Pete Golding Opens His Ole Miss Tenure with a Wild 41-38 Escape Over Louisville

Ole Miss outlasted Louisville 41-38 in a thriller at the Music City Kickoff on Saturday night at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, with Lucas Carneiro’s 48-yard field goal as time expired sealing the win for the Rebels.

The game opened as a defensive struggle before turning into a shootout. Louisville struck first on a Carson Hilbert 25-yard field goal in the first quarter, capping a 10-play, 47-yard drive. Ole Miss answered in the second quarter with a Carneiro 43-yard field goal, then took the lead for good in the half on a 1-yard touchdown run by Kewan Lacy. Hilbert connected again from 46 yards as time expired in the second quarter, cutting the halftime deficit to 6-10.

The third quarter was a track meet. Tre Richardson gave Louisville its first lead of the second half with a 30-yard touchdown run, but Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss answered almost immediately, hitting Deuce Alexander for a 62-yard touchdown pass. Hilbert’s third field goal of the night, from 45 yards, put Louisville back on top 16-17 briefly before Chambliss and Alexander connected again — this time for another 62-yard score — to make it 16-24. Louisville answered right back before the quarter ended, as Lincoln Kienholz found Richardson for a 62-yard touchdown pass, with Lawayne McCoy hauling in a two-point conversion pass to tie the game at 24-24 heading into the fourth.

The fourth quarter kept the pace. Ole Miss’s Caleb Odom caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Chambliss to put the Rebels up 24-31. Louisville trimmed the deficit before Chambliss scored on a 5-yard quarterback keeper, making it 24-38. Louisville answered with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Kienholz to McCoy, and then Kienholz capped an ensuing defensive stop with a 7-yard rushing touchdown of his own, tying the game 38-38 with 1:28 left. But Ole Miss drove into position, and Carneiro’s 48-yard field goal as the clock hit zero delivered the 41-38 final.

Chambliss finished 21 of 36 passing for 336 yards and 3 touchdowns with 1 interception for Ole Miss, while also adding a rushing score. Alexander was his top target with 5 catches for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns. Kienholz threw for 307 yards and 2 touchdowns on 18-of-29 passing for Louisville, with Richardson catching 4 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown and adding a rushing score, and McCoy hauling in 2 catches for 62 yards and a touchdown.

Louisville outgained Ole Miss slightly in total yards, 469 to 478 in favor of the Rebels, and led in time of possession 31:04 to 28:56. Ole Miss’s defense recorded 3 sacks and 8 tackles for loss compared to Louisville’s 1 tackle for loss and no sacks. Both teams scored on 2 of 2 red-zone chances. Louisville fell to 0-1 on the season, while Ole Miss improved to 1-0.