Trinidad Chambliss looked human for half then Heisman case got stronger

Trinidad Chambliss didn't look much like a Heisman Trophy hopeful through the first half of Sunday's season opener in Nashville. For a while he looked human. The Ole Miss quarterback fumbled after picking up a first down on a scramble and threw an interception toward Deuce Alexander before the break. Ole Miss opened the game with a snap that flew past Chambliss before he could handle it. It was a rough way to open a season that started with Chambliss front and center in national Heisman Trophy marketing campaigns. Second-half surge flips script By the final whistle Chambliss had thrown for 351 yards and added a rushing touchdown to go with three through the air. Every bit of that production came in the second half as the Rebels rallied from a 14-point hole to beat No. 24 Louisville 41-38 in the Music City Kickoff at Nissan Stadium. Deuce Alexander cashed in twice on the same play design catching touchdown passes of 62 yards on back-to-back Ole Miss possessions in the third quarter that flipped the game back toward Oxford's favor. Afterward Chambliss didn't dress up the rough patch. 'I'm human,' he said. 'I'm not perfect.' Rebels fans weren't in a hurry to accept that answer. Ninth-ranked Ole Miss had spent the summer as one of the trendiest names in Heisman Trophy talk and a sloppy first half wasn't part of the script anyone had written. A slow start turns into shootout Louisville made sure the drama didn't stop there. Kienholz spent three years watching from the sideline at Ohio State without ever starting a game. Nashville was where that finally changed and he didn't look like a first-timer. Louisville needed two scoring plays to force overtime chances. First was a long touchdown to McCoy that cut the lead to seven then a Kienholz run into the end zone himself that knotted things at 38 with under a minute and a half showing. That left the door open for exactly the moment Chambliss seems built for. He guided the offense down the field, including a third-down completion of 18 yards, and put Carneiro in position for the deciding kick, a 48-yarder that split the uprights on the final play of the night. 'I don't know why we do this every time,' Chambliss said. 'We like close one-score games but yeah we got the win. That's all that matters.' He tends to settle in right when everyone watching can't sit still. That calm showed up again Sunday, only this time it followed nearly two quarters of shaky quarterback play that had some wondering if last season's playoff run was a fluke. What it means for Heisman race Chambliss heads into Week 2 with his name still squarely in the Heisman Trophy conversation. A crowd of 57,390 packed Nissan Stadium and watched him climb out of a slow start which is the exact kind of storyline that made him a preseason contender. Ole Miss coach Pete Golding gets to bank the win and the growth from it. A defense that allowed 38 points saw the two offenses combine for 63 points after halftime alone, and that unit will need some fixing before the home opener but that's next week's problem. Trust me, Golding knows what needs to be fixed with the defense. Based on his track record he's a pretty good guy to get a handle on quick. For now the Rebs leave Nashville 1-0 with a road win over a ranked opponent and a quarterback who showed a shaky start doesn't have to decide how the whole night ends.