas Carneiro lives up to the hype
The All-American shocked a lot of people last week when he missed a 46-yard field goal. He probably shocked the same number of people Saturday night with his 57-yard field goal against Charlotte.
The kick was perfectly down the middle and might’ve had a few extra yards in it.
Nobody ever had any doubt about Carneiro’s ability, but making a 57-yard field goal look easy validates all of the preseason recognition he received.
