Hoping to rebound after a loss to Georgia, No. 8 Ole Miss traveled to Norman, Okla., on Saturday to take on the No. 13 Sooners. The 34-26 win puts Ole Miss in a prime position for a College Football Playoff berth.
“So proud of our guys,” head coach Lane Kiffin said in his postgame press conference. “I said to them ‘you know, we were up two scores last week at Georgia … and you didn’t finish it off. You got knocked down.’ So that same situation happens today on the road, Top 12 teams, No. 1 defense in the country. Can we be stronger in those situations, especially defensively? So for that to happen (was) really cool.”
First half
The Rebel offense opened the game quickly and gained 47 yards in five plays. They made it down to the Oklahoma 28-yard line before two straight Trinidad Chambliss incompletions stalled the drive. Lucas Carneiro kicked a 45-yard field goal to put the Rebels out ahead 3-0.
Coming off of a hand injury, Oklahoma’s starting quarterback John Mateer settled into the game quickly and led the Sooners to tie the game with a field goal, set up with a beautiful 39-yard completion to Isaiah Sategna III.
It only took three plays before Mateer ran for a first down and took advantage of the Rebels’ lackluster quarterback rush defense. Ole Miss has struggled against the quarterback run the entire season, and today looked no different early on.
Thankfully, the Georgia fourth-quarter version of Chambliss, who only managed one completion, was nowhere to be seen to start the game. He looked more composed amid the noisy crowd and showed off his arm strength with a dazzling throw to Harrison Wallace III down the left sideline for 25 yards.
Running back Kewan Lacy also looked more explosive than his Georgia self. He took a handoff at the Oklahoma 28-yard line and was able to weave between players and bounce it outside for a touchdown. In comparison, he only managed 31 rushing yards the entire game against Georgia.
After an Oklahoma punt, the rainy weather favored the Sooners. On a third-and-four scenario, the wet field caused Chambliss to slip and fall after a bad snap. This forced Ole Miss to punt and, despite the weather, the Oklahoma offense was unaffected and only needed three plays to respond. Mateer threw a 76-yard touchdown completion to Sategna III to tie the game 10-10 to start the second quarter.
A Rebel punt started to swing the momentum in favor of the Sooners; however, it proved a blessing in disguise. A holding and an illegal formation penalty forced the Sooners to start the drive on their own two-yard line. Princewill Umanmielen and Will Echoles tackled Tory Blaylock in his own endzone for a safety.
A 38-yard punt return following the safety started the Rebel offense right about midfield. Chambliss’ legs shined with a combined 31 rushing yards to set the Rebels up in the red zone.
In typical Kiffin trickery, quarterback Austin Simmons came on the field. He floated a ball directly over the head of a wide open Dae’Quan Wright in the back of the endzone, which mirrored Chambliss’ same play against Arkansas.
One missed opportunity later, Carneiro tacked on his second field goal of the day, a 22-yarder to put the Rebels up 15-10.
Umanmielen continued to be a one-man wrecking crew. On fourth-and-two, Oklahoma ran a play action pass play, but Umanmielen was able to sniff out Mateer for a five-yard sack to give the ball back to the Rebels.
Chambliss continued to impress with his performance. After rolling out of the pocket, Chambliss threw a 31-yard, off-platform dime to Cayden Lee and fit the pass between two defenders.
Kiffin continued to be methodical in the red zone and brought in defensive tackles Echoles and Jamarious Brown to block on offense. Lacy took a direct snap and finished the drive with a two-yard rushing touchdown.
The first half brewed several major storylines. Despite the Rebels being up 22-10, Mateer was still extremely efficient for the Sooners. He only threw three incompletions in the half and had over 150 passing yards. The safety and failed fourth down conversion created the gap between the two teams’ offensive outputs.
Oklahoma’s vaunted rush defense had no answer for the Rebel rushing attack. This season the Sooners had only given up two rushing touchdowns and 80.4 yards per game. Lacy and Chambliss combined for 98 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the first half alone.
Second half
Oklahoma tried to expose the Rebel’s quarterback rush defense to start the half with two straight rushing attempts by Mateer. He netted zero total yards and threw a deep incompletion to force a three-and-out.
The Sooners defense came out ferociously and pressured Chambliss on first down and batted down his pass attempt on second down. A diving catch by Lee put the Rebels about half a yard from the first down.
Again, from the Rebels own 25-yard line Kiffin showed off his backyard football scheming and brought out both Simmons and Chambliss on a fourth down attempt. However, a poor direct snap to Lacy turned the ball over and gave the Sooners prime field position.
The defense made up for the offensive mistakes with a sack and a penalty to hold the Sooners to negative yards. Tate Sandell kicked a field goal to bring the Sooners within nine.
The sun finally broke through the gray weather, yet the brightest lights shining in Norman, Okla. were Chambliss and the Rebel offense. Winnie Watkins caught two passes for 28 yards, but the wet field conditions caused him to slip both times.
Carneiro booted his third field goal of the day to put the Rebels up 25-13 after the offense was thwarted in the red zone. Ole Miss’ 25 points were already the most points Oklahoma gave up in a game all season.
The Sooners did not go down without a fight. On the next play, Xavier Robinson scampered to the endzone for a 65-yard touchdown run to close the gap to five again.
The inability to put opponents away has been a growing trend with the Rebels. Against Georgia, the Bulldogs were able to keep hanging on in the game until the momentum shifted their way.
Following the rushing touchdown, the previously quiet Sooner crowd roared to life, much like Georgia in the fourth quarter last weekend.
With 83,000 Sooner faithful rallying behind their team, the newly-inspired Oklahoma defense immediately forced a three-and-out from Chambliss and company.
Oklahoma took their first lead of the day with a nine-yard touchdown run by Robinson. Robinson’s two touchdowns and 87 rushing yards added on to his season totals of only 108 rushing yards and one touchdown. A failed two-point conversion put the Sooners up 26-25 entering the fourth quarter.
A poor would-be touchdown overthrow to a wide open Luke Hasz led the Rebels to face a fourth down. Chambliss was cool, calm and collected while facing heavy pressure right in his face and threw a first down pass to Wright.
A Watkins 40-yard reception gave the Rebels a prime opportunity to retake the lead. A Chambliss scramble gave the Rebels a first-and-goal opportunity. Facing heavy blitz pressure, Chambliss found Trace Bruckler for an eight-yard touchdown pass. A Simmons incompletion on the two-point attempt kept the Rebel lead at 31-26.
Somehow, another Rebel punt turned into good fortune. An electric 23-yard punt return by Oklahoma’s Sategna III was nullified when Bruckler forced a fumble at the end of his return that was recovered by the Rebels at midfield.
Chambliss wasted no time continuing the momentum with the Rebel offense and fired a deep strike to Watkins for 43 yards. Despite the big play, Carneiro kicked his fourth field goal of the day to put the Rebels up eight.
The Sooners drove down to the Ole Miss 30-yard line, but two consecutive incompletions on the third and fourth downs turned the ball over to the Rebels. After three straight rush attempts, Ole Miss punted the ball back to the Sooners with one minute left on the clock.
This put Oklahoma in a scenario where they needed to drive 83 yards in one minute with no timeouts left. A 21-yard pass to Robinson and an overturned fumble call kept the Sooners’ hopes alive. A last-second hail mary attempt was broken by Wydett Williams Jr.
The Rebels survived the game and won 34-26 in a back-and-forth battle.
“(I’m) very happy that we got the win,” Chambliss said in his postgame press conference. “Last week we were very disappointed that we couldn’t get the win. I’m just proud of our defense, really. They stepped up, made some huge stops that we needed.”
What’s next?
The Rebels will be back home to take on South Carolina on Nov. 1 at 6 p.m.
