NEW ORLEANS — The best stories are those unexpected.
The ones that defy logic, that go against every prediction or prognostication. This isn't only in sports, but in life as well. The moments we least expect are often the most bewildering, shocking and altogether fascinating of our fleeting time on this earth.
This year, in this college football season, in, of all states, Mississippi and of all teams, the Ole Miss Rebels, there is an unexpected story — improbable, unprecedented, incredible really.
On New Year's Day night inside a rocking Louisiana Superdome, the latest chapter of this confounding tale played out in a football game that delivered some entirely unlikely Mardi Gras magic to this party place.
With a former Division II quarterback and a head coach in his first month on the job, the Ole Miss Rebels, a touchdown underdog playing against the country's latest perennial power, with a staff of a half-dozen coaches bound for their conference rival, that Ole Miss team, the one left in the dust by Lane Kiffin, the center of perhaps the most unprecedented coaching move in college football history, that one, these Rebels, they did it.
Ole Miss beat Georgia, 39-34, to advance to theCollege Football Playoff semifinalagainst 10th-seeded Miami (12-2) in the Fiesta Bowl next Thursday — one win away from an unthinkable scenario and something that hasn't happened in more than 60 years: the Rebels playing for a national championship.
How they did it — with their former head coach an hour away in Baton Rouge, a quarterback who few knew just a year ago and a big-legged transfer kicker from Western Kentucky — is one of the most stunning happenings in the history of the sport.
"It's incredibly hard to put it in words," says Glenn Boyce, the Ole Miss chancellor, nearly in tears amid the on-field celebration. "The way you hold something like this together is, sure, leadership and leadership matters, but here's the other way: these players."
The players had been forgotten, victims of the giant shadow created by Kiffin's departure, resulting in one of the most bizarre staffing structures ever seen: Two former LSU staff members are now at Ole Miss and at least six future LSU staff members are still coaching the Rebels.
Caught in between the bickering adults is a group of players that helped sixth-seeded Ole Miss (13-1) storm back on Thursday from a nine-point second-half deficit against the third-seeded and SEC champion Georgia Bulldogs (12-2).
There's quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, a former Division II passer who tore through Georgia's defense for 362 yards and two touchdowns and, in his final heave, found receiver De'Zhaun Stribling for 40 yards to set up the game-winning 47-yard field goal from another unlikely star, transfer kicker Lucas Carneiro, who swung that leg of his to field goals of 57 and 55 yards as well.
How about receiver Harrison Wallace? He caught nine passes on this night for 156 yards. There was also running back Kewan Lacy, banged up enough that in the post-game locker room he reminded a reporter not to tap too hard on that injured shoulder of his. He didn't seem hurt between the lines, gouging UGA for 98 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries.
Don't forget about the defense, too. Linebacker Suntarine Perkins' sack on a Georgia fourth down put Ole Miss in position to take a two-score lead. And defensive tackle Zxavian Harris led the team in tackles (10) and broke up a key pass.
In fact, within that celebratory locker room, Harris, barechested with a towel wrapped around his sweaty head and a silver chain around his thick neck, had a message for his former coach.
"He's been trying to steal our shine," Harris said. "All of our coaches could leave now and we'd still operate as a close team. We are our own team. Coaches can only do so much."
Later on, Harris quipped, "I heard [Kiffin] was trying to get [on TV] with the announcers [at the game]. We're not worried about Kiffin. Kiffin gone."
Gone but not forgotten. Afterward, Kiffin's departure still lingered across the post-game celebration. While he didn't appear at the game,Kiffin posted congratulatory messages to his former squadon social media. But on the field and in the locker room, during these mayhem moments, no one seemed particularly complimentary of the man who helped build the roster and then left it amid a playoff run.
"Eat s***!" one Ole Miss official said amid the postgame celebration. "He can eat s***!"
Kiffin's impact on the Ole Miss team isn't necessarily done. In fact, it remains unclear if the six Ole Miss assistant coaches who have signed to coach next season at LSU will remain with the team. Many around the program expect all or some of them to permanently join the LSU staff and end their run with the Rebels.
Asked about the future of the LSU-bound assistant coaches, including offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter told Yahoo Sports, "I don't know."
In the meantime, on Friday, the transfer portal opened, potentially setting off whatone Ole Miss staff member described as a multitude of potential "player swaps" between the two programs.
It's one of the most bizarre situations to ever happen in the sport.
But, alas, don't let it take away from the unexpected, from the unpredictable, from the unprecedented that unfolded here at the Superdome, where an Ole Miss Powder Blue Party carried on deep into the night — their athletic director and new head coach, Pete Golding, at the center of it all.
"I think we all lost a few years off our lives tonight. But, man, it was worth it," Carter said. "It's one of the most mature groups I've ever been around in that locker room. For us to come back and win that game, it shows character."
Carter pulled aside Golding after the game and whispered to him, "What you've done the last few weeks is unbelievable."
On Thursday night, the Rebels trailed 21-12 before their comeback. They amassed two long touchdown drives to take the lead and then their defense stuffed the Bulldogs on fourth down at the UGA 30-yard line when Perkins mauled quarterback Gunner Stockton, popping the ball free and setting up Chambliss' touchdown to Wallace for a 10-point lead with nine minutes left.
But Georgia tied the score late on wild drives of its own. All that did was set up more Chambliss magic. On third-and-5 and with 32 seconds left, he hit in stride a streaking Stribling for that big gain and Carneiro booted his field goal.
"This is awesome," the kicker said afterward. "Something I dreamed about. Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
But before the party could really begin, drama unfolded in the final seconds. In fact, Ole Miss players and fans celebrated the win three different times. The Rebels were even awarded a safety in the final seconds as a backward throw on a kickoff bounded into the end zone and an official review also put one second back on the clock.
In a wild scene, Ole Miss players were twice ushered off the field and the stage, wheeled onto the playing surface for the trophy presentation, needed to be shoved back onto the sideline.
Finally, after Georgia's last-gasp — a play of nearly a dozen laterals — the party could begin.
The crowd boomed Golding's name, "Peeeete! Peeeete!" Players carried around the giant Sugar Bowl trophy. The band played. And people cried.
Do players realize the story in which they are a part of?
"They'll realize it when it's all said and done but right now, they're playing football in the backyard," said Eric Wood, the school's deputy athletic director. "They're playing backyard football. I don't know if they realize it, but I do know that they are fighting like crazy to not have it stop."
It's all so unexpected.
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