Despite heartbreaking loss, Ole Miss' players say they're just getting started under Pete Golding

GLENDALE, Ariz. – The end for Ole Miss was as heartbreaking as the season was improbable, chaotic and remarkably entertaining.

Probably need to throw historic in there too.

Fittingly, perhaps, it came down to one final play, quarterback Trinidad Chambliss heaving a pass to the left corner of the end zone to De’Zhaun Stribling with Miami defensive back Ethan O’Connor tugging onto him.

The ball fell to the ground. A penalty flag did not.

Ole Miss’ season for the ages was over, a 31-27 loss to Miami in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff, a loss the players said in unison late Thursday night would sting for some time — but also a loss that would set the tone for Pete Golding and this program moving forward, a program they insist is built to last.

“This is just the beginning, and I think next year we’re going to come back even stronger,” said Ole Miss kicker Lucas Carneiro, who booted four field goals, including two more from 50 yards plus after making a 56-yarder and 55-yarder in the quarterfinal win over Georgia.

“We’re just going to go from here.”

Golding said he couldn’t be prouder of the team and everything it weathered, going all the way back to freshman defensive lineman Corey Adams’ tragic shooting death last summer. Golding, the defensive coordinator when the season started, was coaching in only his third game as a head coach after being promoted when Lane Kiffin bolted for the LSU job two days after the Egg Bowl win over Mississippi State to end the regular season. That Sunday was chaotic on Ole Miss’ campus with Kiffin trying to talk his way into coaching Ole Miss throughout the playoff, a Sunday that culminated with a contentious meeting between Kiffin and the players’ leadership council. Kiffin then boarded a plane bound for Baton Rouge later that day.

Several assistants went with Kiffin to LSU, and a handful bounced back and forth between their LSU duties and coaching Ole Miss throughout the rest of the playoff. The only two that were allowed by LSU to come back for Thursday’s Fiesta Bowl were offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. and running backs coach Kevin Smith.

“A lot of teams would have fallen apart,” senior safety Kapena Gushiken said.

But not this team and not with everything that was at stake.

Among many things, Golding said what he would remember most about this team was the way the players embraced each other.

“I mean, there was a lot over the last month or so, or however long it’s been now, to where somebody could have not been a good dude,” Golding said. “Somebody could have not worked hard. Somebody could have not showed up on time, and I can’t recall one issue. That’s just who these guys are.”

Golding said memories were made that will last forever.

“They’re going to be talking about this for a long time,” Golding said.

Indeed, they will in Hotty Toddy Land, not to mention what might have been in a game that was every bit as thrilling as Ole Miss’ 39-34 win against Georgia in the quarterfinals.

For much of the night, Miami dominated the line of scrimmage and ran 28 more offensive plays than Ole Miss. The Rebels had a hard time getting off the field on third down defensively. The Hurricanes had three scoring drives of 13 plays or longer, including the game-winning drive capped by Carson Beck’s 3-yard touchdown run with 18 seconds to play.

But even then, Ole Miss wasn’t finished. Two pass plays moved the Rebels to the Hurricanes’ 35. Chambliss sent a pass toward a leaping Stribling, and there was clearly contact. But officials almost never throw a flag in that late-game situation, and they didn’t this time.

Golding isn’t big into making excuses, and he didn’t bite Thursday when asked about that final play.

“Those situations are tough to call,” Golding said. “Yeah, there was contact, but it happens a lot. That’s not why we lost the game.”

A teary-eyed Chambliss was especially emotional as he left the field at State Farm Stadium. One of the best stories in college football, he went from Division II Ferris State a year ago, to a backup for Ole Miss to start this season and took the sport by storm once he solidified himself as the Rebels’ starter in Week 3.

Chambliss, through his attorney Tom Mars, has filed for a waiver with the NCAA to gain a sixth season of eligibility next year. So as he and teammate Kewan Lacy walked off the field together — Chambliss with a towel draped over his head — he did so not knowing if it was the last college football game he will play.

“God has been so good to me and this team,” said Chambliss, who passed for 277 yards and a touchdown. “It’s been a great ride. I wouldn’t want to do it with any other people, whether it’s coaches, players, people in the offices. It’s just been a great ride.

“And, hopefully, I get to do it again next year.”

The Ole Miss fans, who took over State Farm Stadium after doing the same a week ago at the Superdome, leaned over the railings to cheer the players as they walked off the field into the tunnel. Ole Miss legend Eli Manning was standing there underneath the stands and hugged Lacy, who showed his toughness by returning to play in the second half after injuring his hamstring on a 73-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Lacy was already plagued by a shoulder injury he suffered in the first playoff win over Tulane.

“You see what Kewan is made of, what this team is made of,” Carneiro said. “It’s the reason so many guys are going to be back next year. We’re going to build on this.”

There were also some tough goodbyes in the Ole Miss locker room. Weis, his eyes moist, was one of the last coaches out of the locker room. He’s been back and forth between Baton Rouge and Oxford for the last month, and there was some question early on if Weis would come back to coach in the playoff.

From the outset, he was adamant to the Ole Miss administration and to the players that he was finishing the season. And he stood by that despite what was an awkward situation with LSU since he’s on LSU’s payroll and working the portal for the Tigers to find a quarterback.

“Words can’t describe how much I appreciate these players and these coaches,” Weis told On3. “It’s so rare nowadays that you get to be a coordinator someplace for four years and recruit every single one of these guys here. I so badly wanted to get this done for them. So it hurts. I feel like they deserved it. We didn’t get it done, so it just sucks right now. But they’re a special group, a group I’ll never forget.”

The Rebels (13-2) were looking to win their first national championship since 1960, and while they had won 10 or more games in three of the previous four seasons coming into 2025, they burst onto the national scene like they haven’t since the Johnny Vaught era more than a half century ago with their electric playoff run.

The storyline only became more dramatic with Kiffin leaving a playoff team for a rival school and then all the circumstances surrounding his messy exit.

“This team has sacrificed a lot to get to this point,” Chambliss said. “The season has been bumpy, and there’s been a lot of things going on. We just kept our focus. It’s been truly special.”

Golding said he looked at the players’ faces at halftime and didn’t see any panic. Ole Miss trailed 17-13, and other than Lacy’s long touchdown run, hadn’t been able to move the football on offense or stop the Hurricanes’ running game.

Still, they found a way to hang around and took the lead on Chambliss’ 24-yard touchdown pass to Dae’Quan Wright with 3:13 remaining.

“This is a group that created this legacy for this team and an expectation for this program,” Golding said. “I told them in the locker room (after the game) that we’re pissed off in a semifinal game because we feel like we should have won the game because we didn’t play our best and we didn’t coach our best, but really proud of their effort and proud of the year they had.”

Junior receiver Cayden Lee can’t wait to see what comes next with Golding taking the reins for a full season.

“Coach Golden was exactly what we needed at the exact time that we needed him,” Lee said.

Ole Miss has already been plenty active in the portal and equally productive at retaining players with Lacy and Chambliss at the top of that list. Chambliss obviously still has to win his waiver.

“For a lot of this group coming back, there’s going to be a little chip on their shoulder,” Golding said.

Of course, the same could be said for the entire SEC. This will be third straight season that an SEC team won’t even be in the national championship game. Ole Miss was the SEC’s last hope.

“There are going to be a lot of hungry teams in our league, not just us,” Lee said.