NORMAN, Oklahoma – Ole Miss wasn’t about to let the same thing happen twice, much less within a seven-day span.
A week after blowing a nine-point fourth-quarter lead at Georgia, No. 8 Ole Miss squandered a 12-point third-quarter lead at No. 13 Oklahoma on a soggy Saturday afternoon at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. But the Rebels flipped the script this time and outscored the Sooners 9-0 in the fourth quarter in a 34-26 victory that bolstered Ole Miss’ College Football Playoff résumé in a major way. It was the third meeting between the teams all-time and first in Norman. The Rebels have won all three matchups.
Ole Miss (7-1, 4-1 SEC) put up 431 yards against the nation’s No. 2 defense – the No. 13 Sooners (6-2, 2-2) came in surrendering 213 yards per game and were also second nationally in scoring defense at 9.4 points per game – and scored the most points by an Oklahoma opponent this year.
Ole Miss senior quarterback Trinidad Chambliss started his sixth consecutive game and threw for 315 yards and a touchdown and ran for 53 yards. Sophomore running back Kewan Lacy ran for 78 yards and two touchdowns; Oklahoma entered the game surrendering just over 80 yards per game on the ground and had given up two rushing touchdowns all season.
“A lot of people did a lot of really good things today in that game,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said. “Offensively, defensively and then special teams. For Trace (Bruckler), a tight end, to force a fumble like that was awesome. So, I think it says a lot about them. Because, when you have had something happen to you previously in a season – much less seven days ago – and that same feeling comes back today. ‘Here we go again. We’re ahead, game’s 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, much different response by us. And I didn’t feel like they ever freaked out, and they had each other’s back.”
A week after giving up 34 first downs to the Bulldogs, the Sooners were only able to total 14 on the Rebels’ defense. Ole Miss also sacked Mateer three times.
Mateer completed just 5 of 15 passes against Ole Miss in the fourth quarter.
“We work for moments like this. We practice these situations at practice,” Umanmielen said. “We just live in the moment, playing every rep for what it is.”
Ole Miss hosts South Carolina Saturday with the game time still to be determined.
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