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As the saying goes, “new year, new me.” It’s a timely one for new Green Bay Packers cornerback Trevon Diggs, who was claimed off waivers Wednesday after being released by the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday.

“I’m not chasing accolades. I’m not chasing anything,” Diggs told reporters Thursday, New Year’s Day, before adding, “I’m chasing being a better me, being better every day, helping this team win.”

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The Cowboys moved on from Diggs just two years after signing the two-time Pro Bowl corner to a five-year, $97 million extension.

Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Diggs’ release resulted from a “culmination of multiple factors,” one of which was the Maryland native straying from protocol and not flying back to Dallas with the team after its Christmas Day road win over the Washington Commanders. Diggs had asked Schottenheimer if he could stay in the D.C. area to see family, but Schottenheimer turned down Diggs, just as he said he rejected requests from other players who had asked to fly separately that week.

“It was one of many factors,” Schottenheimer said Wednesday, per ESPN. “It was not the only factor. I’m not the Grinch that stole Christmas. I love Christmas. I love my family. But at the end of the day, we have a protocol that we go through, and the process was not followed.”

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Another factor Schottenheimer mentioned was Diggs’ performance. After piling up 17 interceptions across his first three seasons in the NFL, including a league-leading 11 as a first-team All-Pro in 2021, the 2020 second-round pick from Alabama has tallied just three picks over the past three seasons.

This time around, the 27-year-old Diggs has played in eight games and, according to Pro Football Focus, is currently allowing a perfect 158.3 passer rating when targeted. Vocal about his frustration with the Cowboys’ defensive scheme this season, he’s given up 16 catches on 20 targets for 286 yards and three touchdowns without a single pass break-up or interception, per PFF.

Despite those meager metrics, Diggs still has the confidence of a CB1.

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“I still feel like I’m the best,” he said Thursday.

Injuries disrupted the brilliant start to his Cowboys career. During practice early in the 2023 campaign, Diggs tore the ACL in his left knee. That injury cost him most of that season.

He made his way back for the 2024 season, although he later missed time with a groin injury and then was shut down for the year to have another surgery on his left knee.

Diggs was sidelined while rehabbing this past offseason, including during training camp leading up to a Week 1 return that Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons, one of Diggs’ close friends, criticized the Cowboys for mismanaging.

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Diggs suffered a concussion in October because of an accident at home. A TV that he was trying to mount fell on his head, as reported by NFL Network’s Jane Slater last month. Also that month, he was placed on injured reserve due to a right knee injury that had lingered this fall.

He didn’t return until Week 16. By that point, the Cowboys were already eliminated from postseason contention. Diggs said Thursday that he’s healthy, joked that he’ll be using Taskrabbit for his handyman work from now on and emphasized that he’s grateful to be in position to help a contender like the playoff-bound Packers.

“It’s been a great feeling,” Diggs said. “They believe in me. I believe in myself, and I’m ready. It’s going to be fun.”

A foiled trip to Dave & Buster’s and a friend to lean on

Diggs said he got the call that he was headed to the Packers on Wednesday just as he was about to take his kids to Dave & Buster’s.

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The trip was tabled, but the moment was celebrated.

Then Diggs contacted Parsons, whom the Cowboys traded to the Packers in late August after an infamous contract standoff.

“Yeah, I called him right away,” Diggs said of Parsons. “He’s super excited for me, super happy for me. We have a great relationship — our families, our moms, everyone is real close, so it all worked out.”

Parsons, the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history and now a five-time Pro Bowler, logged 12.5 sacks in his first 14 games with Green Bay, but a torn ACL in Week 15 cut his inaugural Packers campaign short.

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While the sack artist won’t be on the field with Diggs this season, they now share a locker room again. Parsons has offered Diggs a place to crash and a car to drive. He’s also provided the corner with some insight about playing for the Packers.

“He told me it’s work. It’s a lot different,” Diggs said. “He said I’m going to like it a lot, and I’m going to enjoy it. So far I’ve been enjoying it a lot.

“My first day was out there today, and I had a lot of fun, and it’s a great thing to be here.”

Diggs admitted that blocking out all the noise surrounding him recently has been a challenge. He’s focused on moving forward in the new year.

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“I want to be here as long as they want me to be here, for sure,” he said. “I like it here a lot. I got relationships here already, and I would love to call this place home.”

Somehow, Kalen DeBoer will now be under even more pressure from the Alabama fan base in 2026.

Alabama suffered its worst bowl defeat in program history in the Rose Bowl on Thursday. No. 1 Indiana throughly dismantled and demolished the No. 9 Crimson Tide, 38-3. Indiana had 407 total yards and 215 rushing yards while averaging 6.6 yards per play. Alabama had 193 yards. Total.

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It was the third time in the last four games that Alabama’s offense averaged fewer than four yards per play. An explosive offense that was one of the nation’s best at the start of the season broke down at the end of the year — namely due to an inability to run the football.

Yes, Alabama cannot run the football. It’s a development that would seem just as impossible in 2023 as Indiana being the best team in football.

When he was hired to succeed Nick Saban, DeBoer was put in a nearly impossible position. He was tasked with attempting to replicate the success that Alabama had under the man who could be the greatest coach in college football history.

The Saban era ended on a botched QB run in overtime in the Rose Bowl. It was a whimper of an end for a coach who had led the Crimson Tide to six national championships and 16 straight seasons of double-digit wins.

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Fast forward to Thursday, and Alabama wasn’t just beat, it was whooped. Not only was it the worst postseason loss in the 122-year history of Alabama football, Indiana’s win was the first time since the 1998 Music City Bowl that Alabama lost a game by more than 30 points.

“I know because I’ve been doing this long enough and I have experiences that I can fall back on that the fine line between what we had out there today and being at the very top is such a fine line,” DeBoer said. “And you’ve got to go back to starting over from scratch, putting the people around you, the right people, committing to something — a common goal together and the actions following it.”

“It’s such a fine line. It may not feel like it when you’re in this moment right now and what happened today, but I can tell you is it’s a fine line between being here and being at the top.”

[Get more Crimson Tide football news: Alabama team feed]

When you include regular-season games, it was worst loss since the Tide fell 42-6 to Arkansas in 1998. That loss to Arkansas? It was the worst Alabama defeat since a 40-0 Iron Bowl drubbing all the way back in 1957 in a game that was 13 national championships ago.

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Much of the offseason ahead of the 2025 season was dominated by Alabama’s exclusion from the first 12-team playoff in 2024. Last season, the 9-3 Tide — which laid an egg in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Michigan — lost 24-3 to Oklahoma in the penultimate weekend of the season to miss out on the playoff. But that didn’t stop a pressure campaign from the SEC because of the Tide’s exclusion. As a result, the College Football Playoff committee even said it was tweaking its selection processes to take strength of schedule more into account.

Never mind that Oklahoma finished the season at 6-7 and one of Alabama’s other losses came to a Vanderbilt team that finished 7-6.

This season, Alabama was given a lot of grace by the selection committee. The Tide lost 28-7 to Georgia in the SEC title game in a game that didn’t even feel that close. Alabama was No. 9 entering the game. Alabama was No. 9 a day later in the final CFP rankings as it became the first power conference title game loser to not drop a single solitary spot in the playoff rankings.

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To be clear, hardly anyone thought this was an Alabama team capable of winning the national title, whether it was seeded No. 9, No. 10 or even failed to make the playoff. And that’s the crux of the problem. When was the last time that was said about a team coached by Saban? You probably have to go back to 2010, when Alabama finished 10-3 and went to the Capital One Bowl.

That was just the second of two three-loss seasons in Saban’s tenure. After Thursday, DeBoer’s record at Alabama is 20-8. It’s hard to see how another four-loss season is going to be tolerated.

“We can be upset because losing doesn’t sit well with us and we can frustrated about it,” DeBoer said. “And that’s what our program is going to be is upset when these types of situations happen. And we’ve got to use it to fuel us moving forward.”

PASADENA, Calif. — Finally, the team that was supposed to win did.

No. 1 Indiana shut down No. 9 Alabama and picked up a convincing 38-3 win at the Rose Bowl on Thursday afternoon. The Hoosiers, who are now a perfect 14-0 this season, will advance to the Peach Bowl next week to take on No. 5 Oregon in the College Football Playoff semifinals.

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Indiana is now the first team in the expanded playoff’s history to win a postseason game after receiving a first-round bye. Entering Thursday’s contest in Southern California, teams who had received a bye were a combined 0-6.

After a bit of a slow start — this was the first Rose Bowl in 26 years to have a scoreless opening quarter — things quickly spiraled out of control for the Crimson Tide. Kalen DeBoer and Alabama, after a bit of failed trickery, opted to go for it on a short fourth down deep in their own territory early in the second quarter. It backfired completely. They tried a short pass to convert the fourth down, which set up Indiana with incredible field position after it didn’t work.

Just four plays later, Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza found an open Charlie Becker in the back of the end zone for the touchdown. That put the Hoosiers up 10-0 at the time.

Indiana’s defense forced another turnover just before halftime, too, after Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson tried to scramble for a first down. He was hit hard by D’Angelo Ponds and lost the ball, which led to a 1-yard touchdown pass to Omar Cooper Jr. right before the break.

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[Get more Hoosiers football news: Indiana team feed]

Indiana entered the locker room up by 17 points. Alabama, which trailed Oklahoma at halftime in the first round of the playoff, managed just 30 rushing yards and five first downs while averaging less than four yards per play in the opening 30 minutes of the game.

Whatever DeBoer said at halftime didn’t work. Alabama came back and had to punt the ball away about 90 seconds into the third quarter. Mendoza then quickly led Indiana down the field and hit Elijah Sarratt for a 24-yard touchdown. That put the game out of reach not even halfway through the third period.

DeBoer even tried to switch quarterbacks after that, but it didn’t matter. Austin Mack came in to replace Simpson, who briefly went into the injury tent, and actually led Alabama on its first scoring drive of the game. He got them into scoring position on a few deep passes, and set up an easy field goal to avoid the shutout.

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But Indiana, of course, kept piling on. Kaelon Black capped a six-play drive with a 25-yard touchdown run right away, and then Mendoza got them back into scoring position on their next drive to set up an 18-yard touchdown run from Roman Hemby.

From there, the Hoosiers were on cruise control for the rest of the game.

The playoff win was the first in Indiana school history. The Hoosiers also made the playoff last season in Curt Cignetti’s first year with the team, but fell to Notre Dame in the opening round. Indiana is now an incredible 24-2 under Cignetti’s reign. The Hoosiers’ 14 wins this season marks a school record, which was set last year, and this is now the first time in program history that they’ve had back-to-back seasons with double digit wins.

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Indiana will now take on Oregon next week in Georgia. The Ducks rolled past Texas Tech 23-0 in their quarterfinals matchup at the Orange Bowl earlier on Thursday. The winner of that contest will advance to the national championship game, a place Oregon hasn’t been to in over a decade. Indiana hasn’t even come close.

But now, with a playoff win finally under their belts, the Hoosiers have more than proven themselves as a real threat to win it all in just a few weeks.

Live coverage is over49 updates

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 4:13 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  The Hoosiers complete the 38-3 blowout of Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

  Next up for Indiana: No. 5 Oregon in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 9 with a spot in the championship game on the line.
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 1:08 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 4:53 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 4:35 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  How rare is this? Indiana OL Pat Coogan is voted Rose Bowl offensive MVP.
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 4:31 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  The Indiana coach continues to pump his program as a legit powerhouse now. Hard to doubt him.
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 4:24 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  The Hoosiers are listed at -4 against Oregon in the CFP semifinals. They were 7-point favorite against Alabama.

• 

  Thu, January 1, 2026 at 4:05 PM PST

  Nick Bromberg

  Alabama’s last 30-point loss came in the 1998 Music City Bowl in a 38-7 defeat to Virginia Tech.

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 4:04 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  The Crimson Tide drove inside the Indiana 30 but Austin Mack takes a sack on 4th-and-4 to end the threat. Indiana takes over with under 6 minutes to play and the backups will take it home from here.

• 

  Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:53 PM PST

  Ryan Young

  There is a steady stream of Alabama fans pouring out of the Rose Bowl now. With Indiana up 38-3, it’s hard to blame them.

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:52 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  Roman Hemby hits an 18-yard touchdown run and now this has become a complete beatdown. Indiana just outclassing the Tide.

  Indiana 38, Alabama 3
• 

  Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:52 PM PST

  Nick Bromberg

  Alabama has 151 total yards

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:38 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  Kaelon Black breaks loose for a 25-yard run to the end zone, and the Hoosiers continue to pour it on in the Rose Bowl.

  Indiana 31, Alabama 3
• 

  Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:38 PM PST

  Nick Bromberg

  This is going to be oft-repeated over the next nine months, but it’s been jarring to see how Alabama has been bossed by both Georgia and Indiana over the last month. How do Alabama and Kalen DeBoer fix this for 2026 and beyond?

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:34 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  Indiana’s offense is on the move again. It’ll have a first-and-10 at the Alabama 42 to open the 4th quarter. The Hoosiers are on the cusp of putting this one on ice.

• 

  Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:29 PM PST

  Ryan Young

  Dixieland Delight is playing here at the Rose Bowl, and a huge chorus of boos is overpowering everything.

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:27 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  We won’t have a second straight playoff shutout today. Alabama hits a 28-yard field goal for its first points.

  Indiana 24, Alabama 3

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:25 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  Right off the bat, new Alabama QB Austin Mack completes a 34-yard strike to Germie Bernard.
• 

  Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:15 PM PST

  Ryan Young

  Alabama appears to be benching QB Ty Simpson here midway through the third quarter. With how things have gone so far, it’s hard to blame them. Simpson was also reportedly grimacing every time he threw the ball after taking a big hit in the first half, so that may have also been a factor.

  Austin Mack is in the game now.

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:10 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  Fernando Mendoza tosses his third TD of the game, this time for 24 yards to Elijah Sarratt. Perfect start to the half for the Hoosiers.

  Indiana 24, Alabama 0
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:03 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  So much for that needed spark. Alabama fails to get a first down to open the second half and punts it away.

• 

  Thu, January 1, 2026 at 3:01 PM PST

  Ryan Young

  It didn’t have the same impact, but we still got the B-2 Stealth Bomber flyover here at the Rose Bowl to start the second half. That, and plenty of other pregame festivities, were canceled due to rain.

PASADENA, Calif. — For a lot of the college football world, Indiana entered Thursday afternoon still needing to do more.

Now, there is no doubt that it firmly belongs. The Hoosiers, with their first playoff win in the books, are a football school. And a legitimate national title contender at that.

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“A lot of people still think that we’re the same old Indiana, and they don’t give us the respect that we deserve,” wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. said. “I feel like this proves a lot … It was a dream come true.”

Indiana obliterated Alabama on Thursday afternoon at the Rose Bowl, and left no doubt that it was the better program. The Hoosiers cruised to a 38-3 win behind a masterclass showing from Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, who again managed a balanced offense that looked like it had no issue whatsoever getting past the team that has dominated the sport for well over a decade.

He threw three touchdowns to three different wide receivers and had just two incompletions in the win. Kaelon Black and Roman Hemby combined for 188 yards on the ground with a touchdown each. Indiana never trailed in the blowout, and completely shut down Alabama’s offense. The Crimson Tide managed just 23 rushing yards and scored only a field goal after backup quarterback Austin Mack came in to replace an injured, and struggling, Ty Simpson in the second half.

That balance, even though it was offensive lineman Pat Coogan who was named the game’s MVP, all comes back to Mendoza.

“He instills confidence in everybody around him. For me, I don’t have to do much to get the unit going,” offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan said. “I turn it over to him. He gets the guys going. He knows what to say and what buttons to push. I’m really happy for him, he’s been outstanding all yearlong.”

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And, perhaps even more notably, Indiana did all of that having not played a game in more than three weeks. Up until kickoff Thursday, teams with a bye in the College Football Playoff were a combined 0-6.

“It’s definitely a huge struggle [with such a long break],” Mendoza said. “I think Coach [Curt] Cignetti did a fantastic job of a trickle-down effect of really making sure there was no complacency. Because you know you have, I think it was 26 days off, that’s very, very tough.

“And especially in the first drive as an offense, myself included, I think we got off to a slow start … I think it was great, overcoming that challenge as a team having such a long time off.”

So, how far can Indiana take this?

Curt Cignetti seems to brush off the thought of analyzing his and the program’s rise in Bloomington every chance he gets.

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He doesn’t want to address the fact that he’s now taken a team that has long been considered a doormat in the Big Ten and hasn’t won a bowl game since the early 1990s to consecutive playoff appearances. Cignetti has gone 25-2 in his two seasons at Indiana and won a program record 14 wins this season. Before he landed there from James Madison, the school had never hit double digit wins.

Cignetti is, however, always defiant.

“Why should [the moment] be too big, because our name’s Indiana?” Cignetti said on the field after the win.

For many (if not most), the answer to that question was always yes. It can’t be anymore.

Beating Alabama the way that Indiana did — it was the worst postseason loss in Alabama history — has brought a level of legitimacy to the Hoosiers program that it has never seen. Time and again this season the Hoosiers have lived up to that moment, whether it was closing out a tough Iowa team on the road, pulling off late-game heroics against Penn State also on the road or beating then-top-ranked Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game. Now, they are a single win away from reaching the national championship game.

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In order to get there, Indiana will have to get past Oregon next week in the Peach Bowl. The Ducks also rolled to a shutout win over Texas Tech in their quarterfinal game earlier Thursday. While Oregon appears to be a much better opponent than Alabama is this postseason, the Hoosiers have already beaten the Ducks once. They snuck out a 10-point win on the road in October. That got them to 6-0. Oregon hasn’t lost since then, and is now coming off back-to-back double-digit playoff wins.

That’s a problem for when the Hoosiers land back in southern Indiana. And whenever Cignetti finally takes a breath and reflects on his rise with the Hoosiers, he knows it’ll be worth his time.

“It would be a hell of a movie,” he said.

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It would be a great ending to that movie if the Hoosiers are the ones lifting the national championship trophy in a few weeks, perfect season in hand. But it won’t really matter. Cignetti has already brought Indiana football to life.

In a Sugar Bowl classic between two SEC teams fighting for a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinals, one of the biggest winners was in Baton Rouge. Financially, at least.

Lane Kiffin, the former Ole Miss coach who left the program last month for LSU, will receive a $500,000 bonus from his new employer thanks to his former team reaching the CFP semifinal via a thrilling 39-34 win over Georgia. The bonus is part of an agreement LSU reached with the coach to lure him from Oxford, offering him the same bonuses he would have received for each CFP victory had he stayed at Ole Miss.

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Kiffin’s bonus was already at $250,000 after the Rebels defeated Tulane in the first round. If they defeat No. 10 Miami in the next round, Kiffin will add another $250,000 to his tally.

And if they were to win one more for the program’s first title in decades? One of the most bittersweet $1 million payments in the history of sports.

Pete Golding, the defensive coordinator who stayed at Ole Miss to take over as head coach, will receive the same bonuses. On his way out, Kiffin insisted on staying to coach the Rebels in the playoff, but the school understandably didn’t want a coach of another SEC team to be running its program during a key part of recruiting season.

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It was an open question whether Kiffin would show up in New Orleans on Thursday to watch his former players and coaches face Georgia, but he decided to stick with his current school instead. He made an appearance on the court at the LSU women’s basketball team’s game, embracing head coach Kim Mulkey.

No. 5-ranked LSU took its first loss of the season, falling 80-78 to No. 11 Kentucky. After the game, it appears Kiffin did make it to New Orleans, or at least his family did.

Meanwhile, Ole Miss fans were making their thoughts about the man their team was enriching very clear, with a “F*** Lane Kiffin” chant at the end of the game. The state’s governor had a similar outlook.

This was a situation that was surreal from the moment Kiffin started taking other schools’ calls, and it won’t get any better with Ole Miss have a very real chance at the CFP championship game.

Whoever wins the national championship game on Jan. 19 will be breaking a significant national championship drought.

No. 10 Miami is the most recent national champion of the four teams remaining in the College Football Playoff. The Hurricanes won their last national title after a 2001 season that was capped by a blowout win in the Rose Bowl.

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After Miami, the next most-recent national champion is No. 6 Ole Miss. The Rebels claim the 1960 national title after a 10-0-1 season that ended with a 14-6 Sugar Bowl win over Rice.

No. 1 Indiana and No. 5 Oregon? Neither team has a national title to its name. And one of them is guaranteed to be playing for the first in school history.

Here’s a quick look at the semifinal matchups on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9.

Fiesta Bowl

No. 6 Ole Miss (13-1) vs. No. 10 Miami (12-2)

Jan. 8 | 7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN | Miami -3 | Total: 51.5

The Hurricanes have opened as the early favorites even though Ole Miss avenged a regular-season loss to Georgia in a 37-34 Sugar Bowl win over the Bulldogs.

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Miami took down Texas A&M in the first round and Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday night thanks to a relentless pass rush. Can the Hurricanes pressure Trinidad Chambliss the same way? Chambliss’ escapability was on full display against Georgia, especially in the second half. He showed how great of an improvisor he can be after Georgia’s pass rush flushed him from the pocket.

The Rebels’ win denied Miami QB Carson Beck the opportunity to play his old team for a shot at the national title. But if the betting line is to be believed, a matchup with Ole Miss gives Miami a better shot at making it to the national title game.

Peach Bowl

No. 1 Indiana (14-0) vs. No. 5 Oregon (13-1)

Jan. 9 | 7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN | Indiana -4 | Total: 46.5

The Hoosiers are now the clear national title favorites after a 38-3 Rose Bowl romp over Alabama. Indiana is +130 to win the national title ahead of Oregon and Miami at +300 each and Ole Miss at +600.

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The Ducks shut out Texas Tech 23-0 in the Orange Bowl. It was the third shutout in CFP history and the first in nearly 10 years.

Indiana beat Oregon 30-20 in the regular season. Thanks to Ole Miss’ games against Tulane and Georgia in the first two rounds, the first three rounds in this year’s playoff will have had one rematch.

Oregon QB Dante Moore threw two interceptions in the Ducks’ October loss as the Hoosiers held Oregon to 267 yards on 64 plays. Oregon’s win over Texas Tech was impressive but it could also have been a lot bigger. The Ducks’ offense squandered a lot of opportunities after getting into Texas Tech territory.

A game as good as the Sugar Bowl between Ole Miss and Georgia had to have a wild ending. It ended up having three of them.

In one of the more confusing endings to a football game you will ever see, Ole Miss twice celebrated what it thought was the final play of a breakthrough win in the College Football Playoff, only to be told the game hadn’t ended.

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In both cases, the crew working the stage for the trophy ceremony had already moved it onto the field, then had to awkwardly remove it as the game played on.

The sequence of events worked out like this.

After a frantic drive that saw Ole Miss reach the Georgia 30-yard line in less than a minute, Ole Miss kicker Lucas Carneiro broke a 34-34 tie with a 47-yard field goal. That appeared to be the game-winner, but six seconds were still left on the clock, so Ole Miss had to kick the ball back to Georgia, opening the door for a miracle for the Bulldogs.

Instead, an attempt at a cross-field lateral on the return resulted in the ball bouncing out of bounds, but not without first hitting the end zone pylon. That made it a safety for Ole Miss, putting the Rebels up five points with one second left. Ole Miss was already celebrating the win, with quarterback Trinidad Chambliss hugging teammates and several non-players and coaches running onto the field.

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The officials restored order and had Georgia make its free kick, which went 10 yards and then was recovered by Bulldogs running back Cash Jones. However, Ole Miss thought that the final second of the game had still passed and celebrated accordingly, giving head coach Pete Golding a Gatorade bath as the ESPN announcers pronounced the game over.

Nope. The officials ruled there was still one second left on the clock because the return team never touched the ball … and Georgia now had possession at its own 31-yard line. ESPN announcer Sean McDonough said the ending felt “excruciating” and asked rules expert Matt Austin, “Does common sense need to prevail here?”

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Austin’s response. “Well, yes, but we do have rules we have to follow.”

And so Georgia got its last play, completing one forward pass and nine laterals before quarterback Gunner Stockton was slammed to the ground, 80 yards short of the end zone. The game was over, for real this time.

You can watch the whole thing play out below:

The official play-by-play of that final desperation play:

STOCKTON, Gunner pass short to the left complete for 4 yards to YOUNG, Colbie caught at the UGA35 and advanced to the UGA35 lateral to JONES, Cash for 1 yard to the UGA36 lateral to LUCKIE, Lawson for -3 yards to the UGA33 lateral to JONES, Cash for 5 yards to the UGA38 lateral to YOUNG, Colbie for -7 yards to the UGA31 lateral to YOUNG, Colbie for -5 yards to the UGA26 lateral to LUCKIE, Lawson for 7 yards to the UGA33 lateral to JONES, Cash for 13 yards to the UGA46 lateral to YOUNG, Colbie for -14 yards to the UGA32 lateral to LUCKIE, Lawson for 0 yards to the UGA32 lateral to BELL, Dillon for -11 yards to the UGA21 lateral to MADDOX, Adrian for -2 yards to the UGA19 (PERKINS, Suntarine;JONES, Andrew), clock 00:00.

This could have become even more chaotic, but the end result was what everyone expected after Carneiro made his kick. Ole Miss will advance to the semifinal of the College Football Playoff and face Miami. Georgia’s season is over. Rebels head coach Pete Golding is $500,000 richer. So is former head coach Lane Kiffin.

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And we saw firsthand just how far officials will go to end a game by the book.

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.

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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 were 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 the College Football Playoff semifinal against 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.

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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.

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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. In his final heave, he 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.

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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 squad on 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.

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“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 for the semifinals. 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.”

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In the meantime, on Friday, the transfer portal opened, potentially setting off what one 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.

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 — its 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.”

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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.”

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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.

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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 of which they are a part?

“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.

Ole Miss authored an incredible 39-34 Sugar Bowl victory thanks to a 47-yard a game-winning field goal by Lucas Carneiro with six seconds left.

Carneiro’s kick came after No. 3 Georgia tied the game with less than a minute remaining on a short field goal by Peyton Woodring. And the Rebels got into field goal position when QB Trinidad Chambliss found WR De’Zhaun Stribling in man coverage on third down with under 30 seconds to go after Georgia sent a blitz hoping to force a punt and try for a game-winning kick of its own.

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The win means No. 6 Ole Miss will play No. 10 Miami in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 8 for a spot in the national championship game on Jan. 19. And it also means that Ole Miss has now won two College Football Playoff games under coach Pete Golding after Lane Kiffin left the team at the end of the regular season to be the new coach at LSU.

Though Carneiro’s field goal broke a 34-34 tie, the margin of victory ended up being five points after a lateral by Georgia on the ensuing kickoff hit an end zone pylon to result in a safety.

That safety necessitated a replay review to establish that there was still a second on the clock. The review took place as Ole Miss celebrated and the Sugar Bowl trophy presentation stage had been wheeled out onto the field.

After the stage was wheeled back off the field — and the celebrations stopped — Georgia tried an onside kick and recovered it. But the Bulldogs’ last-ditch multi-lateral play included a penalty and didn’t go anywhere in the first place.

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The best quarterfinal of the season … by far

The final quarterfinal of this season’s College Football Playoff provided the most drama. Chambliss and Georgia QB Gunner Stockton each played incredibly well as the Rebels somehow scored 27 points in the second half on their way to the win.

Chambliss took over in the second half with his improvisation skills. The Rebels took a 27-24 lead on a TD run by Kewan Lacy after Chambliss saved multiple plays that assuredly looked like they’d result in a no gain at best.

Chambliss finished 30-of-46 passing for 362 yards and two touchdowns. It’s not a stretch to say it was the best performance of his career.

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The former Ferris State QB transferred to Ole Miss ahead of the 2025 season and began the year backing up Austin Simmons. After Simmons injured his ankle in Week 2, Chambliss became the team’s starter and didn’t relinquish the job after Simmons got healthy.

Chambliss finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting — one place behind Stockton — as he threw for nearly 3,300 yards and 19 TDs during the regular season while also rushing for 506 yards and eight scores.

Ole Miss trailed 21-12 at halftime after the Rebels botched the final offensive play before halftime. Instead of potentially kicking a field goal to cut Georgia’s lead to six, Ole Miss TE Dae’Quan Wright didn’t get out of bounds after catching a pass in Georgia territory with less than 10 seconds to go.

It was easy to see how the end to the second quarter could be demoralizing for the Rebels. Instead, Ole Miss responded with 20 points in the fourth quarter to seize control of the game.

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Georgia almost benefited from a massive missed call

Ole Miss fans would gladly point out that Georgia shouldn’t have had the opportunity to tie the game with less than a minute to go.

The Bulldogs’ game-tying field goal came after officials inexplicably missed a blatant facemask on Lacy. The missed call came on second down and would have resulted in an automatic first down with approximately six minutes to go.

Instead, Chambliss’ third-down pass was batted down at the line of scrimmage, and Georgia converted a huge fourth down itself to get into position for a game-tying field goal.

Stockton finished the game 18-of-31 passing for 204 yards and a TD while also rushing for two scores. In any other game — especially in November — that would have been plenty for Georgia to win.

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It wasn’t on Thursday night.

Georgia entered the Sugar Bowl allowing just 29 points over its last four games combined. The Bulldogs’ defense had emerged at the end of the regular season and held Alabama to just 209 total yards in the SEC title game. The 12 points Ole Miss had at halftime was the most anyone had scored on Georgia since Mississippi State put up 21 on Nov. 8.

The Rebels kept scoring in the second half. Lacy finished with 22 carries for 98 yards and two scores while Harrison Wallace III had nine catches for 156 yards and a TD and Stribling had seven catches for 122 yards.

Live coverage is over54 updates

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 9:14 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 5:10 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 9:42 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 9:17 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  The coach filling in for Lane Kiffin gives his players credit for the big win.
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 9:12 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  The Rebels are 3-point underdogs against Miami in the semifinal next week.
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 9:09 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  Remember, Lane Kiffin gets a $500K bonus for Ole Miss advancing to the semifinals even though he’s now coaching at LSU.
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 9:02 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  When everyone initially thought time had run out, the celebration ensued. But when a second was put back on the clock, the postgame stage had to be rushed off the field.
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:56 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  NOW it’s official after the teams played out the final second. Ole Miss pulls the upset win advance to the CFP semifinals, where it will face Miami in the Fiesta Bowl.

  Ole Miss celebrated three separate times after having to play out the final second of the clock in strange, chaotic fashion.
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:52 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  A chaotic kickoff ends up hitting the pylon for a Georgia safety, but the officials put a second back on the clock so this game is not over yet.

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:46 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  Lucas Carneiro hits from 47 yards to give the Rebels the lead!

  Ole Miss 37, Georgia 34
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:43 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  Trinidad Chambliss hits De’Zhaun Stribling for a 40-yard bomb and the Rebels are at the Georgia 30 with under 20 seconds to play.
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:37 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  Peyton Woodring hits the chip-shot 24-yard field goal to knot the score with 55 seconds left.

  Georgia 34, Ole Miss 34 | 0:55 to play
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:34 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  A PI call gives the Bulldogs a crucial new set of downs.
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:29 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  The ball is now on the Ole Miss 35-yard line with Georgia facing a 3rd-and-9 on the other side of the 2-minute warning. Will the Bulldogs play for the field goal here?

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:22 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  The Bulldogs running back limped off the field after going down on a run play.

• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:19 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  The Georgia defense quickly gets a stop and gets the ball back with under 6 minutes to play and a chance to tie or take the lead. The Bulldogs got away with a clear facemask on 2nd down.
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:13 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  Gunner Stockton finds Zachariah Branch for an 18-yard TD toss. That was an extremely quick and necessary answer by the Bulldogs, and we’re headed for a fun finish here.

  Ole Miss 34, Georgia 31 | 7:03 to play
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:07 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  Trinidad Chambliss drops a dime to Harrison Wallace for a 13-yard TD! Suddenly the Rebels are in total control.

  Ole Miss 34, Georgia 24
• Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:05 PM PST

  Yahoo Sports Staff

  The Bulldogs go for it again on 4th down from deep in their own territory but this time it’s a disaster as Gunner Stockton gets sacked when it looked like half the team wasn’t ready for the snap. Ole Miss takes over.
• 

  Thu, January 1, 2026 at 8:05 PM PST

  Nick Bromberg

  That was bizarre … and could end up being what decides the game.

• 

  Thu, January 1, 2026 at 7:58 PM PST

  Nick Bromberg

  Even if the Rebels don’t win tonight, Chambliss’ performance will go down in Ole Miss lore.

Kirby Smart gave an explanation for why Georgia’s fourth-quarter, fourth-down conversion attempt in its own territory went so horribly wrong in the Bulldogs’ Sugar Bowl loss against Ole Miss.

The ball wasn’t supposed to be snapped.

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With just under 10 minutes to go and Ole Miss leading 27-24, Georgia put its punt team on the field on fourth down at its own 32-yard line. But the offense ran back out onto the field and QB Gunner Stockton lined up in the shotgun. As Stockton took the snap, not every member of the offensive line moved in unison.

That allowed Ole Miss edge rusher Suntarine Perkins to come off the edge untouched and he sacked Stockton while also recovering a fumble.

“We screwed that up a little bit,” Smart said in his postgame news conference. “We had a misfire. It was a changeup from a look we had done twice and we knew teams were going to sit back and not honor us because we had not snapped it on those plays in two different locations, two different times. And the ball was not supposed to be snapped in that situation. But that was on us as coaches, that was on me and our guys, it’s not on the players. And Gunner and those guys did a nice job executing it.

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“We did feel like we had lost momentum at that point and the book says we need to go for it. There’s probably another way I’d like to have gone for it but we did not execute the situation really well there. It’s a situation where it gave us an either or, we didn’t have to snap it. We can take a delay, sit back and see what happens just to take a chance.”

Ole Miss scored a touchdown two plays later when QB Trinidad Chambliss found Harrison Wallace III in the end zone to extend the lead to 10 points.

Georgia never led the rest of the way in its 39-34 quarterfinal defeat.

The Bulldogs were up 21-12 at halftime but Chambliss took the game over in the second half in one of the best playoff performances in recent memory. He finished 30-of-46 passing for 362 yards and two touchdowns.

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The win puts Ole Miss in the Fiesta Bowl against Miami and avenged Georgia’s regular-season win over the Rebels.

“It was a back-and-forth game, incredible college football game,” 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. I felt like every game was like that one. Back, forth, back, forth. Plays being made all over and a lot of credit goes to Ole Miss. The defensive improvements they made. They played much better and tougher and more physical on defense. Created some problems for us and their quarterback is just incredible.”