NASHVILLE — Plenty of Southeastern Conference quarterbacks put up splashy numbers this weekend. Two of them did it against power-conference opponents. One of them did it in a competitive game.

It was the same guy who came into the season as the league’s best player at that position. Take a bow, Trinidad Chambliss, you remain at the head of the QB class in the SEC.

Kudos to LSU’s Sam Leavitt, who ran all over Clemson (and threw a little) Saturday night in Death Valley. No disrespect to Arch Manning, Gunner Stockton, John Mateer, Austin Simmons, Faizon Brandon, Kamario Taylor, Kenny Minchey, LaNorris Sellers and Aaron Philo. But to put it in SEC parlance, y’all didn’t play nobody.

Chambliss did. He and the Mississippi Rebels found themselves in a serve-and-volley shootout with dangerous underdog Louisville. And with the Ole Miss defense on roller skates and star running back Kewan Lacy missing most of the second half, everything wound up on Chambliss’s shoulders.

Once again, the former Division II quarterback handled the load.

Chambliss wound up with 386 yards of total offense and four total touchdowns against the Cardinals in a 41–38 thriller. He had two first-half turnovers, a fumble and an interception, as the high-octane Rebels struggled to get in gear. (“Boneheaded decisions,” Chambliss said.) But after the Mississippi defense squandered a two-touchdown lead and with the game on the line, Chambliss delivered the game-winning field goal drive. 

“I mean, I don’t know how many times he’s got to do it,” Rebels coach Pete Golding said. “That’s just who he is. The kid’s got unbelievable competitive character.”

In a tie game with 88 seconds left, Chambliss led Ole Miss down the field and Lucas Carneiro kicked the winning field goal. It all looked nearly identical to what Ole Miss did in shocking Georgia in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals last season.

“I honestly hate these games,” Chambliss said with a smile. “I don’t know why we do this every time. We like close, one-score games. But we got the win, that’s all that matters.”

Starting from their own 25-yard line, Chambliss connected with receiver Deuce Alexander for 15 yards to get the drive started—the fifth and final completion to the burner Alexander, who got loose deep twice in the third quarter for 62-yard touchdowns. Then on a third-and-6, Chambliss connected with tight end Caleb Odom for 14 yards. 

Two running plays (one by Chambliss) put the Rebels in position for a 48-yard kick by Carneiro—no sure thing for a college kicker, but Carneiro has been exceptionally clutch. Even after missing one earlier in the game, he was ready to make one more game-winner.

Golding told Carneiro after the miss that they would need him at the end. Carneiro told his coach, “I got you.” Then after the game, he said it again: “I told you I got you.”

Frankly, this was a game college football needed in a Week 1 riddled with uncompetitive blowouts. While most of the rest of the power-conference teams were scheduling spa treatments against increasingly overmatched teams from the lower half of FBS or the FCS ranks, Ole Miss and Louisville strapped up and took the full measure of each other.

Other than LSU clubbing the hollowed-out husk of a Clemson powerhouse and Auburn stumbling past a mediocre Baylor team, this is who the SEC beat in Week 1: Arkansas-Pine Bluff, UTEP, Tennessee State, Texas State, Missouri State, East Carolina, Furman, Kent State, Youngstown State, North Alabama, Austin Peay, Louisiana-Monroe and Florida Atlantic. Average margin of victory against those 13 opponents: 46.7 points.

How much was learned in those games by the winning teams? How much did the fans get out of the blowouts, many of which were played in sweltering conditions? Better to play a real opponent, as the Rebels and Cardinals did.

Both teams can exit Nashville feeling O.K. about themselves. Louisville nearly scored a major upset with a quarterback making his first college start. Ole Miss avoided a major upset and picked up a quality win.

“You get these opportunities to go play and really figure out what you got,” Golding said. “And coming out of it, I think we’ve got a resilient group that was far from perfect in all three phases.” 

Ole Miss needs to get Lacy healthy. The SEC’s leader in rushing touchdowns and No. 2 rusher last season missed the Rebels’ final four possessions of the game, although Golding said he didn’t think Lacy’s injury was major.

Both teams have some defensive issues to smooth out, particularly on the back end, as the night evolved into a pinball game of dueling long bombs—but that’s also partially attributable to their skill talent and quarterback play. Louisville’s Lincoln Kienholz, an Ohio State transfer, struggled with clock management most of the night—the Cardinals burned several timeouts to avoid delay-of-game penalties, and still got a couple of them. But he also looked like a battler with a big arm and live legs, capable of making play after play to lead a late comeback.

“I feel like he played his butt off going against a SEC defense,” Chambliss said of Kienholz. “Going against [Golding’s] defense, that’s a tough look.”

Well, that was debatable. LSU and the uber-villain of Oxford, Lane Kiffin, visit Ole Miss in an Armageddon-level game in two weeks, with easy games between now and then (the Tigers host Louisiana Tech and the Rebels host Charlotte). Let’s just say that Kiffin probably didn’t go to bed Sunday night worried about how the Tigers were going to move the ball on the Rebels.

For his part, Golding acknowledged watching “probably two quarters” of LSU’s bludgeoning of Clemson. 

“I thought it was good football,” Golding said. “I thought they played really good on defense, some really good players up front. So I think they are what everybody thought they were going to be.”

If Louisville was a tough test for Ole Miss, LSU will be tougher. But the Rebels also know more about themselves than most teams exiting Week 1. Most of all, they know they still have the best quarterback in the SEC.

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