Ole Miss fans may finally be breathing again. The Rebels’ magical season continued Thursday night, as they came from behind to knock off Georgia in a Sugar Bowl thriller. However, it took some magic from quarterback Trinidad Chambliss for that to happen.
Now, let’s look back at how they managed to pull off the upset, and what comes next for Ole Miss.
Trinidad Chambliss Leads Ole Miss to CFP Semifinals
Chambliss’ Sugar Bowl Performance
The entire Ole Miss team deserves credit for the Sugar Bowl win over Georgia. The defense played reasonably well. Apart from a first-half fumble that resulted in a Bulldog touchdown, Kewan Lacy ran the ball well. Both the defensive and offensive lines played well, for the most part. However, Chambliss was the star of the show on Thursday night. The Rebels quarterback completed 30 of his 46 passes for 362 yards and two touchdowns.
While the numbers themselves were great given the stage, a few of the plays he kept alive with his feet are what ultimately kept the Ole Miss season alive. On three consecutive snaps to open the fourth quarter, he was flushed out of the pocket. On the first two, he found Lacy for completions of four and eight yards, respectively. The latter also had to have Lacy stay on his feet following a massive hit to reach the first down marker. The third was a 44-yard completion to Tre Wallace. In simple terms, it looked like backyard football at its finest.
On top of those, the game-changing play came on the Rebels’ final drive. On a critical third down, Chambliss found De’Zhaun Stribling over the top for a 40-yard gain. That put them in field goal range, leading to Lucas Carneiro’s game-winner.
For Chambliss, he’s a year removed from leading Division II Ferris State to a national championship. Now he’s two wins away from doing the same thing for Ole Miss. If there’s a better storyline in college football, it may be hard to find.
Pete Golding Starts Ole Miss Career 2-0
Another big storyline from this one is the start that Pete Golding has had to his Ole Miss coaching career. We all know the circus that surrounded the program following Lane Kiffin’s departure, leading to Golding’s hire. With that move came plenty of questions and hesitation about the type of success Golding would manage to have at the helm. Through his first two games, he’s silenced some of those doubts.
The biggest question moving forward will be how he manages the offensive side of the ball once offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr moves on to LSU. There’s optimism that the defense will continue to have success, but the hesitation will still exist with the offense. The good news is that Golding managed to bring in East Carolina offensive coordinator John David Baker to take over the play calling starting next season. With that, the belief is clearly that Golding will let Baker and assistant Joe Judge handle just about all offensive decisions, while he continues to largely focus solely on the defensive side of things.
But that’s the future. As for the present, Golding and the Rebels have at least one more game with the current coaching staff.
What’s Next for Ole Miss
For the Rebels, next up comes the College Football Playoff semifinals. Following Miami’s upset over Ohio State on Wednesday night, Ole Miss now takes on the Hurricanes in the Fiesta Bowl.
From a matchup standpoint, it could easily resemble what they faced against Georgia. The Miami offense may not put up a huge number of points, but it operates in an extremely efficient manner. And the Hurricanes’ defense is one of the best in the country. Needless to say, Chambliss and company are going to need to find a bit more magic if they plan on advancing to the National Championship Game.
But for now, they’ll likely spend at least a few hours celebrating what is arguably the biggest win in Ole Miss history.
Main Image: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
