Trinidad Chambliss passed for 362 yards and two touchdowns, and Lucas Carneiro kicked a 47-yard field goal with 6 seconds left to put No. 6 Mississippi in front for good in a 39-34 victory over third-ranked Georgia in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl on Thursday night.
Next up for Ole Miss is a semifinal matchup with Miami at the Fiesta Bowl. The 10th-seeded Hurricanes advanced on Wednesday by defeating No. 2 Ohio State, 24-14.
A pair of Big Ten blowouts in Thursday's quarterfinals — Indiana 38, Alabama 3, and Oregon 23, Texas Tech 0 — set up Oregon-Indiana in the other national semifinal in the Peach Bowl next Friday.
The Rebels (13-1, No. 6 seed) have now won two postseason games since head coach Lane Kiffin left for LSU on Nov. 30 and defensive coordinator Pete Golding was promoted to fill the vacancy at the top of the staff.
“We’ve got a lot of good coaches,” Golding said, referring in part to assistants who have agreed to join Kiffin at LSU, but who’ve been permitted to remain with the Rebels through this postseason. “A lot of guys have been going through a lot of things but they’ve been here for the kids the whole time,” Golding continued. “And this is a special group of kids.”
The all-SEC match-up at the Sugar Bowl provided drama throughout.
“It was an incredible college football game,” Georgia coach Kirby 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.”
Orange Bowl: Oregon (13-1) dominated Texas Tech as Matayo Uiagalelei caused a fumble that set up a touchdown, and Jordon Davison rushed for two scores. Dante Moore threw for 234 yards, and Atticus Sappington kicked three field goals.
Texas Tech (12-2) struggled offensively, turning the ball over four times. This win marks Oregon's first shutout of an AP-ranked opponent since 2012.
Rose Bowl: Fernando Mendoza threw three touchdown passes and Indiana’s defense thoroughly throttled Alabama.
Mendoza passed for 192 yards in his first game since winning his school’s first Heisman Trophy, but the hard-nosed Hoosiers won the 112th Rose Bowl for the first time in school history by dominating the Crimson Tide at the line of scrimmage.
Indiana scored the game’s first 24 points before pouring it on with fourth-quarter rushing TDs from Kaelon Black and Roman Hemby, wrapping up a jubilant win in the 112th edition of the Granddaddy of Them All.
Indiana was the only team of the eight with first-round byes in the two-year history of the playoff to win their quarterfinal.
Cotton Bowl: Keionte Scott picked off a screen pass by Heisman finalist Julian Sayin, Carson Beck threw a touchdown pass as Miami shocked the Buckeyes.
The Hurricanes (12-2, No. 10 seed) have won two playoff games to get into football’s final four after needing an at-large berth to make the 12-team field, after not even playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.
