Pete Golding has been through the gauntlet early in his head coaching career.
The Ole Miss frontman is the first college football coach in the Associated Press poll era to face four straight Top-25 opponents. The deck, of course, was not stacked in Golding’s favor initially, as he was tasked with navigating the Rebels through the College Football Playoff following the unprecedented departure of Lane Kiffin.
The task, however, was handled about as well as it could be by a first-time head coach. After being promoted, the former Ole Miss defensive coordinator helped lead the Rebels to a blowout victory over Tulane in the program’s playoff debut, then guided the red and blue to a comeback win over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
Golding experienced his first loss as a head coach in the playoff semifinals when a last-second Hail Mary tossed by star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss fell incomplete, allowing Miami to advance to the national championship where it ultimately lost to Indiana.
Turning the page, Golding and his staff retooled the Ole Miss roster by retaining multiple star players, while adding transfer portal pieces expected to make a meaningful impact in the new campaign. And the stars were needed in the first regular-season matchup of the Golding era — a neutral-site battle against No. 24 Louisville.
Ole Miss required a strong defensive effort in the first half followed by a stellar offensive showing and a game-winning field goal in the 41-38 win over the Cardinals. Notable standout performers included Chambliss, wideout Deuce Alexander, linebacker Keaton Thomas, and placekicker Lucas Carneiro.
“That was a heavyweight fight. That was a good football team, and we got punched in the mouth a lot,” Golding said after the game. “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.”
While a win is a win, and the Rebel staff is confident that the team beat a strong opponent, there was a lot left to be desired from the week one performance. For starters, the offense got off to a slow start, with a botched snap and a pair of turnovers minimizing the halftime scorecard to just 10 points. Defensively, Golding’s group fell apart in the final 30 minutes, as Louisville exploited communication lapses in the secondary to score 32 points, most of which came from explosive plays and missed tackles.
“From a communication standpoint, they’re all correctable,” Golding said of the defensive miscues. “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.”
The good news for Golding is that his streak of top-25 foes will be snapped Saturday. Ole Miss faces a Charlotte team that lost a buy game to the Citadel over the weekend, which presents a golden opportunity for the Rebels to get back on track and correct some of the miscues that need to be solved by the following weekend, when Kiffin and his No. 8 LSU Tigers roll into Oxford.
“We’re excited to come back for our fans, excited for our players. It was an awesome showing in Nashville,” Golding said of the upcoming home opener. “I’m super excited to get back in the Vaught for our players.”
Ole Miss is currently a 46.5-point favorite over Charlotte. The Rebels and 49ers will kick off in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday at 6:45 p.m. The game will air on ESPN2 and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.
