Ole Miss Football opened its season with a 41-38 win against the Louisville Cardinals in the Liberty Mutual Music City Kickoff in Nissan Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 6. Kicker Lucas Carneiro delivered the game-winning kick in the dying seconds of the game.
First half
The Rebels received the ball to begin their season. After a solid pickup on the first play, center Brycen Sanders made a poor snap, forcing Ole Miss into a 3rd and 22. Ole Miss quickly went three-and-out.
The new Rebel defensive front could not stop Louisville on their first possession. Defensive end Kam Franklin came up with a tackle for loss to make it 2nd and 14 in the red zone. The Rebels improved late in the drive and held the Cardinals to a field goal.
Sanders’ poor snap on the second play of the game put Ole Miss in a risky position and allowed Louisville to get the ball back around midfield. The defense was clearly settling into the game early on but did a good job of bending, not breaking on their first attempt.
Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss saved another high snap to begin Ole Miss’ second drive and ran for 11 yards to get the Rebels’ first first down of the evening. Through about six Ole Miss offensive plays, Chambliss had yet to look at one of his receivers.
Running back Kewan Lacy was injured after a tough physical run up the middle. Backup running back Makhi Frazier came in for a snap before Lacy returned, though Lacy did not play in the fourth quarter.
On 4th and two Chambliss rushed for the first down but fumbled, giving Louisville the ball right around where they first received it on its first drive.
To begin the drive, Louisville was handed a questionable pass interference call. Fortunately, the Rebels were able to force a punt. Cornerback Jaylon Braxton nearly had an interception but could not come up with it.
Chambliss threw three consecutive screen passes for the first down. His first pass beyond the line of scrimmage went well wide of intended target Horatio Fields. Then, he found receiver Traylon Ray down field for a 31-yard pickup.
The first half ended with Louisville up 3-0. The Rebels opted to kick a field goal to tie it at three to open the second. New Ole Miss offensive coordinator John David Baker was very conservative in his first half back with the Rebels.
Louisville had a wide open receiver for a walk-in touchdown but the quarterback missed it. Safety Ladarian Clardy missed his assignment, nearly leading to a 10-3 Cardinal lead.
Franklin and the Rebel defense forced another punt. They put good pressure on the quarterback but had certainly got lucky on that drive.
Louisville botched the snap on the punt and gave the ball to Ole Miss at the 12-yard line. Four straight Lacy runs gave the Rebels their first touchdown of the season and a 10-3 lead.
Defensive end Blake Purchase and linebacker Suntarine Perkins combined for a sack on 3rd and long, forcing another punt.
Chambliss then threw an interception on 3rd and nine. The Cardinals got the ball at its own 44-yard line. Once again, the defense stood tall and forced another punt.
Ole Miss put together a good drive on their next possession. They were able to get three first downs quickly. Chambliss began to stretch the field a little more but not to the extent fans saw last year.
On 4th and one, head coach Pete Golding sent out the jumbo package, which included defensive tackle Will Echoles, and Lacy was just able to get the first down. The Rebels had two minutes and 43 seconds to find the end zone and make it a 17-3 game.
Syracuse transfer wide receiver Johntay Cook had a chance to do just that but could not come up with a contested catch in the end zone. Carneiro came out for a field goal and missed. The Cardinals got the ball back with over a minute and a half to play in the second quarter.
Louisville was knocking on the door of the end zone after running back Keyjuan Brown broke through for a 16-yard carry. Perkins put pressure on the quarterback and got Ole Miss to 4th and six. The Cardinals kicked a 46-yard field goal to make it 10-6.
Ole Miss out-gained Louisville 148 to 83 in the first half. Lacy and the offense looked slow and inefficient. The receivers hardly factored into the game. Horatio Fields led the receivers with three catches for 14 yards, but Lacy led the team in receptions with four for 19 yards.
Lacy’s 55 rushing yards and 14 carries pushed Ole Miss to the lead. The mojo that made 2025 Rebel football so fun was simply not there through 30 minutes on Sunday night.
Second half
Louisville began the second half with a 27-yard completion to enter Ole Miss territory. The Cardinal run game was more successful early in the third as well. A missed tackle allowed Louisville to take a 13-10 lead.
Ole Miss had its first truly explosive play with a Chambliss dart to receiver Deuce Alexander who turned on the jets for the touchdown, 17-13. The Rebel defense was able to give the offense the ball back. Right tackle Tommy Kinsler IV was injured on the first play of the drive. Connor Howes replaced him.
A late hit on Chambliss gave the Rebels a fresh set of downs, but they could not do anything with it and punted.
Louisville quarterback Lincoln Kienholz broke out for a huge 41-yard run. The Rebels held the Cardinals to 4th and three. Cardinal head coach Jeff Brohm elected for the field goal, 17-16.
Left guard Delano Townsend was penalized for holding on the first play of the next drive, leading to a 1st and 20. Chambliss connected with Fields to make it 3rd and one. Chambliss threw a beautiful pass to Alexander for a 62-yard touchdown, 24-16.
The Rebel pass game finally seemed to make an appearance in the third quarter. On the other side of the ball, the defense was lacking in the second half to this point.
The Cardinals responded with a blown coverage 62-yard touchdown. They went for two and scored to tie it, 24-24.
Chambliss made it three-straight touchdowns drives with a 35-yard pass to tight end Caleb Odom. Running back JT Lindsey, who was in for an injured Lacy, and Chambliss ran the ball efficiently to get the Rebels in scoring position.
At this point, the offense had four drives in the second half, three ended in touchdowns in under three minutes. Now, it was the defense’s turn to make an adjustment and step up.
The Cardinals helped the Rebel defense with a couple penalties. Franklin came up with a sack on 3rd and long to force a punt. Chambliss and Ole Miss got the ball near the 50-yard line.
A nifty pass to tight end Luke Hasz put Ole Miss up the field, but a face mask penalty on the next play made it 1st and 25. Miscommunication between Chambliss and Hasz ended the drive. Carneiro came out for a 57-yard field goal attempt and it came up short. A Cardinal defender hit Carneiro on the follow through, giving Ole Miss 15 yards and an automatic first down.
A 13-yard completion to Odom put the Rebels in the redzone. With Lacy still out, Frazier was in on this drive. Chambliss scored on a quarterback carry, 38-24.
A sequence of missed tackles gave the Cardinals another touchdown, 38-31. The secondary was abysmal all night, especially in the second half. Had they just been a little better, Ole Miss could have won by 10 or more points.
The Rebel offense could not do anything on its next drive and had to punt it away. Louisville got the ball back at the 31-yard line with just over three minutes left and no timeouts. They began the drive with a 25-yard, poorly defended play.
They got another first down after yet another missed tackle. Rebel bodies were flying all over the place but were having no success. Kienholz found another wide open receiver down the field to get in the red zone.
Louisville scored a touchdown with less than a minute and a half to go. They elected to kick the field goal. A penalty on Ole Miss would have put the ball closer to the goal line and the Cardinals could have taken the lead. Instead, it was 38-38. Ole Miss had all three timeouts left.
Chambliss began the drive with a strike to Alexander for a first down. Chambliss scrambled for four yards to set up a very important 3rd and six. Odom caught a pass for the first down and got to the Louisville 38.
With three seconds left, Ole Miss took its final timeout of the game. Carneiro, who had already missed a field goal earlier, came out for the game-winning, 48-yard field goal attempt and made it to win the game.
What’s next?
Head coach Pete Golding will look to tighten things up and play a more complete game against the Charlotte 49ers at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 6:45 p.m.
