No. 7 Ole Miss was at the cusp of overcoming a 21-point halftime deficit at No. 19 Texas, but the Longhorns proved resilient at home in a 34-27 win.
Saturday’s matchup in Austin had heavy implications for the home team, and Texas played like a group that had been backed up against a wall. The Longhorns (5-2, 2-2 SEC) had suffered consecutive defeats, meaning playoff hopes were in jeopardy. Beyond that, confidence had dwindled in head coach Steve Sarkisian and quarterback Arch Manning.
Ole Miss (5-2, 3-2 SEC), on the other hand, had flushed a brutal loss at Florida with back-to-back wins — the most recent being a 31-3 beatdown of Missouri. The Rebels were seemingly clicking on all cylinders, as the Longhorns were searching for answers. Then, the law of averages set in.
Texas found its footing with Manning playing looser than he had in games past. The Texas field general with deep familial ties to Ole Miss was not perfect, but had moxie and made enough plays to win a close football game on his home turf. Manning was 18 of 30 in the air with 212 yards, a touchdown, and a pair of picks. His touchdown pass was a 50-yard bomb to wideout Ryan Wingo early in the 2nd quarter. Manning also scored twice on the ground, with one of the rushing touchdowns resembling a classic move his uncles Peyton and Eli had perfected in selling a fake handoff and walking into the end zone untouched.
The Ole Miss offense had blemishes, despite being borderline unstoppable in its last two outings. Texas magnified offensive line deficiencies Ole Miss had, while the Longhorns’ defensive backs were glued to Rebel receivers, making offensive flow a nonfactor. Still, the Rebels had enough willpower to go from trailing 24-3 at the half to having the ball with a chance to take the lead in the 4th quarter. But it was a rushing attack that the Longhorns established in the waning minutes of the game that all but delivered the knockout blow to the road Rebels.
Trailing 34-24 with under 2 minutes remaining in regulation, Ole Miss found an offensive groove and settled for a 39-yard field goal by sure-footed placekicker Lucas Carneiro. The Rebels, then, did the unlikely — recover an onside kick with a minute and some change on the clock, setting up a potential Heisman moment for Trinidad Chambliss.
The star quarterback, who had struggled all night, moved the chains three times and had Ole Miss within striking distance with the game on the line. At that point, however, the Rebels’ magic had run out. Instead of having a heroic moment with a last-second touchdown pass, Chambliss tossed an interception on the final play of the game. The error highlighted a suboptimal showing by the Ole Miss signal caller.
Chambliss, for the first time in his career with the Rebels, had thrown multiple interceptions. He threw two in the first half, one immediately after Manning threw a pick that gave Ole Miss the ball in plus territory and another in a 4th down situation with halftime nearing.
“You’ve got to take it like a man, and admit when you were wrong. We were wrong in a lot of aspects tonight, especially myself. I was careless with the football, making bonehead decisions,” Chambliss said. “I’m pretty low right now. But I can’t feel sorry for myself. Our team can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We know that. We’re a better team than we put out there tonight.”
Chambliss completed 25 of 52 passes for 250 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. Both of his touchdown passes were thrown to Horatio Fields. Deuce Alexander led Ole Miss in receiving with 87 yards on 8 catches. Makhi Frazier’s 47 yards were the most by any Rebel ball carrier, as Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp had effectively emphasized limiting Ole Miss’ rushing production.
Ole Miss was able to climb back in the game with the defense giving the team a much-needed spark and the Rebels’ first touchdown of the contest. Edge rusher Blake Purchase got home on a blitz and forced a Manning fumble on Texas’ side of the field in the early minutes of the 3rd quarter. Ole Miss defensive end Kam Franklin recovered the ball in the end zone. The defense showed up again, forcing a Texas punt on its next offensive possession. The Rebels capitalized with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Fields, another defensive stop, and another touchdown pass to Fields.
Texas gift-wrapped its foe an opportunity to play road spoiler when Manning threw an errant ball to Ole Miss defensive back Jay Crawford with 13:32 on the 4th-quarter clock. Ole Miss punted the ball back to Texas, and a 47-yard carry by Raleek Brown catalyzed a scoring drive that put the Longhorns back on top. In its attempt to come back, Ole Miss had a 58-yard field goal blocked. Insult was added to injury when Texas subsequently marched down the field and took a 10-point lead on a 33-yard kick by Gianni Spetic with 2:25 left in regulation.
The blow was ultimately too much for Ole Miss to overcome, despite a valiant attempt at making overtime a reality.
“I was really proud of the effort and how they came out and fought, and they did do that. We made it a one-possession game in the 4th quarter, and had every opportunity to win the football game,” Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding said. “That’s a really good football team on the road. That’s not easy. I told [the team] that there are a lot of good things that we are going to take from this, and a lot of things that we put on tape that you can’t do versus good football teams.”
Both teams battled a case of the injury bug going into the game and during the contest. Texas missed star defensive end Colin Simmons and running back Hollywood Smothers, while Ole Miss was without starting left tackle Terez Davis. As the game played out, Longhorn left tackle Trevor Goosby had to be carted off the field and standout wide receiver Cam Coleman exited the game in the 2nd half. For Ole Miss, running back Kewan Lacy was sidelined after taking a hit in the 2nd half, and center Brycen Sanders had to go to the locker room to be evaluated, but ultimately returned to action.
Ole Miss now has no room for error if the team wants to return to the College Football Playoff, though the schedule does not let up. The Rebels will return to Oxford for an Oct. 31 matchup against Auburn. The game is scheduled to kick off from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium at 11:45 a.m. CT, and will air on the SEC Network, along with participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.