Editor’s Note: Arizona Varsity college football columnist Jacob Seliga also contributed to this story.

On Thursday night, the college football world’s eyes will be on State Farm Stadium in Glendale as an unlikely matchup determines who plays for a National Championship.

The 2026 Fiesta Bowl is a College Football Playoff semifinal, and before the start of postseason play, most expected No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Georgia to be on a collision course to meet in this game.

No. 10 Miami and No. 6 Ole Miss, however, had different plans, and the two programs had two wildly different paths.

Enter “The U,” a once-proud program that, across different stretches of college football history, has dominated the scene thanks to legends like Michael Irvin and Ray Lewis. But following a controversial finish in the 2003 National Championship game, Miami has since fallen from the mountaintop of the sport.

Ole Miss once shared a national title over sixty years ago, but since then, there’s been a lot of despair and frustration in Oxford. Rivals to both the East and West have pillaged the top recruits from the football-rich state and have won over a dozen national titles in the process. Even a coach or two has scorned the program for a chance to coach its bitten enemy instead.

These two programs in 2026 are not supposed to be one win away from controlling their own destiny. In modern college football, neither is a blue blood, yet both embody everything that makes the sport what it is in 2026.

The Hurricanes are led by former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck and one of the most expensive offensive and defensive lines in the country. The Hurricanes program has put a premium on developing the trenches with elite high school recruits while pairing top college football players at their positions through the portal.

On the other side, one of the best stories in the sport. 

A former Division II quarterback in senior Trinidad Chambliss, who started the year as a backup to Missouri sophomore quarterback commit Austin Simmons, has led a program desperate for a chance to finish the job that has always eluded the proud Mississippi program. 

A team built on speed and flash with skill players all over the field who can flip the game on a dime. And to top it off, a team whose own head coach on the record said he couldn’t win a national title with and bolted for sworn rival LSU in one of the messiest divorces in the history of the sport has a chance to stick it to their former leader.

Miami, after two losses to Louisville and SMU, was left for dead in late October, and following an Ole Miss loss to Georgia in the midst of a conference schedule that avoided most of the top teams, almost nobody expected either team to be at this point.

But that’s the beauty of college football: two teams who have saved their best football for January will meet for the first time in 75 years to position themselves to play for a national championship. And there’s no better place to do that than in the Fiesta Bowl.

As the game approaches, here are some key notes and quotes from Ole Miss and Miami coaches and players from the media availability prior to the Fiesta Bowl.

Trinidad Chambliss Still Hoping for Sixth Year

While in the process of winning, trying to lead his team to a National Championship, Ole Miss senior quarterback Trinidad Chambliss is also trying to win something else: Another year of eligibility.

Chambliss is waiting to hear from the NCAA on whether or not his waiver for a sixth year of college football has been approved. Chambliss announced Monday that if it does, he will return to Ole Miss in 2026.

“Ole Miss is home,” Chambliss told the media Tuesday night. “They’ve been good to me, my family. And I mean, just the love and support that they show, you know, for each game is just insane. I love Ole Miss.”

Chambliss loves his school, but he’s not exactly loving the amount of time it’s taking for the NCAA to make a decision on his waiver, which he filed on Nov. 16, according to ESPN.

“I was a little frustrated, and it has been a little frustrating, but I can’t let that, you know, overtake what you know my mindset is right now, and that’s to win a football game and beat Miami,” Chambliss said. “So I would say I’m a little frustrated, but I can’t let that, you know, take over me.

“There are some kids who don’t have a reasoning on why they should get another year, and I have an actual case, you know, it’s legit. I hope that (the NCAA) can find whatever in their hearts or in their minds, that they can see that and see that I’m a great guy… this year has proven that you know I’m good for college football, and I think that I should deserve another year.”

TJ Dottery on facing Carson Beck again

Last season, Ole Miss had its signature win of the 2024 campaign as it defeated Georgia at home in a game that ultimately kept the Bulldogs from the top seed in the college football playoff. 

One of the standouts from that game was TJ Dottery, who had 10 tackles, which led both teams, and was the leader of a unit that held Miami quarterback Carson Beck to one of his worst games in college

”His ability and with that great O-Line to sit in the pocket and dissect throws and get the ball to his playmakers is huge, and so for uss we got to get him out of his spot and force him to use his legs to extend plays is the biggest thing, just getting him out of the pocket,” Dottery said.

Beck isn’t the first quarterback the Rebels will have faced recently who can move out of the pocket. Tulane and Georgia both possessed quarterbacks who could move out of the pocket to make plays, but were successful in the backfield with a clean pocket.

“The first two quarterbacks we’ve faced could also extend plays, and making us focus on that a bit more and having that attention and awareness for that, and I feel like it’s prepared us a lot for it and will help us get off the field,” Dottery said.

Pete Golding on the current state of college football

The topic of what college football looks like now compared to just five years ago is a heated one, as change is sweeping across the landscape. But what does that change look like? Miami and Ole Miss are prime examples of the volatility of differing contenders from year to year, as coach Golding explains.

“I think every year is going to be dependent upon the staff that is put together and the players that you recruit, and you’re able to hold them accountable,” Golding said. “Are you able to stay healthy? There’s so many components… I think there’s a, you know, they want to play. I don’t care how much they play. If they don’t win, it’s no fun either. So I think places now are about the opportunity to come in and compete while still having the ability to compete for a championship.” 

While roster retention and turnover are massive subject points, that isn’t the priority for most places, nor is it likely to be replicated by most 

“I don’t think that’s a lot of places where players come in and compete for a championship,” Golding said. “And I think Coach Cristobal has created that. I think there’s only about a dozen places around the country that have created that.”

But while that topic takes place, another concern is happening throughout the country. Concern about the sport’s calendar.

For both programs, roster retention and recruiting the portal while prepping for a playoff game, all while your staff is being courted, is just a day in the life of the sport in 2026.

“The way the calendar is now, we’ve made it when it’s in the semifinals in the national championship, but we can take a two-week break in the season with a bye week and play a one-AA team with no portal open, and not have to worry about retention of your players,” Golding said.

“But you get off of a plane at 3 a.m., and you’ve got six days to play one of the best teams in the country, right? And you’re trying to retain your own roster from going in the portal. And you got to do visits, because you got from the second to the fifth, because you got to be out here at the fifth, I had to get official visits right up with portal guys. And, well, top-up guys are taking other jobs at other places that have to build the portal.”

An unsustainable model that coaches throughout the country are speaking openly against is still taking place. 

Mario Cristobal and Pete Golding Talk Nick Saban

Miami head coach Cristobal and newly appointed Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding may coach different teams, but they share similar backgrounds. 

Cristobal and Golding were each assistants under Nick Saban at Alabama: Cristobal from 2013 to 2016, before taking the head coaching job at Oregon in 2017, and Golding from 2018 to 2022, before joining Lane Kiffin’s staff at Ole Miss.

The two talked at length about how much Saban has meant to them.

“I’ve learned so much from Coach Saban, but the number one thing for me, from a program standpoint, is, I think he did an unbelievable job, hiring unbelievable people, and would go (and hire people) and wasn’t scared where they came from,” Golding said. “… he wanted the best person for that job that created the most value for his players.”

Golding said hiring the right people was one of the first things he immediately wanted to do when he was first named head coach at Ole Miss, following Lane Kiffin’s departure to LSU.

“When I took over, I wanted to hire smarter people than me,” Golding said. “I know that ain’t real hard sometimes, but I want to get better people that are really good at what they do, that want to be there, that are there for the players, and I think (Saban’s) the best I’ve ever been around, as far as holding grown people accountable, almost in fear, you know?”

In agreement with Golding, Cristibal said you have to bring people on staff who align with the team’s philosophy and vision.

“They have to understand, first and foremost, that every single day their job is to fight and battle human nature and a tendency to lean towards complacency and being comfortable,” Cristobal said. “And I think that’s something that Coach Saban did in a masterful way every single day, is make sure that that never set into the program.”

There’s No Message From Pete Golding to Lane Kiffin

Golding was asked by a reporter on Wednesday morning during his press conference whether he had a message for Lane Kiffin or those who doubted that Ole Miss would be playing for a spot in the National Championship.

Golding said he didn’t have a message, but thinks his team does.

“They had a message about how they prepared and how they play and that they weren’t tired of playing, Golding said.

Even with the drama of Kiffin leaving for LSU, and several of Ole Miss’s staff members going with him, the world didn’t stop for the Rebels’ players. In fact, Golding thought it boosted morale.

“So the timing of when it happened, in my opinion, couldn’t have happened at a better time for the players, because everything was already in place,” Golding said. Everything was on track. It’s headed in the right direction. We got really good players. There’s already a culture created. They knew the expectation. The only thing that was different was who was running out of the tunnel.”

Golding said he doesn’t think the players give a “damn” who runs them out of the tunnel.

“They care about their plan,” Golding said. “They care about getting held accountable, right? And how they’re going to prepare, and they care about people that care about them, all right? And I think that’s been the message our players have created.

“I don’t have shit to say to anybody else.”