No. 9 Ole Miss needed a 48-yard walk-off and a length-of-the-field answer in the final 90 seconds to hold off No. 24 Louisville, and the 3-point final margin still undersells how close this one actually got.
This was billed as Trinidad Chambliss's Heisman coming-out party, and it turned into something closer to a trial by fire for the other quarterback on the field. Lincoln Kienholz made his first college start for Louisville after throwing just 36 passes across 2 seasons as a backup at Ohio State, and he did it on a national stage against a Top 10 opponent. That experience gap was the whole storyline walking in — and it barely showed.
+Chambliss delivered a go-ahead drive in the final 90 seconds
+added SEC-caliber transfers to the defensive front
+won despite a sluggish start and a blown late lead
−defense allowed 26.3 points per game to SEC foes last year
−gave up 14 unanswered points to let Louisville tie it
−needed a 48-yard walk-off to beat an unranked-in-preseason foe
Ole Miss came in with a retooled defense under new head coach Pete Golding after allowing 26.3 points per game to SEC competition last year, and the plan started with slowing down Louisville running back Isaac Brown. Neutral-site games in Nashville tend to draw a mixed house, but Ole Miss was still installed as a heavy home favorite here, and the market never wavered off that number.
That lopsidedness showed up everywhere in the pregame handle — 94% of moneyline tickets and every single spread ticket tracked leaned Ole Miss, with more than $40,000 stacked on the Rebels to cover. It was about as one-sided a preseason opener as this market gets, chalk from top to bottom.
The board had it mostly right on the winner and almost entirely wrong on how comfortable it would be. Ole Miss built what looked like a comfortable cushion late, only for Louisville to rip off 14 unanswered points and tie it at 38 with under 4 minutes on the clock. Chambliss answered by putting together a go-ahead drive in the final 90 seconds, hitting Caleb Odom for 18 yards on 3rd-and-6 to set up Lucas Carneiro's 48-yard field goal as time expired.
Kienholz finished with 3 total touchdowns and 376 yards of offense in his college debut, numbers that look nothing like a first start against a ranked SEC defense. Chambliss matched him blow for blow with 336 passing yards, 3 passing touchdowns and a rushing score of his own. Neither defense looked much like the group its coordinator drew up in fall camp once the second half started.
Sunny skies and 88 degrees at Nissan Stadium did nothing to slow either offense down, and a game that opened as a lopsided favorite spot turned into a 63-point second half and a walk-off. Ole Miss leaves Nashville 1-0 with real defensive questions to answer before conference play, and Louisville leaves with a freshly-minted starter who just proved he belongs on this stage.
