By Billy Watkins
A video posted on Facebook showed a string of buses departing Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Jan. 6 carrying the Ole Miss Rebels’ football players, coaches and staff members to Tupelo to catch a plane to Phoenix and a semifinal matchup with Miami.
It struck me what they had accomplished in a span of six days, starting with a New Year’s Day victory over perennial power Georgia in a quarterfinal matchup in the College Football Playoff.
Under new head coach Pete Golding, the momentum continued with a bevy of players signing contracts or agreeing to deals to return for the 2026 season. Many of those players were being courted by other schools even though they weren’t in the transfer portal, including quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy — both of whom the former head coach was convinced would join him in Baton Rouge.
The staff had put together a portal class, which was ranked No. 3 nationally at the time. (It is at No. 7 as of this writing.
And the team had prepared to play a physical Miami group in the biggest game in Ole Miss history.
All of that in less than a week.
Miami won a classic, 31-27, on a touchdown with 18 seconds left. Ole Miss finished the season 13-2. It is 34-7 over the past three seasons.
On Monday, CBS Sports ranked the best games among the 41 bowl contests. Ole Miss vs. Miami in the Fiesta was No. 1, Ole Miss vs. Georgia in the Sugar was No. 2. Those games drew a combined TV audience of 36.3 million viewers — or more than the combined population of America’s 19 largest cities.
It is astonishing what a team, an athletic program and some talented players and coaches can achieve when every part at every level — from the Chancellor to the players — are all focusing and working toward the same goal.
That moment, watching the buses roll and realizing the historic meaning of it all, struck me. I never thought I’d live to write about such a turnaround by this program. Throw in the drama the players endured and all the good that came from it, and you have an ESPN 30 for 30.
No longer will the 2025 Ole Miss Rebels only be known as the team whose head coach abandoned it for another job on Nov. 30 — just days before postseason practices would begin.
No, this team will also be remembered for what it did on the field, for coming within a whisker of playing for the national championship.
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GEORGIA WAS FAVORED by a touchdown in the Sugar Bowl semifinal. Still, the Rebels kept saying, “We want another shot at Georgia.”
The bracket obliged.
I contend that a group of players who were already close bonded even more during and after the downing of the Dawgs, 39-34.
They overcame a nine-point halftime deficit, mentally survived a scoop and score late in the second quarter, stood toe to toe with a team that prides itself in physically bashing opponents and held Georgia to a field goal late in the fourth quarter from the eight-yard line. Kicker Lucas Carneiro nailed a 47-yard field goal with one second left to win it. (A fluke safety granted Ole Miss two more points on the game’s final play.)
Ole Miss outscored Kirby Smart’s team 27-13 in the second half.
Games like that are unforgettable and emotional and it makes you appreciate those you went through the battle with. I believe it influenced the retention of some players, especially Chambliss and Lacy.
It also put Ole Miss in the football final four. The Sugar Bowl upset win, when fans wearing powder blue far outnumbered the red and black inside the Caesars Superdome, has to be one of the greatest victories in Ole Miss history for so many reasons.
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MIAMI WAS BETTER THAN ADVERTISED in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal. For three quarters, Ole Miss could only manage three Carneiro field goals and one touchdown — a 73-yard run by Lacy.
Miami led 17-16 entering the fourth quarter. Carneiro gave Ole Miss the lead, 19-17, with seven minutes left. Miami reclaimed the lead, 24-19, with 5:04 left on 36-yard TD pass.
Had Ole Miss won the game, the ensuing drive would be talked about for years. It’s still worth remembering. A unit that wasn’t accustomed to struggling somehow found its mojo when needed the most.
The drive started with a 21-yard pass to sure-handed tight end Dae’Quan Wright. Lacy, nursing a gimpy hamstring, ran for two. Chambliss threw incomplete, then Miami was called for pass interference. From the Miami 45, Chambliss scrambled right for 19 yards to the Miami 26.
Lacy ran for two more, then Chambliss went back to Wright for a 24-yard TD pass with 3:13 left. Ole Miss 27, Miami 24.
Miami converted four third downs on a 75-yard drive and broke the Rebels’ hearts with 18 seconds left. Quarterback Carson Beck ran three yards for the winning score.
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There are so many players who deserve mentioning from this year’s team, along with so many moments. I can’t list them all.
In my opinion, Chambliss was one of the two best quarterbacks in college football the second half to the season. The other one, Fernando Mendoza of Indiana, won the Heisman Trophy. Chambliss finished with 3,937 passing yards, third best in a single season in Ole Miss history. He threw for 22 touchdowns and was intercepted only three times. He didn’t start the first two games.
Lacy finished second in the SEC and third nationally with 1,567 rushing yards. His 24 rushing touchdowns ranked second nationally and first in the SEC.
Senior wideout De’Zhaun Stribling played incredible in the playoffs with 17 catches for 323 yards and one TD. His 40-yard reception against man to man coverage set up Carneiro’s winning field goal against Georgia. If anything, he wasn’t used enough in the regular season.
I believe he will play multiple years in the NFL if he stays healthy.
In his first year starting, sophomore Brycen Sanders was stone solid at center. Arkansas transfer Patrick Kutas won the Kent Hull Award as Mississippi’s top offensive lineman. Delano Townsend, Diego Pounds and Jayden Williams were part of the line that improved throughout the season.
It was fun watching sophomore defensive lineman Will Echoles go from a part-time player a year ago to the face of the defense. He plays with a ferocious motor and off the field, he is everything a coach wants in a player. Before Thanksgiving he led a drive in his hometown of Houston (Miss.) to give away 100 turkeys to the less fortunate. He was among the first players to to sign with Olle Miss for 2026..
Carneiro was nearly automatic — 31 of 35 on field goals, a long of 58, and 5 of 7 from 50 yards or more. Both long-range misses hit the upright.
Quarterback Austin Simmons had sat behind Jaxson Dart for two seasons. This was supposed to be his year. But a leg injury in the second game of the season gave Chambliss his opportunity and he made the most of it. From what I’ve heard and observed, Simmons was a great teammate and never complained. That’s refreshing in a world that has become “me, me, me.”
Let’s not forget how athletic director Keith Carter handled the whole Kiffin fiasco and also hiring Golding, who was going to be a head coach sooner than later. Carter was a rock.
As for next year, much depends on Chambliss’ appeal seeking another year of eligibility. If he is back, along with Lacy, Ole Miss will surely be ranked in next year’s preseason Top 10.
The Rebels have signed 5-star transfer dual-threat quarterback Deuce Knight out of George County High School in Lucedale. He spent one season at Auburn and still has four years of eligibility remaining.
They have already signed two portal players from the portal that will add 740 pounds of beef up front on defense. They also have bolstered a secondary that gave up too many big plays.
And now it’s Pete Golding’s time to lead this team into a full off-season as head coach.
He’s happy to be at Ole Miss, won’t be looking for the next big opportunity. He has already set a tone that the players come first, and that’s nice, sensible change.
In the playoffs, the moments were never too big for Golding. His decisions to kick field goals instead of going for it on fourth down proved to be the difference in the Georgia game.
Most important, he kept this team together through some tough, stressful, soul-searching days.
As senior defensive tackle Zxavian Harris told On3 following the win over Georgia: “I know some people were down at first and came here because of (Lane) Kiffin. But after realizing how he was and when Coach [Pete] Golding came in, they saw a difference in how a real head coach is supposed to be, and you’ve seen how we’ve come together.”
Indeed, we did.
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