Lucas Carneiro connected on a 48-yard field goal to lift No. 9 Ole Miss to a 41-38 victory over No. 24 Louisville in the Music City Kickoff, getting year one of the Pete Golding era off on the right side of the win column.
Ole Miss (1-0) led 38-24 with under 5 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter of Sunday’s game, and looked to be pulling away comfortably. But a well-coached Louisville team led by a first-time starting quarterback in Lincoln Kleinholz looked to play spoiler. The Cardinals (0-1) exploited a Rebel defense rife with talent with explosive plays and scored two quick touchdowns to make things interesting.
And with 1:28 left on the 4th-quarter clock, the Rebels found themselves tied, though that did not deter them. Star Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss moved the chains with a 15-yard pass to Deuce Alexander and landed the offense in Louisville territory with an 18-yard pass to Caleb Odom. The Rebels took advantage of Louisville coach Jeff Brohm having burned all of his second-half timeouts in the 3rd quarter and bled the clock down to 3 seconds before Carneiro walked it off.
“That was a heavyweight fight. That was a good football team, and we got punched in the mouth a lot,” Golding said. “We didn’t always respond the right way. That was the one thing we talked about this whole week. You’re going to get punched in the face.”
All offseason, Golding’s biggest question mark about his Ole Miss football team was how it would respond to adversity. In the 2026-27 season opener versus Louisville, the Rebels battled through adversity, enough to earn a win, but not enough to feel entirely comfortable with what they displayed on the field.
Sure-handed center Brycen Sanders delivered a bad snap after a 9-yard gain to spoil Ole Miss’ first drive of the night. Chambliss, a Heisman hopeful, followed it up with an uncharacteristic fumble, followed by an interception. Carneiro, an All-SEC kicker, missed a 46-yard field goal. All of this happened in the first half. In the second half, lapses in communication and missed tackles paved the way for Louisville to have a viable shot at coming back.
On offense, the first-half mistakes were rectified by a connection between Chambliss and Alexander. The Ole Miss field general found his groove, and the speedy wideout used his speed to score a pair of crucial touchdowns. Chambliss found Odom for another second-half score and also used his legs at times to extend plays.
Chambliss finished the night with 336 passing yards, 3 touchdowns, and the lone interception, while adding 60 yards on the ground and accounting for the one fumble. Alexander was his top target, finishing the game with 5 receptions, 159 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Auburn transfer Horatio Fields notably caught 5 passes for 47 yards. Star running back Kewan Lacy rushed 17 times for 61 yards and a score. He was sidelined in the 3rd quarter with an injury, but Golding did not seem concerned about it long-term.
“I honestly hate these games. I don’t know why we do this … But we got the win, so that’s all that matters,” Chambliss said of the nail-biter, though adding that he loved how his teammates responded to adversity. “If something happens that doesn’t go our way, we’re not even thinking about it. [We have a] ‘next play’ mentality.”
Defensively, the Rebels were led by a bevvy of players, with linebacker Keaton Thomas being one. The linebacker had 8 tackles before being sidelined in the second half with a right foot injury. His replacement, Georgia Tech transfer Tah’j Butler, logged 7 tackles, one of which was for a loss of yards. Defensive end Kam Franklin, who was also injured in the matchup, had 2 tackles for loss and a sack.
As for the defensive mishaps, which turned into Louisville scoring touchdowns on 62-yard and 54-yard passes, Golding is confident that the errors are correctable, as long as his team is willing to approach this week’s film sessions with an open mind.
“From a communication standpoint, they’re all correctable,” Golding, who said he treated the season opener like a College Football Playoff game, added. “I think some of them, we call ‘LOVEs,’ the lack of violence, bad angles, not being able to finish, and effort, that’s a decision that you have to make. Those are the ones that we can’t put on tape, that we can’t allow to be on tape.”
Louisville had its fair share of miscues, as well. Kienholz missed a wide-open receiver in the first half. A botched snap on a punt placed Ole Miss in favorable territory, and ultimately set up a touchdown drive. A roughing the kicker penalty on a 58-yard Carneiro attempt that landed short of the field goal post moved the chains for Ole Miss and allowed the Rebels to take a two-score lead midway through the 4th quarter.
Kienholz finished his debut with 307 yards and 2 passing touchdowns, with a team-leading 69 rushing yards and a score on the ground. Richardson, a Vanderbilt transfer, had 83 yards and the long touchdown. Star Louisville running back Isaac Brown was held to 36 rushing yards. The Cardinals’ top defender was linebacker T.J. Capers, who amassed 7 tackles and a quarterback hurry. Louisville did not log a sack on the night, despite Ole Miss boasting a new cast of offensive tackles.
Aside from Lacy, Thomas, and Franklin, other banged-up Ole Miss players include right tackle Tommy Kinsler and defensive backs Antonio Kite and Sharif Denson. Denson did not record a snap in Sunday’s contest. On the bright side, Golding expects the lion’s share of injured players to return to action as early as Saturday’s game versus Charlotte.
The Rebels will face the 49ers at 6:45 p.m. CT. The game will air on ESPN and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.
