TJ Dottery and the Ole Miss defense made a huge stop when it absolutely had to, and the Rebels improved to 3-0 with a 41-35 win over Arkansas in another chaotic chapter in this series.
With the Razorbacks (2-1, 0-1 SEC) down six and driving the ball into Ole Miss (3-0, 2-0 SEC) territory, the fourth quarter atmosphere was getting more and more nervous in Oxford on Saturday. Coming out of a two minute stoppage, a pass to Arky wide out Jalen Brown was completed, Dottery stepped up to textbook strip
the ball out, and Wydett Williams Jr. made the recovery to stop the last Arkansas threat.
Saturday’s game was expected to be a potentially high scoring shootout and the first half left no doubt to that proposition with the Rebels going into the locker room up 31-28. The second half featured two defenses that looked like they got their ass chewed as both teams made adjustments to keep the other out of the end zone.
But still, Ole Miss at one point had a 41-28 lead which seemed comfortable until it didn’t. The stop and strip saved the game for the Rebels while another massive piece of the game was the play of quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.
Chambliss was a name mostly unknown to the casual Ole Miss fan until he was named the starter on Saturday in the wake of Austin Simmons’ nagging ankle injury. The transfer from Division II Ferris State guided his team last season to a 2024 national championship, and he had some designed run plays in the first two weeks that were successful.
He splashed onto the scene in a huge way with more than 400 total yards and three total touchdowns in his first start as a Rebel. The biggest stat from his play on Saturday though was ZERO turnovers and protecting the ball to keep Ole Miss in a game that seemed destined for a “whoever has the ball last” finish.
It was truly a battle between two very athletic and gifted quarterbacks in Chambliss and Arkansas QB Taylen Green (22-35, 305 yards, one TD). While the Rebels defense tried to contain Green, he still managed more than 100 yards rushing to lead his team in that category as did Chambliss.
Tre Wallace led Ole Miss receivers with 92 yards and a touchdown while Cayden Lee re-emerged from a quiet start to this season with three catches for 75 yards.
In a game that featured more than 1,000 offensive yards, the margin was tighter than it should have been for most fans. Yes, a win is a win all the cliches, but on a night with a back-up QB above anyone’s expectations in the stands, the defense finally woke up and made the stop it had to for the Rebels to win.
Next up for Ole Miss is an undefeated Tulane team coming on the road at 2:30 p.m. CST on Saturday.
