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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs. Missouri
10/17/2026 | Football
OLE MISS HEAD COACH PETE GOLDING
Opening Statement:
"First, happy birthday to our leader in charge here, Keith Carter. He's the man. Another unbelievable atmosphere, obviously. I thought the crowd showed up; the fans showed up early. I thought our kids played extremely hard. I think it was no different than any other week. It wasn't perfect; it really wasn't. I think that is the most exciting thing: that we could still play better football. But it was good to see some things that you emphasize in all three phases show up and guys play well. I think Trinidad [Chambliss] probably wishes he had a couple throws back. He had a couple too many drops. We still had some missed tackles on defense that created some explosive plays, but I thought we tightened up in the red zone, which was good to see, and we were able to get off the field."
On holding Missouri's potent rushing attack to 39 yards:
"Well, we talked about it earlier in the week. You've got to stop the run on early downs. When you have success early in games, they have to change what they do, and they lose confidence in certain plays. Then you get a double-digit lead and the game changes. So, I thought we did a good job early versus the stretch running game. Thought we tackled better early, and Missouri changed their game plan. I think naturally, offensive coordinators don't want to run the football. They want to throw the football. But if you can't stop the run, you aren't going to make them throw it. So, we did a good job early. I thought our defensive front played really well. I thought our defensive staff had a really good plan and did a good job of holding these guys accountable throughout the week. But it still wasn't perfect. Anytime you hold a team like Missouri to 39 rushing yards, you have a shot. It allows you to be multiple in coverage and do some different things to try and confuse the QB and take [Cayden] Lee out of the game, which I felt we were able to do for the most part."
On WR Caleb Cunningham's emergence:
"I think it speaks volumes for our program. Not just from a football standpoint, but from a strength and conditioning and nutrition standpoint. You're seeing these guys' body types. The guy's been here for two years, and the size and speed are really starting to develop. Also, the development at the position is getting more technically sound every week, and we're getting him incorporated into the offense. It starts with his preparation and how he's been practicing. That was my big thing: stability and systems are important. You've got to recruit really good players and have stability, systems, and good coaches. You have to develop them, and they've got to stay. I think Caleb [Cunningham] is a byproduct of that, and he has a really bright future."
On facing Missouri QB Austin Simmons:
"Well, as I said earlier this week, I'm super excited for the success that he's had. That's a kid who worked his butt off here, was an unbelievable dude, was a multi-sport athlete, and carried himself the right way. He's got great character and unfortunately got hurt and beat out by a better guy last year, and now obviously he's up for the Heisman. So, I'm happy when good things happen to good people. He went and took advantage of a great opportunity with Coach [Eli] Drinkwitz, and he's played really well. So, I love going up and competing against him. I told him, 'Keep your head up, you're a great player. You've got a bright future, man; you've got to lead this team.' So, he'll be fine."
On RB Kewan Lacy playing through injury:
"Kewan [Lacy] wants to play. He's put a lot into this, and he's super competitive. I looked up and, I think it was the fourth, I'm like, 'Dude, get Kewan [Lacy] out of the game. What are we doing?" But that's Kewan [Lacy]. He was like, 'Coach, put me in.' I'm like, "No, no, you're coming out. We're good. We got this one." He's working his butt off, and he's been frustrated, obviously. He had high expectations for this year, and he's played well when he's been in there, but he's fighting through it week in and week out. He'll continue to get healthy. It wasn't the shoulder today; it was actually something else. But he fought through that, and they got him right at halftime, and he came back."
OLE MISS DT WILL ECHOLES
On the run defense improving the last two games:
"We knew the Florida game; we didn't put the best product on tape. You know, we made it simpler on defense to get back to our old self: attacking blocks, getting all blocks, and making plays."
On how well he played today:
"Man, the fans were crazy. It was loud. It's probably the loudest I have heard the stadium. So super grateful for the support, and hopefully they show up and show out at every home game."
On how well he played today:
"I just go out there and play. I am trying to do my best for my team to win. We got a great group of guys. I know I gave my best. I know I get tired; I got another group coming after me to go hard too. So, it goes hand in hand, and when you have great players in the room, you can do that. You can go hard every play because you ain't got to save."
On what Pete Golding's message was to the team:
"The same, honestly. He tells us, never get too high, never get too low. You know, we are in it to win, but we have to bring it every week, and the SEC is week to week. You have to play hard every week because you never know what team will catch you slipping, as we have seen today. Just keep playing hard, practicing hard."
On the calls seeming more aggressive the last two weeks:
"I feel like this week we knew about Cayden [Lee] and the run game, with number 20 Jamal Roberts, and Cayden [Lee] on 3rd down. He was probably the most targeted player on their team on 3rd down. I think he had like 20 attempts coming into this game, so we knew we had to try to eliminate him, get pressure on the front side of the stretch game to eliminate the running back, so that's what we did."
OLE MISS QB TRINIDAD CHAMBLISS
On his performance tonight:
"It was just on me; the accuracy wasn't there for some of my throws, and that's something that I had to clean up. You know, going into this week, focusing on that during practice- you know, accuracy and making sure that the timing of the receivers and the routes, you know, they're key. So, I've got to get better at passing and being more accurate."
On RB Kewan Lacy's toughness:
"He's extremely tough. I mean, I don't think all year, ever, you know, he's been healthy throughout this year so far. He's pushing through, and being a running back, that's tough because you're getting hit a lot. But yeah, he's pushing through. His toughness is insane. And I'm proud of, you know, proud of both 'backs' honestly. Having two running backs that ran for 100 yards rushing, that's wild. Shoutout to the offensive line for that too."
On the Ole Miss defense against Missouri compared to Florida:
"I'm super proud of our defense. They showed up. Throughout the whole year, they have been criticized, and a lot of people have been talking badly about our defense- that we can't stop them, this and that, that's the weakness of our team. You know, honestly, during fall camp, the offensive guys were saying we got the best defense in the SEC. I feel like they maybe just needed to find their groove, you know, find the chemistry between each other. And it showed up today- so super proud of them. Them holding that Missouri offense to only three points is big time- their running back only had 39 yards today, so super proud of them. That's insane, so happy for our defense and happy for our team."
On throwing to nine to ten different receivers compared to one to two:
"Yeah, you know, getting everybody involved is crucial. Not being solely focused on one receiver or two receivers, you know, our guys can make a lot of plays when the ball is in their hands. I just go through my progression and then just see who's open and who's not. And just take what the defense gives us honestly and throw to an open guy, really. I mean, I have all the confidence in our receivers and our tight ends."
OLE MISS RB KEWAN LACY
On facing his former team:
"Yeah, I feel like just coming from there, transferring in from there, just gave a little extra motivation to go out there and prepare the right way."
On staying in the game, despite injury:
"I want to play all four quarters of the game, just be out there supporting my teammates. So, just having that competitive mindset to finish four quarters of the game is something I stand by."
On chemistry with RB Makhi Frazier:
"I feel like we are just heating up and getting our chemistry right. I feel like it's going to be an explosive backfield with 25 [Frazier] and 5 [Lacy] back there."
On the potential of the offense:
"The potential of our offense is high. We have the guys up front, we definitely have the quarterback, and the receivers. We have every component on the field that we need. We just have to keep taking it day by day, getting better, and building from this game."
MISSOURI HEAD COACH ELI DRINKWITZ
Opening Statement:
"Hats off to Ole Miss; they are a good football team. We didn't play very well today. That's on me as the head coach. We will go back, get rested up, and keep moving forward."
On why take the field goal on 4th and five and not try to score:
"Kicking it made the score, 14-6. If we make it, it's still a one possession game. If you don't get it, you're still in a two possession game. We worked really hard to get down there, so felt like we needed to just come away with points. Obviously, it was a deflating moment in the game. I still think it was the right call."
On what the struggle on offense was today:
"We weren't able to get the run game going. We weren't able to sustain drives on 3rd downs and then didn't score. It kind of summed up the entire game on that last drive. Get down to the 10 and don't get any points. That happened three times. Inside the five and don't get a touchdown."
On not being able to score inside the 10:
"On the first one, we committed a penalty that put us behind the eight ball. On the second one, we went tempo and they brought a guy off the edge and didn't get it. Went to a counter play and that made us throw it on third. So not executing under pressure made it harder to score."
On what is the message is to the team:
"Yeah, we lost, but all is not lost. We're a 5-2 team and got a chance to get healthy and get better and play the next opponent. That really has to be our mindset. This league has ups and downs and obviously we didn't handle the state of Mississippi well and didn't perform well here. We have to learn our lesson, go home and get rested up. There's a lot of good football left to play and a lot of really good opportunities. This season is not over."
MISSOURI LB NICHOLAS RODRIGUEZ
On the defense:
"Yeah, it's just a competitive game. We gotta start situations and execute better, and that's going to come with fixing that in practice."
On the run game struggling:
"Ole Miss is a good team, but we hurt ourselves. We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times. We just need to fix our mistakes and focus on us."
On QB Trinidad Chambliss:
"He's a good player. I feel like we just had to do a better job as a defense and execute on those third downs, and just improve."
On the environment:
"Whenever you're on the road, you've got to start fast. Once you start fast, you kind of get the crowd out of it. I know it didn't work out that way, but we still had to fight through."
MISSOURI QB AUSTIN SIMMONS
On working well with Missouri WR Donovan Olugbode:
"You know a lot of people didn't know their names in the past… so we have been working on the chemistry and talking about routes and concepts. You know what's going to be on the board… I think it really just comes down to the chemistry of it all over time."
On frustration of the night, lack of run game:
"For me, we can never be frustrated. We just have to adjust. Of course, you're not going to have a perfect game all the time. You have to really just adapt and control the game. That's it."
On the cause behind not moving the ball:
"I'm not ready to speak much on that. They're a great football team. Obviously they're in the top 10 in the nation, so they came out here and they just played ball. We just made mistakes."
On message to the rest of the team:
"Things like this happen. You really have to go back to the drawing board. You really just have to face this adversity as a group together. Of course, we're a team, we're a unit, and we just have to go ahead and handle the adversity."
MISSOURI OL DOMINICK GIUDICE
On what to do when you're feeling off:
"I think we all do a good job staying level headed throughout adversity and really leaning on each other. Today, we just didn't show up the way we wanted. But, just continuing to lean on the brotherhood and take it one play at a time."
On issues with the penalties today:
"We have to start better and the first one is obviously on me. Just got to start better up front and eliminate those penalties. We can't keep beating ourselves when we are playing SEC games, and good teams that don't commit self limiting penalties."
On not being able to finish drives:
"We needed to get into more manageable third down situations. Then once we cross that 50 to keep up that momentum, we really need to lean on the guys we are playing against and finish out with a touchdown."
