NEW ORLEANS — Trinidad Chambliss continues to write one of the most fascinating stories in college football history. If this wasn’t football, you’d call it a fairy tale. All that’s missing are magic beans and silver slippers.
Here Thursday night at the jam-packed Superdome, one of the world’s most famous sports venues, Chambliss willed the Ole Miss Rebels to a scintillating 39-34 Sugar Bowl victory over the proud Georgia Bulldogs. He did it with his strong right arm. He did it with his legs. He did it with courage and with uncommon flair.
Rick ClevelandLast season Chambliss was doing it at Division II Ferris State in Michigan, where he won a national championship. This year, he’s doing it on the biggest stage in college football, where he is now two steps from winning another much, much bigger trophy.
Chambliss threw for 362 yards and two touchdowns, often darting away from some the biggest, strongest, red-shirted human beings you will ever see. At one point he completed a Sugar Bowl-record 13 passes in a row. He made plays when there didn’t seem a play to be made. Sometimes, it seemed like magic. And after all that he might have led the loudest Hotty Toddy in history. “Are you ready?” he hollered into the microphone after being awarded the MVP trophy. About 40,000 Ole Miss fans, most dressed in powder blue, thundered the rest.
Said Georgia coach Kirby Smart, accurately, “Their quarterback is just incredible. I mean, he does an unbelievable job of not giving up sacks and making plays with his legs. They made more plays than we did; and I’ve got to be honest, that’s part of football. They out-executed us, out-coached us, out-played us.”
Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (6) celebrates after the Sugar Bowl NCAA college football playoff quarterfinal game against Georgia in New Orleans, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. Credit: AP Photo/Mathew Hinton“I’m speechless,” Chambliss would later say in the post-game press conference. “We were down 9 points at one point, and they were down 9 points when we played them before, so it was kind of like roles reversed. I didn’t play my best football in the fourth quarter when we played them before, so I wanted to redeem myself.”
Mission accomplished – and then some.
Georgia, winner of two national championships this decade, had won 53 straight games when leading at halftime. The Bulldogs led Ole Miss 21-12 at intermission, only to be outscored 27-13 over the last 30 minutes. Every time Ole Miss needed a big play – and those times were many – Chambliss stepped up and made it. Georgia had won and amazing 75 straight games when leading going into the fourth quarter. Not this time.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart greets Mississippi head coach Pete Golding after the Sugar Bowl NCAA college football playoff quarterfinal game, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in New Orleans. Credit: AP Photo/Gerald HerbertMake no mistake: Rebel heroes were many this night:
Mississippians Will Echoles (the defensive MVP) of Houston, Suntarine Perkins of Raleigh and Zxavian Harris of Canton keyed a defensive effort that made just enough stops to seal the victory. Running back Kewan Lacy, as good as any back in the country, ran for 98 bruising yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Harrison Wallace III snagged nine passes for 156 yards and a touchdown, while teammate Deshaun Stribling caught seven more throws for 122 yards. There may be a college team that has as many high-quality wide receivers as Ole Miss, but these eyes haven’t seen it. And, heavens, let us not forget placekicker Lucas Carneiro, the transfer from Western Kentucky, who launched Sugar Bowl record-breaking field goals of 55 and 56 yards in the first quarter and then hit the game-winning field goal of 47 yards with six seconds remaining. All three kicks would have been good from 60 yards or more. Ole Miss would not have won without him. Mississippi kicker Lucas Carneiro (17) celebrates his field goal against Georgia during the first half of the Sugar Bowl NCAA college football playoff quarterfinal game, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in New Orleans. Credit: AP Photo/Matthew Hinton HintonThis observer had thought Ole Miss would have to win the turnover battle and/or make a big play in the kicking game in order to slay Georgia. That wasn’t the case. Georgia got the game’s only turnover, a 47-yard scoop-and-score fumble return by Dylan Everette in the second quarter. The Bulldogs also made a huge kicking game play in the third quarter, faking a punt to extend a drive that led to a third quarter field goal and a 24-19 Georgia lead. It was pretty much all Rebels after that.
Ole Miss dominated statistically, out-gaining the Bulldogs 473-343. Take away that scoop-and-score and the Rebels would have won more comfortably.
“Pete! Pete! Pete!” Rebel fans thundered when the Rebels’ new head coach Pete Golding was called to the podium in the post-game awards ceremony. Later, Golding credited the crowd.
“The fans, you know, it felt like a home game to me, looking up and hearing them,” Golding said. “And then for these guys to play the way and to be able to come back the way they did versus a team like that. … They (the Rebels) are never scared and they don’t panic, and that’s what I love about this group.”
Said Smart: “It felt like we were on the road.”
So now, Ole Miss moves on to play Miami at Tempe, Arizona, in the Fiesta Bowl and the national semifinals on Jan. 8. Indiana plays Oregon in the Peach Bowl, the other semifinal, the next night. Winners of those two games will play for the national championship Jan. 19 in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Could the Ole Miss Rebels win it all?
I’d answer that with this: Would that be any more unbelievable than a transfer from Ferris State beating the Georgia Bulldogs with one of the greatest performances in Sugar Bowl history?
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