Ole Miss plays at Vanderbilt on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Central in Nashville, carrying a 52-28 loss at Florida and two weeks of an open date. Vanderbilt is 0-2 in the SEC, beaten by six at Auburn and 38-14 at Georgia, which outgained it 256-59 after halftime. Ole Miss is favored by 10.5, with 87 percent of the market’s money on it.
Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis argued the danger is the category of game, not Vanderbilt’s roster. Pete Golding is the first FBS head coach to beat four AP-ranked teams in his first six games, and has faced one unranked opponent, a 41-9 win over Charlotte. Saturday is the second, which Willis called the hardest game in college football.
Golding ran a practice with zero defensive calls and walked the whole roster through the Florida tape. He volunteered the number himself: 62 missed tackles for 482 yards, 70 percent of every rushing yard the defense has allowed. Tahj Butler said tackling is 10 percent technique and 90 percent want-to.
Willis said the Gainesville error was forgetting its best player. Trinidad Chambliss threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns against LSU, his 10th career 300-yard game, tying Eli Manning for the most in program history. Terez Davis said Vanderbilt brings six, seven or eight rushers on third down, and every extra one leaves a receiver uncovered. Traylon Ray had 115 yards and a touchdown in that game.
Willis predicted Ole Miss 38, Vanderbilt 24, with the Rebels pulling away once the blitz gets punished. Kewan Lacy returns on a snap count, and his rushing touchdown in 12 straight games played, the longest Ole Miss streak since 1956, survives on one carry in the end zone. A win moves Ole Miss to 4-1 before Missouri visits Oxford.
Photo: Trinidad Chambliss, September 19, 2026, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Credit: Scott Clause/USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.
Adapted from the October 9, 2026 episode of Locked On Ole Miss, hosted by Steven Willis, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Watch the full episode.