By Elijah Klepczyk
Emmerich Newspapers
Ole Miss football rolled Missouri over the weekend 31-3, marking its third SEC win of the season to bring its overall record up to 5-1 (3-1).
Former Rebel quarterback Austin Simmons led the Tigers into Oxford — and for the second time this season, Ole Miss sent a former influential member of the program out of the Vaught with a loss.
Rebels head coach Pete Golding said that his team's run defense was the key to victory over the Tigers. Mizzou came into the game averaging 181 rushing yards per game, but the Ole Miss defense held strong and limited the Tigers to just 39 yards for the whole game.
“Any time you can hold a team to 39 rushing yards, you’ve got a shot,” Golding said.
Despite the early disappointment in Gainesville, Ole Miss finds itself comfortably inside the AP top 10 this week at No. 7, and a chaotic week across college football has left the Rebels in a promising position in the SEC title race.
The Rebels have yet another difficult matchup on deck, hitting the road to take on a Texas team searching for answers after dropping two straight.
Texas boasts one of the SEC’s top defenses, leading the conference in points allowed at 17.8 per game. The unit is anchored by star edge rusher Collin Simmons, who leads the nation with 10.5 sacks, but he went down in the loss to Florida over the weekend — and his availability remains uncertain.
Despite the lopsided final score, the Rebels actually found themselves in a dangerous spot early in the game – trailing 3-0 late in the first quarter, before Trinidad Chambliss found Caleb Odom for a 10-yard touchdown that would put them up 7-3.
The Ole Miss defense would then go on to allow zero points for the rest of the matchup, and Chambliss and the offense would build off of that momentum.
The Rebels ended the half with two more touchdowns, a 21-yard strike from Chambliss to Horatio Fields and then on the ensuing drive another 17 yard connection between Chambliss and Caleb Cunningham – the Choctaw County product’s first career score.
Up 21-3 coming out of the half the Ole Miss offense hit a brick wall, turning over the ball on its first possession and punting two times after that. The Rebel defense stood tall however, stalling three Missouri drives and forcing a turnover on downs in their own territory.
The dam finally broke to start the fourth quarter with Chambliss running it in himself from five yards out to stretch the lead to 28-3, and secure his fourth touchdown of the game.
Rebels kicker Lucas Carneiro would tack on a field goal from 38 yards out, and a late interception from Landon Barnes would seal the deal for Ole Miss.
“It wasn’t perfect, it really wasn’t,” Golding said after the game, “but it was good to see some things that you emphasize in all three phases show up.”
