NEW ORLEANS — Mississippi’s scintillating breakthrough quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and his Rebels teammates have been saying for weeks that they have the chemistry, talent and confidence to carry on in the College Football Playoff without former coach Lane Kiffin.
Unlikely as that may have sounded after Kiffin left for rival LSU on Nov. 30, there’s been little evidence to the contrary. The Rebels — having dramatically vanquished SEC champion Georgia in a Sugar Bowl for the ages — are preparing for a Jan. 8 Fiesta Bowl date with Miami in the CFP semifinals.
“It’s a super tough group,” recently promoted Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said after the No. 6-seed Rebels (13-1) walked off of the Superdome field with a 39-34 victory over third-seeded Georgia (12-2). “They’ve got a lot of grit, and they love playing football, and they’re not tired of it.”
Georgia, the only team to beat Ole Miss this season back in October, was favored by about a touchdown and led by nine at halftime. The Rebels rallied to take a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter but still required late-game poise by their defense, a big throw by Chambliss and a clutch kick by Lucas Carneiro to pull it out.
Georgia scored 10 straight points in the last 7 minutes, 3 seconds, but the Bulldogs were threatening to score a go-ahead touchdown when Mississippi’s defense held them to a tying field goal with 55 seconds left.
Then, on a third-and-5 from his own 30, Chambliss delivered an accurate deep ball to De’Zhaun Stribling for a 40-yard gain to set up Carneiro’s decisive, 47-yard field goal with 6 seconds left (a safety on the ensuing kickoff completed scoring in the final seconds).
Kiffin, who wanted to continue coaching Ole Miss in the postseason after accepting his LSU job but was not permitted to do so by Mississippi athletic director Keith Carter, spent part of Thursday night being introduced to the crowd at an LSU women’s basketball game by Tigers’ coach Kim Mulkey.
Later, Kiffin posted a message of encouragement to his former team on social media, stating, “Only two more to go.”
Since Kiffin flew out of Oxford on a private jet supplied by LSU, “Everybody stayed together and bought in and nobody got frustrated,” Mississippi linebacker Suntarine Perkins said. “I’m really excited about what this group has accomplished this season.”
In terms of their backgrounds, Chambliss and Miami QB Carson Beck could hardly be more of a study in contrast.
Beck is a high-paid, high-profile transfer from Georgia known for his taste in luxury European automobiles. In helping the Hurricanes stage a pair of CFP victories over higher-seeded Texas A&M and defending national champion Ohio State, he’s fulfilling the promise with which he returned to his native Florida, where he was a consensus four-star recruit.
Now one more victory in the Fiesta Bowl will give Beck and the 10th-seeded Hurricanes (12-2) a chance to play for a national title in their home stadium Jan. 19.
Chambliss has emerged from relative obscurity to become one of the most compelling stories in all of college football — the Sugar Bowl being merely his latest chapter.
Last fall, Chambliss played at Division II Ferris State in his native Michigan. Before that, he says he nearly quit football in favor of playing point guard for a Division III basketball program. But after leading Ferris State to a Division II national championship, he took an offer to be a projected backup at Ole Miss this season.
An injury to season-opening starter Austin Simmons thrust Chambliss into the spotlight, and his ability to run circles around frustrated pass-rushers while finding receivers breaking open downfield made him such a hit in Oxford, Miss., that fans there began flying flags of his namesake Caribbean island nation, Trinidad & Tobago.
“Sometimes I’ve got to pinch myself,” Chambliss said. “I never really thought I’d get to this point, to be honest, because I did have some doubt at Ferris State if football is really for me.
“It’s been a crazy ride so far.”
Next stop, Glendale, Ariz.
