Nashville, TN – As time expired in regulation, Lucas Carneiro booted a 48-yard FG for Ole Miss to defeat the Louisville Cardinals in the Music City Classic, 41-38. Despite an exciting game late in the third until final whistle, both teams struggled greatly in the opener for both. Errant snaps, overthrown passes, costly penalties (142 yards on 17 flags in total), questionable play calling, poor clock management, wasted time-outs, and costly turnovers marked most of this eventual, down-to-the wire game. Chalk it up to some pre-game jitters? Maybe, but mental mistakes by players and coaches continued throughout this game.
Action heats up late
The excitement at Nissan Stadium ratcheted up in the final 2:22 of the third period. Louisville QB Lincoln Kienholz finally moved his team on a 41-yard breakaway run to the Ole Miss 32. Carson Hilbert nailed a 45-yard FG to then trail, 17-16. Ole Miss countered on its next possession. Heisman QB candidate Trinidad Chambliss connected with WR Deuce Alexander on an over-the-shoulder spiral for a 62-yard touchdown. Earlier in the period, the two connected from the same distance to gain a 17-13 advantage.
Ole Miss penalties and belated LU strategy
To note some sloppiness of this game though, officials penalized Ole Miss on the PAT for delay of game and a false start. It resulted in a rare, 30-yard extra point. Louisville retaliated on its very next drive. Kienholz connected with a wide-open Tre Richardson, also for a 62-yard score. Sixteen seconds remained in the period. Following the score, HC Jeff Brohm called his second time-out of the half to call for a two-point conversion. Aren’t two-point plays part of the pre-determined strategy before one becomes necessary? It paid off with a slant left pass to LaWayne McCoy to tie, 24-24. However, wasted time-outs would cost LU opportunities later in this game.
Ole Miss Momentum while Lacy sits
Ole Miss maintained their offensive momentum to start the fourth. Chambliss connected with TE Caleb Odom for a 35-yard score. A sack of Kienholz by DE Kam Franklin forced Louisville to punt from its ten. Mahki Frazier took over the running duties of Lacy at this point. Lacy applied ice to his knee while sitting of the sideline after gaining 61 rushing yards and 19 passing. Carneiro attempted a 61-yard FG that missed. A blatant roughing the kicker call ensued to the chagrin of the Cardinal faithful among the 57,390 in attendance.
Ole Miss resumed their drive at the LU 25. At the five, Chambliss (21 for 36 passing, 336 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT; rushing 9 for 60, 1 TD) took the snap in the shotgun and ran it right up the middle to extend the lead, 38-24. Officials assessed two penalties against Louisville on the play. One for unsportsmanlike and another for roughing the kicker.
Louisville comes back
With only one time-out remaining, the Cardinals scored at 4:42 mark on Kienholz’s 54-yard pass to McCoy to get back into it, 38-31. McCoy made a beautiful spin move along the sideline to avoid a tackle and stay in bounds to race into the end zone. Of note in this game, numerous passing plays called for the right-handed Kienholz to roll left and throw against his body. Passes did not connect at all. Finally, he got to display his accuracy rolling to his right.
Louisville forced Ole Miss to punt after a three-and out from its 31. The Cardinals started from their 23. Kienholz (18 for 29, 307 yards, 2 TDs) connected with TE Jaleel Skinner to the 48. Next, he connected with Richardson short of the first but followed up with four-yard rush. He connected with RB Issac Brown out of the backfield for a 32-yard gain to the seven. Two plays later, he ran it in from there. Brohm called for the one-point conversion. They knotted to score, 38-38, with 1:28 left on the clock.
Heisman moments for Ole Miss quarterback?
Following the touchback, Chambliss went right back to work. He picked up 15 yards on a pass to Alexander. Next, he ran for four. Then, he connected with Odom for an 18-yard pickup. Chambliss stopped the clock with a spike, rushed for three, and handed off to Frazier to put Ole Miss at the Louisville 35. From there, Carneiro put the game away with his 48-yarder as time expired.
Exciting finish to a game where both teams shot themselves in the foot way too many times. The game was exciting, but not very pretty. Hard to imagine either team moving up or down in the upcoming poll, but eleven more contests follow to allow them to improve.
Coming up in Week Two
Louisville (0-1) will host the FCS Villanova Wildcats (1-1), now a member of The Patriot League. Ole Miss (1-0) hosts Charlotte (0-1) of the American Athletic. They fell in their opener against FCS The Citadel last Saturday, 43-41, in three OTs.
We at Collegefootballfan.com stay in Nashville for our next game. This time, we head to Vanderbilt’s First Bank Stadium to see the Commodores who defeated FCS Austin Peay, 28-9, last Saturday. In that game, QB Blaze Berlowitz started for Vandy, and new Frosh QB Jared Curtis saw some on action completing 7 of 9 passes for 60 yards. Both take over for Diego Pavia who had a good two-year stint for the Commodores, 11-2, a year ago.
Another close battle in the making
The Dores will host the Fighting Blue Hens of Delaware (1-0) in their second year of play in the FBS as a member of Conference USA. They defeated FCS Merrimack in their home opener, 42-7, on August 27. QB Nick Minicucci led UD with 330 passing yards, two TDs, and one INT while completing 20 of 36 passes. The Blue Hens went 7-6 in their inaugural FBS season. We envision another exciting finish in this one between two hungry FBS programs looking for greater respect.
Read more fun history of many games attended our first 42 Seasons!
If you haven’t already, please click on the title about this life-long adventure: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun, and the Ugly on Amazon.com. Among 740 college games attended to date now, we’ve seen all 136 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams play in person. In 2026, in case you aren’t aware, North Dakota State and Sacramento State join the FBS this season. “Fifty Years” tells our story of how we got to attend our first 652 games!
Read the reviews on the book page and order your copy today. If you’re trying to follow NILs and transfer portals, read what we predicted in 2023. Hopefully, you’ll understand how much we love this sport and what we propose for it to survive successfully. In addition, we offered solutions to issues occurring that we anticipated when we wrote Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales.
Capture some memories
Please buy your copy today and read about the many great memories captured. Maybe some will bring back some of the same memories you encountered when we did. And to us this isn’t a job. It’s our lifelong adventure!
Edited and written by Stephen J. Koreivo, member of Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Author of “Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly.”
