Why Pete Golding Remains Confident Ole Miss has the ‘Right Group’ to ‘Control Destiny’

AUSTIN, Texas — Pete Golding is well aware of where his team stands following Ole Miss’, 34-27, loss to Texas.

The Rebels picked up their second loss of the season Saturday night, snapping their two-game win streak and the momentum Ole Miss had been building since the start of the month.

Ole Miss went into the locker room trailing by three touchdowns, but managed to storm back in the second half to tie the game behind a dominant third quarter. Despite being out-scored 24-10 in the final two frames, Texas still managed to beat the Rebels off in the end for a gut-punching finish.

“Obviously disappointed,” Golding said of the team mood. “I think you got to look back and ask ‘Did you do everything that you needed to do to give yourself your best shot as players and coaches?’ I think all of us are going to look back when we watch the tape and wish we’d have done a couple things differently. But there wasn’t this ‘woe is me, life’s over.’ They know.”

In a season with the (final) 12-team College Football Playoff format, 10 wins is the mark to feel confident about qualifying for meaningful postseason play. For the 5-2 Ole Miss Rebels, that means winning the rest of their final five regular season games.

Through seven games, Ole Miss still remains in control of its own path back to the CFP.

Golding believes Ole Miss has the right group.

Why?

Oct 24, 2026; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) runs the ball as Mississippi Rebels defensive tackle Will Echoles (52) pursues during the second half at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“I told them we control our own destiny, you know. So we got to go out, and we’ve got several really good teams we still got to play. All we’re concerned about tomorrow is us, and then we’ll move on to Auburn on Monday. That’s a good football team that obviously already beat Georgia. So we know it’s a tough slate, but I think it’s the right group.”

“There’s not an undefeated team left in this league. So we control our own destiny,” Golding reiterated. “You ain’t got no ‘my bads.’ We said all that and that’s what I said in the locker room. You ain’t got no days off anymore. You know, that’s over. So it’s not easy, week in and week out. But we got the right group. We got the right type of guys. We got good players. So we’re going to go to work and see what happens.”

In its losses in the previous two weeks to Oklahoma and Florida, Texas blew second half leads. On Saturday night, it was dangerously close to blowing another double-digit lead to Ole Miss.

It was something the Rebels certainly discussed before their second half surge during halftime and the week.

We talked about it earlier in the week. They’ve been down and came back and won and we said that at halftime,” Golding explained. “They’ve been up multiple possessions in this stadium and lost. They’ve been down multiple possessions in this stadium. We know if we went out and played good football that we could get back in it. So that was the whole one play, one drive at a time. That’s all we can control is our focus, our execution, our effort and our toughness. I thought for the most part they did that.

Defensively, Ole Miss surrendered over 400 yards of offense at the hands of a balanced attack that saw the Longhorns bring back familiar struggles.

Texas rushed for over 200 yards, but, without looking at the tape, Golding didn’t see anything special and more missed tackles.

“They found missed tackles. I mean, it’s no different,” Golding told reporters. “They’re going to watch the tape. I’ll watch it on the sideline. I got the iPad right after it. So, you know, some of those things, they got good players too, some of that. But we got a couple nice tackles in the hole and guys were on the ground and had some critical points. So I wish I could tell you something different, but I can’t.”

Trinidad Chambliss had another up and down outing as the Rebels’ star quarterback finished the game completing 48 percent (25-of-52) of his passes for 250 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.

However, the story behind Chambliss’ performance goes beyond the box score.

Texas’ defensive front overmatched Ole Miss up front, impacted play design and made Chambliss uncomfortable for most of the night. Golding will be the first to give credit to the Longhorns’ defensive approach led by veteran defensive coordinator Will Muschamp.

“They’re really good on defense. We knew that going in. I thought (defensive coordinator) Will (Muschamp) did a really good job of giving (Chambliss) a lot of different looks. So obviously, looking at the stats, I mean, it doesn’t look great. From a number standpoint, I haven’t evaluated the offensive side of the ball or not. I know he competed his butt off and I know we got a chance with the ball in his hand at the end. So we’ll evaluate that tomorrow. But obviously it looks like, from a numbers standpoint, he could play better.”

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