Would Trinidad Chambliss be a Heisman favorite if he had a different last name? Stephen A. Smith certainly seemed to think so. Ahead of Ole Miss’ showdown against Florida last week, the ESPN analyst made a bold comparison, claiming Chambliss would be receiving considerably more recognition if his name were ‘Manning ‘.
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“If Trinidad’s last name was Manning, would he not be the {Heisman} favorite?” he said on SiriusXM’s “The Stephen A. Smith Show.” “Arch Manning can play. I like him a lot, but Trinidad Chambliss, at least on this level, the brother’s special,” said Smith.
However, after Florida handed Ole Miss a crushing 52-28 defeat in Week 4, the ESPN analyst appears to have made a stunning U-turn, suggesting that Trinidad Chambliss’ Heisman hopes may now be heading in an entirely different direction.
“I just walked away with thinking Trinidad Chambliss, even though, again, he didn’t have Kewan Lacy. All right, and he was being pressured all evening long, and Florida’s defense or offense, rather, they ran roughshod over Ole Miss’ defense. 302 yards rushing. Got to give credit where credit is due in the end. I think the lopsided affair in which this happened is going to cause Trinidad Chambliss to win the Heisman,” said Smith on ESPN’s First Take.
Chambliss had already achieved what many college football players only dream of, leading Ole Miss to a historic Sugar Bowl win over Georgia. But with an injunction securing him one final season at 24, the quarterback wasn’t ready to call it quits. Many analysts declared him the best QB in college football after his performance against LSU in Week 3.
However, the Ole Miss QB’s Heisman hopes have taken a massive hit following the Rebels’ Week 4 collapse, with Kalshi’s market giving him just an 8% chance of winning the award. Meanwhile, Jeremiah Smith has stormed into the lead with a 24% probability.
Florida dismantled Ole Miss’ vaunted front seven under defensive coordinator Pete Golding, turning the ground game into a nightmare for the Rebels. Junior tailback Jadan Baugh led the charge with 142 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries, while sophomore Duke Clark provided the knockout punch, averaging a staggering 10.5 yards per carry and exploding for 126 yards and a score. Head coach Pete Golding later admitted to reporters that it was an “old-fashioned butt-whupping.”
However, while Florida caught Ole Miss off guard with its relentless attack, Trinidad Chambliss delivered a commendable individual performance, continuing to fuel the Rebels’ offense despite mounting pressure.
The quarterback completed 25 of 34 passes for 298 yards, throwing one touchdown and one interception. Chambliss accounted for 80.3% of the Rebels’ total offensive yards and was the driving force behind an offense that struggled to find answers against Florida’s relentless attack.
He did everything he could for his team, but when he needed them to step up, they crumbled. And it certainly wasn’t Chambliss who let the team down; if anything, it was quite the opposite. However, despite the disappointment, the quarterback isn’t dwelling on the ghosts of the past.
“I’m super confident in our team still,” Chambliss said Saturday. “Florida, they’re a good team. I feel like if we were playing our best ball, things might have been different, but that didn’t happen today. The confidence in my team has never changed. I still got the utmost confidence in my team. I feel like we can still compete for the SEC Championship and National Championship, but now we just gotta go 1-0 every week and focus on one game at a time.”
Well, all hope is not lost for Trinidad Chambliss. While the Kalshi market appears to be heavily underestimating his Heisman chances following the loss, the Heisman Hopefuls rankings still have the Ole Miss quarterback at No. 4, with Malachi Toney, Jeremiah Smith, and Darian Mensah occupying the top three spots.