Chambliss, Carneiro lift
Mississippi past Georgia 39-34 in Sugar Bowl and into CFP semifinals
[January 02, 2026]
By BRETT MARTEL
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With Trinidad Chambliss making stunning plays at
pivotal moments, Mississippi is doing fine without Lane Kiffin.
Chambliss passed for 362 yards and two touchdowns, and Lucas
Carneiro kicked a 47-yard field goal with 6 seconds left to put No.
6 Mississippi in front for good in a 39-34 victory over third-ranked
Georgia in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl
on Thursday night.
“A lot of people did doubt us before the season and they still
doubted us when our coach left,” Chambliss said. “We just want to
play ball and have fun, and I think that’s showing right now.”
The Rebels (13-1, CFP No. 6 seed) have now won two postseason games
since Kiffin left for LSU on Nov. 30 and defensive coordinator Pete
Golding was promoted to fill the vacancy at the top of the staff.
Next up for Ole Miss is a semifinal matchup with Miami at the Fiesta
Bowl.
“We’ve got a lot of good coaches,” Golding said, referring in part
to assistants who have agreed to join Kiffin at LSU, but who’ve been
permitted to remain with the Rebels through this postseason.
“A lot of guys have been going through a lot of things but they’ve
been here for the kids the whole time,” Golding continued. “And this
is a special group of kids.”
Kicking off on the heels of two lopsided CFP quarterfinals at the
Orange and Rose bowls, the all-SEC match-up at the Sugar Bowl
provided drama throughout.
“It was an incredible college football game,” Georgia coach Kirby
Smart said. “It’s what the CFP was built for, to have battles like
that. And that was basically every conference game we had this
year.”
While Carneiro's late kick was the decisive score, Ole Miss was
awarded a safety on its final kickoff when Georgia’s return team
tried a cross-field lateral that hit the pylon with 1 second left.
“I’m sick that we lost, and there’s things I would love to go back
and do differently,” Smart said. “But I’m just so proud of the way
our guys competed.”
After seeing a 21-12 halftime lead turn into a 34-24 deficit with
9:02 to play, Georgia (12-2, CFP No. 3 seed) rallied to tie it,
first driving for Gunner Stockton’s 18-yard TD pass to Zachariah
Branch before Peyton Woodring’s short field goal tied it with 55
seconds left in regulation.
Chambliss responded by setting up the winning kick with a 40-yard
pass to De’Zhaun Stribling on third down from Mississippi’s 30-yard
line. A few plays later, Carneiro, who’d already broken Sugar Bowl
records with field goals of 55 and 56 yards, connected again and
sprinted triumphantly toward the Ole Miss sideline as the Rebels
jubilantly swarmed around him.
“They’re never scared and they don’t panic, and that’s what I love
about this group,” Golding said of his players. “They don’t ever get
too high; they don’t get too low. They want to get coached. They
want to get coached hard, and they want another opportunity.”
Harrison Wallace III caught nine passed for 156 yards and one TD,
Stribling finished with seven catches for 122 yards, Kewan Lacy
rushed for 98 yards and two TDs, and the Rebels outgained the
Bulldogs 473 yards to 343.
Stockton passed for 203 yards and one touchdown, and also ran for
two scores.
Both quarterbacks made big plays under duress.
Twice, Chambliss appeared to be running for his life to avoid sacks,
retreating well behind the line of scrimmage and changing direction
before finding school yard-type completions during a 75-yard scoring
drive that ended with Lacy’s second touchdown.
“Their quarterback is just incredible,” Smart said. “I mean, he does
an unbelievable job of not (taking) sacks and making plays with his
legs.”
[to top of second column] |
Mississippi players celebrate a win over Georgia after the Sugar
Bowl NCAA college football playoff quarterfinal game, Friday, Jan.
2, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Stockton twice completed passes moments before
absorbing heavy hits, both of which took him off his feet and one of
which looked like unpenalized head contact that left him flat on his
back.
“Just playing for everybody on the team and just trying to give my
best effort,” Stockton said.
Both QBs also converted fourth-down passes to keep alive scoring
drives when their team trailed.
In the third quarter, Chambliss found Wallace over the middle for a
36-yard gain on fourth down to the Georgia 8, setting up Lacy’s
7-yard scoring run around the right end to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to
21-19.
Stockton completed a 16-yard pass to Branch on fourth-and-9 near
midfield in the waning minutes, setting up the tying field goal.
Georgia also converted a fake punt from its own 30 with a reverse
pass from Landon Roldan to Lawson Luckie in the third quarter,
sustaining a drive that culminated with Woodring’s 37-yard field
goal to give the Bulldogs a 24-19 lead.
But after Ole Miss had taken a 27-24 lead, Georgia again ran an
offensive play on fourth down in its own territory and Stockton was
sacked by Suntarine Perkins. Chambliss cashed in soon after with a
back-shoulder touchdown pass to Wallace to make it 34-24.
Georgia took its first lead at 7-6 on Stockton’s 12-yard run.
Chambliss quickly led Mississippi back in front, hitting Stribling
for 39 yards down the left sidelined before finding Luke Hasz
crossing the back of the end zone for a 3-yard score.
The lead changed again on Stockton's short keeper — one play after
being flattened by what appeared to be an illegal hit to the head by
linebacker Tahj Chambers as the quarterback released a 26-yard
completion to Cash Jones.
Lacy fumbled on Mississippi’s next series, and the ball bounced
straight to Daylen Everette, who ran 47 yards untouched for his
first-career touchdown to make it 21-12.
The takeaway
Ole Miss: While Kiffin put this Rebels team together and led it to
an 11-1 regular season, his departure for LSU — traumatic as it may
have been for Ole Miss fans — hasn't stopped the team from forging
ahead under Golding. The former Rebels defensive coordinator is now
2-0 in his head coaching career, with both victories coming in the
CFP. His latest triumph also came not far from his southeastern
Louisiana hometown.
Georgia: This marked the second straight year the Bulldogs earned a
bye in the two-year-old, 12-team CFP format, only to fall in a
quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl to a team that had played in the
first round. Last season, Georgia’s season ended in the Superdome at
the hands of Notre Dame.
Up next
Ole Miss: The Rebels brace for a 10th-seeded Miami squad that has
staged back-to-back CFP upsets.
Georgia: Opens its 2026 season at home against Tennessee State on
Sept. 5.
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