By Billy Watkins
More people than ever before — most likely tens of millions — watched Ole Miss play a football game Thursday night.
They saw a classic: No. 6 Ole Miss 39, No. 3 Georgia 34 in a College Football Playoffs quarterfinal meeting in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
Makes you wonder how many folks in living rooms and sports bars, in big cities and little towns across the country became Ole Miss fans last night.
Also makes you wonder how many folks were asking why Rebel quarterback Trinidad Chambliss wasn’t at the Heisman Trophy presentation. He was Houdini in cleats against the Bulldogs, throwing for 362 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. And that only tells part of his amazing night.
Ole Miss outscored Georgia 27-13 in the second half, Last time Georgia blew a halftime lead was 2018.
Georgia had dominated Ole Miss in the fourth quarter in Athens earlier this season, winning 43-35. Ole Miss players said last week that they wanted a rematch with the powerhouse Dawgs. Some might call it cocky or brash. No. It was a belief in this team that I’ve said for a while has a different vibe about it.
Super Bowl? Good luck topping this one in the Caesars Superdome come February.
Yes, this was against Georgia, against whom every play, every decision, every instinct counts. Head coach Kirby Smart has said his team“is hard to kill” and it usually is. But Ole Miss did so clinging to a 34-31 lead in the final two minutes and stoning them three downs from inside the 8-yard line. That forced a game-tying field goal with 56 seconds remaining. It left Ole Miss just enough time with no timeouts.
Head coach Pete Golding, who now has two playoff victories in his new position, said the loss in October was on the coaches.
“We didn’t play enough people. Our defense got tired.” he said last night while talking with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt. “So we planned for that. Used more players.”
Ole Miss limited Georgia to 124 yards rushing, or about half what they gained on the ground in October. It also held the Dawgs to 3 of 13 on third downs.
I can’t write another word without typing this guy’s name: Lucas Carneiro. He kicked field goals of 55 and 56 yards — the two longest in Sugar Bowl history — and then won it with a 47-yard field goal with 6 seconds left.
Carneiro loves soccer. He only switched to football in high school at his mother’s insistence. “She pretty much made me do it,” Carneiro told me early this season.
By the way, his snapper was Carter Short, his holder Oscar Bird, the punter. Flawless under mountains of pressure.
The Dawgs had been on a sack rampage the final few games of the season. They chased Chambliss for what their defenders would probably describe as “miles” but could never sack him. And he had clean pockets, too. Credit the offensive line, along with running backs Keywan Lacy and Logan Diggs, who steadily picked up blitzes.
Lacy also rushed for 98 yards and two scores with a bum left shoulder. Those yards came hard too.la
Meanwhile, the Rebels sacked quarterback Gunner Stockton twice. Suntarine Perkins and Kam Franklin each got him. Perkins’ 10-yard sack and forced fumble stopped Georgia on a fourth-and-two from its 33-yard line with 9:39 left. Ole Miss scored on the ensuing drive to go up 34-24.
Smart revealed postgame that the ball was never to be snapped on the fourth-down try.
There were so many other defensive heroes I can’t name them all. Senior defensive lineman Zxavian Harris led the team with 10 tackles . Perkins had nine. Will Echoles made five, including two for a loss while fighting double teams most of the night.
Linebacker TJ Dottery had four tackles and probably can’t talk today after screaming at his mates all night, making sure they were lined up correctly.
And Wydett Williams, who started his career at Delta State, continued his splendid play at safety. He made six tackles and broke up a third-down pass in the end zone with a minute left.
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Chambliss’ legend continues to grow, from Division II national champion a year ago to a Division I playoff whiz. He has the whole nation buzzing. His two zig-zagging fourth-quarter escapes, which both ended with key completions, looked like Archie Manning back in the day.
But he also made some pinpoint throws from the pocket. On fourth-and-3 midway of the third quarter, he hit Harrison Wallace III in the middle of the field on a 36-yard bullet pass to the Georgia 8-yard line. Lacy scored two plays later to pull the Rebels’ within 21-19.
Chambliss’ 13-yard back-shoulder throw to Wallace with 9:03 left in the game put Ole Miss up 34-24.
And the clincher: On third-and-5 at the Ole Miss 30 and the game tied, Chambliss lofted a pass to De’Zhaun Stribling for 40 yards with 26 seconds left, setting up Carneiro’s winning kick. Stribling did a masterful job of getting open, fighting past the defender at the line of scrimmage.
Wallace caught nine passes for 156 yards and a score. Stribling snagged seven for 122.
And then there is tight end Luke Hasz, a transfer from Arkansas who battled injuries early in the season. He caught the Rebels’ first touchdown of the night, only his third reception of the season.
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So while Alabama and Georgia were knocked out of the playoffs, Ole Miss trudges on to meet Miami Thursday night in the Fiesta Bowl at Glendale, Arizona — where Eli Manning earned his first Super Bowl victory.
“These kids love football,” Golding said postgame. “And they love playing together.”
“These kids” he referred to were deserted by their head coach for another job on Nov. 30. The players said it only made them grow closer and more determined.
It showed play after play Thursday night.
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