Fueled by loss to UGA, Ole Miss flips script vs. OU

NORMAN, Okla. -- Six days after his team squandered a fourth-quarter lead on the road at Georgia, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said he spent Friday night speaking to his players at length about "overcoming adversity" ahead of the No. 8 Rebels' Week 9 visit to Oklahoma.

Adversity struck again at Oklahoma-Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon. This time, Ole Miss responded and flipped the script, riding a resurgent defense and a fourth-quarter scoring drive led by quarterback Trinidad Chambliss to a crucial 34-26 win over the 13th-ranked Sooners.

"We're up two scores last week at Georgia -- where they never lose except Alabama -- and we didn't finish it off," Kiffin said afterward. "We got knocked down. And so that same situation happens today on the road; [ranked] team, No. 1 defense in the country. Can we be stronger in those situations, especially defensively? For that to happen, it's really cool."

Blanked in the fourth quarter at Georgia a week ago, the Rebels outscored Oklahoma 9-0 across the last 15 minutes, allowing just 84 yards of offense over that span and forcing Sooners quarterback John Mateer into incompletions on 10 of his final 15 throws, including a Hail Mary attempt that failed to reach the end zone in the closing seconds.

The victory marks Ole Miss' first road win over a ranked SEC opponent under Kiffin. The Rebels are also 6-0 following a loss since the start of the 2023 seasons, according to ESPN Research.

Chambliss, in his sixth start for Ole Miss, completed 24 of his 44 pass attempts for 315 yards and accounted for 53 rushing yards on 12 carries. According to ESPN Research, the outing marked Chambliss' fourth game of 300 passing yards and 50 rushing yards this fall, leaving him tied with former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (2012) for the second most such performances by an SEC player over the past 30 years.

With the Rebels trailing 26-25 in the early minutes of the fourth quarter, Chambliss orchestrated an 11-play, 75-yard drive that drained 4:31 of game clock, capped by his eight-yard touchdown pass to tight end Trace Bruckler with 11:39 remaining. The Rebels never trailed again.

"We just didn't want to feel how we felt last week," Chambliss said of the win. "We made it that we don't want to feel that again and that'll never happen again. We just need to finish games."

Chambliss and Ole Miss mounted their late comeback only after the Rebels dissected Oklahoma coach Brent Venables' vaunted defense unlike any team before it this fall across the first half.

The Sooners had not allowed a first-quarter touchdown before Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy broke free for a 28-yard scoring run. Lacy, who ran for 78 yards on 27 attempts, found the end zone again to hand the Rebels a 22-10 lead with 46 seconds remaining in the first half. Behind the legs of Chambliss and Lacy, Ole Miss accounted for more first-half points and yards (258) than Oklahoma had allowed in a single half in the 2025 season.

The Rebels' control of the game, however, slipped after halftime. A failed fourth-down attempt on Ole Miss' opening drive of the second half gifted Oklahoma a field goal, and the Sooners burst to a 26-25 third-quarter advantage on a pair of touchdowns from running back Xavier Robinson, highlighted by the sophomore's 65-yard rushing score. Overall, Oklahoma outgained the Rebels 99-9 on the ground and outscored the visitors 16-3 in the third quarter.

After fumbling its commanding lead, Ole Miss might have seen a familiar script entering the fourth quarter. Instead, less than 24 hours after his Friday night team talk, Kiffin saw the Rebels' newfound resolve.

"When you've had something happen to you previously in a season, seven days ago, and that same feeling comes back today," Kiffin said. "[It's] here we go: We're ahead ... games kind of in our control. Oh wait, now they're scoring a lot easier. We're not moving like we were. Same Georgia feeling. Crowd started coming alive. And then obviously a much different response by us. And I didn't feel like they ever kind of freaked out. They had each other's backs."

Following Chambliss' go-ahead touchdown throw, an Ole Miss defense led by junior defensive end Princewill Umanmielen -- who logged career highs with six tackles and 1.5 sacks -- clamped down. The Sooners gained only nine rushing yards in the final quarter and converted on only two of their final seven attempted conversions on third and fourth down.

"We just took [the Georgia game] as a learning experience," Umanmielen said. "Unfortunately, we had to take a loss to learn from it. We just took it as a learning experience and got the W today."

Now, Kiffin & Co. are back on track, returning home at 7-1 (4-1 in conference) and well-positioned to secure the program's first College Football Playoff appearance later this year.

After downing Oklahoma (6-2, 2-2), Ole Miss will embark on a homestand with matchups against three teams with losing records -- South Carolina, The Citadel and Florida -- before closing the regular season with a trip to Mississippi State. According to ESPN's Playoff Predictor, the Rebels hold the seventh-best odds of reaching the 12-team field among FBS programs, vaulted by Ole Miss' fourth-quarter 180 on the road Saturday afternoon.

"Very different fourth quarters as a team," Kiffin said. "This was a big win. It was hard."