Ole Miss beat LSU 32-24 on Sept. 19 and jumped to No. 4. Seven days later it lost 52-28 at Florida. Florida then lost by 28 at Missouri. Vanderbilt comes home 0-2 in the SEC after Georgia beat it 38-14. Ole Miss sits ninth in the AP poll, Florida 16th. Kickoff in Nashville is 2:30 p.m. Central.
Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis argued the seven-day letdown is a conference pattern, not an Ole Miss failing, and that Saturday it belongs to the other sideline. A team that empties the tank at home travels the next week with nothing refilled, Willis said. Ole Miss was idle, so it has no high to come down from.
Pete Golding has coached seven games against one unranked opponent, a 41-9 win over Charlotte; Saturday is the second. He came away from the open date with a warning, “another week of showing how hard it is to play on the road in this league,” plus a demand: “If you don’t pack your run game, if you don’t pack your defense, it’s going to be hard to win.”
Willis read that as pointing at right tackle, where Golding cited Tommy Kinsler IV’s return to health and Connor Howes “getting meaningful snaps,” and described depth rather than a problem: “we have multiple guys that could play winning football.” The chart is not set until Friday.
Kewan Lacy is expected back but will not take 40 to 50 snaps, leaving work for JT Lindsey and Makhi Frazier. Against LSU, Ole Miss ran 25 times for 63 yards and won anyway. The run game, Willis argued, only has to be good enough to let Trinidad Chambliss be Trinidad Chambliss, and four straight opening handoffs would repeat the Florida mistake. He expects the hangover to land on Vanderbilt.
Photo: Trinidad Chambliss, September 26, 2026, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images.
Adapted from the October 7, 2026 episode of Locked On Ole Miss, hosted by Steven Willis, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Watch the full episode.