1 / 2

Mississippi platers and coach celebrate a win against Georgia after the Sugar Bowl NCAA college football playoff quarterfinal game, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in New Orleans.

Gerald Herbert, AP Photo

2 / 2

Indiana players celebrate after a win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in Pasadena, Calif.

Mark J. Terrill, AP Photo

❮ ❯

NEW ORLEANS — With Trinidad Chambliss making stunning plays at pivotal moments, Mississippi is doing fine without Lane Kiffin.

Chambliss passed for 362 yards and two touchdowns, and Lucas Carneiro kicked a 47-yard field goal with 6 seconds left to put No. 6 Mississippi in front for good in a 39-34 victory over third-ranked Georgia in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl on Thursday night.

“A lot of people did doubt us before the season and they still doubted us when our coach left,” Chambliss said. “We just want to play ball and have fun, and I think that’s showing right now.”

The Rebels (13-1, CFP No. 6 seed) have now won two postseason games since Kiffin left for LSU on Nov. 30 and defensive coordinator Pete Golding was promoted to fill the vacancy at the top of the staff. Next up for Ole Miss is a semifinal matchup with Miami at the Fiesta Bowl.

“We’ve got a lot of good coaches,” Golding said, referring in part to assistants who have agreed to join Kiffin at LSU, but who’ve been permitted to remain with the Rebels through this postseason.

“A lot of guys have been going through a lot of things but they’ve been here for the kids the whole time,” Golding continued. “And this is a special group of kids.”

Kicking off on the heels of two lopsided CFP quarterfinals at the Orange and Rose bowls, the all-SEC match-up at the Sugar Bowl provided drama throughout.

“It was an incredible college football game,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “It’s what the CFP was built for, to have battles like that. And that was basically every conference game we had this year.”

While Carneiro’s late kick was the decisive score, Ole Miss was awarded a safety on its final kickoff when Georgia’s return team tried a cross-field lateral that hit the pylon with 1 second left.

“I’m sick that we lost, and there’s things I would love to go back and do differently,” Smart said. “But I’m just so proud of the way our guys competed.”

After seeing a 21-12 halftime lead turn into a 34-24 deficit with 9:02 to play, Georgia (12-2, CFP No. 3 seed) rallied to tie it, first driving for Gunner Stockton’s 18-yard TD pass to Zachariah Branch before Peyton Woodring’s short field goal tied it with 55 seconds left in regulation.

Chambliss responded by setting up the winning kick with a 40-yard pass to De’Zhaun Stribling on third down from Mississippi’s 30-yard line. A few plays later, Carneiro, who’d already broken Sugar Bowl records with field goals of 55 and 56 yards, connected again and sprinted triumphantly toward the Ole Miss sideline as the Rebels jubilantly swarmed around him.

Harrison Wallace III caught nine passed for 156 yards and one TD, Stribling finished with seven catches for 122 yards, Kewan Lacy rushed for 98 yards and two TDs, and the Rebels outgained the Bulldogs 473 yards to 343.

Stockton passed for 203 yards and one touchdown, and also ran for two scores.

No. 1 Indiana 38, No. 9 Alabama 3

PASADENA, Calif. — No. 1 Indiana became the first team in the brief history of the 12-team College Football Playoff to win a game after receiving a first-round bye, smothering Alabama 38-3 in a quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl on Thursday.

The Hoosiers (14-0; No. 1 AP, No. 1 CFP) ended a six-game losing streak for teams coming off an extended layoff, including second seed Ohio State falling to Miami in the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday and fourth seed Texas Tech shutout by Oregon in the Orange Bowl earlier on Thursday.

An inauspicious start made it seem as if Indiana might continue the trend of teams unable to respond after a long layoff, going three-and-out on the opening possession with Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza taking two sacks. The Crimson Tide (11-4; No. 11 AP, No. 9 CFP) then found early success with two quick first downs into Hoosiers’ territory before the defense stepped up to force a punt.

From there, Indiana came to life, taking a 17-0 halftime lead on a 31-yard field goal by Nicolas Radicic and two touchdown passes from Mendoza. Avoiding an early deficit was crucial, as it had been something of a constant in the previous losses by idle teams.