GLENDALE, Arizona – Cinderella’s magical night finally came to an end on Thursday. But what a story it was.
Miami quarterback Carson Beck scored the game-winning 3-yard touchdown with 18 seconds left in regulation, and Ole Miss senior quarterback Trinidad Chambliss’ last-second heave to the end zone fell incomplete as the No. 10 Hurricanes defeated the No. 6 Rebels 31-27 in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium.
Chambliss threw a 24-yard go-ahead touchdown pass to senior tight end Dae’Quan Wright with just over three minutes remaining in the game. But Miami responded with a 15-play, 75-yard drive that Beck finished off with his historic scoring run.
Miami (13-2) ran 88 plays compared to Ole Miss’ 60 (13-2) and held the ball for more than 41 minutes. The Hurricanes finished 11 of 19 on third downs in the game and held the Rebels to two third-down conversions on 10 attempts.
Despite the disparities, the Rebels gave themselves a chance at the end.
“Just thinking about my brothers, people that have sacrificed so much to be in this position,” Chambliss, the former Division II star who took the college football world by storm this season, said. “There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes, whether it’s film, weight room stuff, and other things as well. And just this team has sacrificed a lot to get to this point. The season has been bumpy, and there’s been a lot of things going on. They just kept our focus. It’s been truly special.”
Ole Miss, who was picked to finish seventh in the preseason SEC poll, replaced 18 starters from last season’s team and lost previous head coach Lane Kiffin to LSU before the start of the program’s first-ever trip to the CFP, remained undaunted through every piece of adversity thrown its way this season. Despite the circumstances, Ole Miss set a school-record with 11-regular season wins and 13 wins overall. The Rebels won their CFP debut against No. 11 Tulane and defeated No. 3 Georgia in the quarterfinals at the Sugar Bowl last week.
Falling just short — one drive short, a few inches in the back of the end zone on the game’s final play short — of the program’s first national championship game appearance stings. But head coach Pete Golding, who faced a baptism-by-fire himself after being elevated from defensive coordinator to head coach on Nov. 30 following Kiffin’s departure, understood just how special this team’s achievements were.
If nothing else, the Fiesta Bowl served as a microcosm for who the 2025 Rebels were at their core: a rugged, battle-tested group that never believed the game was over until the clock finally hit zero.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of this group. They never panicked. They never flinched,” Golding said. “ … This is a group that created this legacy for this team and an expectation for this program that — what I told them in the locker room, that we’re pissed off in a semifinal game because we feel like we should have won the game because we didn’t play our best and we didn’t coach our best. Really proud of their effort and proud of the year they had.”
The Rebels faced their share of problems from the game’s opening moments, racking up negative-1 yards of offense in the first quarter and going three-and-out on its first two drives. A 38-yard field goal from Miami on its first drive marked the lone points of the opening period.
Ole Miss’ fortunes turned on the first play of the second quarter, as sophomore star Kewan Lacy broke free for a 73-yard touchdown. It was Ole Miss’ first first-down of the game. Lacy was injured on the long rush, however, and did not receive another carry in the first half. He returned to the game in the third quarter and finished with 103 yards.
The Hurricanes used a 15-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a CharMar Brown TD to retake the lead midway through the second. Sugar Bowl hero Lucas Carneiro tied the game at 10 with a 42-yard field goal with less than five minutes left in the quarter, though Beck responded with a perfectly placed 52-yard touchdown bomb to Keelan Marion on the fifth play of Miami’s subsequent drive.
The Hurricanes forced a quick three-and-out late in the half, but a first down sack from junior edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen on the first play of Miami’s next drive allowed the Rebels to take their three timeouts and get the ball back one last time. Carneiro hit a 58-yard field goal to get the Rebels within four at halftime.
The teams exchanged missed field goals on their opening possessions of the third, but Miami looked poised to add to its lead late in the quarter after driving down to the Ole Miss 24. Rebels sophomore defensive end Kam Franklin deflected Beck’s third-down throw, however, and senior safety Kapena Gushiken intercepted the ball just before it could hit the ground. A 54-yard field goal from Carneiro cut Miami’s lead down to a point despite Ole Miss being outgained by 110 yards through three quarters.
Back-to-back Ole Miss sacks on second and third down ruined Miami’s first drive of the fourth, and the Rebels drove down the field – with help from two Miami personal fouls – and Carneiro’s third field goal gave the Rebels a 19-17 lead with seven minutes to play.
Star freshman receiver Malachi Toney put Miami back in front less than two minutes later with a 36-yard catch-and-run touchdown reception. Chambliss responded by leading the Rebels on a six-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by Wright’s go-ahead touchdown reception with 3:13 left in the game.
Beck’s touchdown scramble came on second-and-goal from the 3, a play where he initially started drifting to his right looking for a receiver before taking off to the end zone on his left. Chambliss and Ole Miss’ offense had one gasp left, though, as completions to junior Cayden Lee and senior De’Zhaun Stribling moved the Rebels to the 35. Chambliss was able to heave a pass to the corner of the end zone that just grazed off Stribling’s outstretched left hand amid contact from a Miami defender.
Ole Miss’ 2025 storybook season didn’t get the fairytale ending its characters so-badly wanted. But that shouldn’t take away from the tale the Rebels told.
“I think I’ll just remember how they embraced each other,” Golding said. “There was a lot over the last month or so, however long it’s been now, to where somebody could have not been a good dude. Somebody could have not worked hard. Somebody could have not showed up on time. And I can’t recall one issue.
“ … It’s the smiles, man. It’s the memories, it’s the laughs, it’s the time with those guys and seeing the camaraderie that they grew together. They’re going to be talking about this for a long time, right? Some of it is going to be “What could have happened” and all those things, but they’ve made memories in this year in that locker room that will last a lifetime.”
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