Pete Golding Defends Controversial Field Goal Decision in Ole Miss Loss to Texas

Against the Texas Longhorns, the Ole Miss Rebels were able to rally from a 24-3 deficit to tie the game. Unfortunately, quarterback Arch Manning responded to make it 31-24.

In the next drive for the Rebels, head coach Pete Golding was faced with a big decision on fourth-and-long. Golding recently defended a controversial decision that helped lead to a 10-point deficit.

Golding Had To Make A Huge Decision Late Against Texas

The Rebels' defense was able to play a much better second half and even got a scoop-and-score to cut the lead early in the third quarter. Unfortunately, the Longhorns retook the lead and gave the ball back to the Rebels with about eight minutes left.

The Rebels put together a pretty good drive, but three straight incompletions led to a fourth-and-down at the Texas 41-yard line. Golding was faced with a tough decision at that moment. Down by seven with about six minutes remaining, Golding could've gone for it.

With an injury to Kewan Lacy, the offense but not have had a better chance to get into the endzone.

But 10 yards was a lot, and punting in that situation would've been a choice given the high chance of a touchback. This led Golding to send star kicker Lucas Carneiro out to attempt a field goal, hoping to make it 31-27. Carneiro's long in 2025 was 58 yards, and he went 5-for-7 from 50+ yards.

In 2026, Carneiro still made a 57-yard field goal, having gone 1-2 so far on 50+ yard attempts. This kick was a 58-yard attempt that Carneiro could have made, but in that situation, the decision to go for the kick was certainly controversial. Defensive tackle Alex January blocked the kick, giving the Longhorns the ball in good field position.

Texas drove 4 minutes and kicked a 33-yard field goal, giving the Longhorns a 10-point lead with just over two minutes remaining. Ole Miss quickly scored a field goal and even recovered an onside kick, but the deficit proved too much to overcome.

Texas created separation when it needed to and capitalized on good field position. Despite the controversial decision, though, Golding defended the field goal attempt.

"I was really kicking myself about the most is the decision before the half"

Just before halftime, the Rebels had a golden chance to cut the 24-3 lead to 14 points or even 18. Ole Miss got a good chance on a first-and-goal, but the Rebels didn't execute well.

Strangely, the Rebels decided to run the ball up the middle on a third-and-goal from the four-yard line, leading to a fourth-and-goal from the two-yard line. Golding decided not to settle for a field goal, and the decision wasn't exactly controversial given the deficit and the fact that Texas got the ball to start the second half.

However, quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and the offense couldn't put together a good play, as Chambliss threw an interception, and Texas headed to the locker room up 24-3.The Rebels have expected Chambliss to do too much lately, which led to the first multiple-interception game of his Ole Miss career.

Golding later said during the postgame: "What I was really kicking myself about the most is the decision before the half, right? It was still going to be three possessions regardless. But still, when you crawl back in games, points matter."

Golding noted that adding three points in that situation doesn't change much, but it does add points and give a team a little more confidence. Golding attributed his decision to go for the long field goal to this incident.

Golding stated: "Obviously, from that standpoint, you weren’t worried about, like, they still obviously, from a touchdown standpoint, you’re worried about, OK, if they go down and kick a field goal, then it’s a two-possession game... With a little bit of safety for us, if we did give up a field goal like we did to make it two possessions, it was still a one-score game.”

Golding hoped the defense would step up and prevent a touchdown after cutting the lead to 31-27. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, as the field goal was blocked. As big a play as it was, though, plenty of other things in this game ended up hurting just as much.

The Rebels had three turnovers and couldn't execute when they needed to most. Ole Miss must now focus on correcting those critical mistakes and ensuring that decision doesn't have to happen again. The Rebels must play their best brand of football for the rest of the season.

Golding knows he has the team to control its own destiny. Bouncing back isn't going to be easy, but this team has the talent to get right back into the national conversation.

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