• Today’s Fiesta Bowl appearance is the biggest game for Ole Miss in at least 50 years. It’s also the culmination of a massive fundraising effort athletics director Keith Carter and other behind-the-scenes people that’s helped the Rebels gain an upper hand in the NIL era. 

Keith Carter had a premium vantage point at the Sugar Bowl for arguably the biggest moment in Mississippi’s college football history, standing directly behind the goalposts as Lucas Carneiro’s 47-yard field goal split the uprights.

The Ole Miss athletic director scooped up the football and tucked it under both arms, hugging it tight like a fullback as he ran through the end zone in jubilation.

The 49-year-old Carter — who played basketball for the Rebels in the late 1990s — didn’t play a snap in Ole Miss’ 39-34 victory over Georgia in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. But in some ways, he might be the most important person for a football program that hasn’t achieved this much success since the early 1960s.

He is also the man working to keep Ole Miss on top.

“We want to go win the whole thing this year, obviously,” Carter said. “But our hope is to be right back here next year and be a program that’s an every-year CFP contender with a chance to win national championships.”

Such talk would have sounded crazy less than a decade ago when Ole Miss was mostly an afterthought in the SEC, dealing with the fallout of an NCAA investigation into rules violations and a messy breakup with then-coach Hugh Freeze.

But as the No. 6 seed Rebels prepare to face No. 10 Miami in the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday with a spot in the national championship game on the line, it doesn’t feel nearly as far-fetched.

Thanks to a group of behind-the-scenes people that includes Carter and Walker Jones — who leads the Ole Miss NIL collective — the Rebels have thrived in the pay-for-play era, building a fundraising behemoth that’s given them resources to build a roster that includes quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, running back Kewan Lacy and a defense stacked with NFL-caliber talent.

Chambliss recently committed to return to the Rebels next season pending NCAA approval. He said Ole Miss has all of the resources it needs to compete at the highest level.

“I feel like college football’s changed throughout the years,” Chambliss said. “NIL changed that. The transfer portal changed that. The college football playoff changed that. I feel like Ole Miss, being in the SEC, the best conference in the nation, you’re going to get guys. You’re going to get good guys and coaches want to coach there. Ole Miss has done a good job transitioning with how college football is transitioning itself.”

Jones played football for the Rebels in the 1990s before a business career that included more than a decade with Under Armour. He came back to Ole Miss in 2022 to lead The Grove Collective, which is the athletic department’s fundraising arm.

Carter and Jones have known each other since their days playing Ole Miss sports and that connection was crucial.

“I always talk about the trust Keith had in me to come back in this capacity during a very confusing and complex time,” Jones said. “That probably wasn’t easy. I credit our history together and the experience of being student-athletes together.”

The Rebels were quick to adapt to the NIL era under coach Lane Kiffin, who iprovided the recruiting. Carter and Jones provided the money and a juggernaut was born.

Now Kiffin is gone — headed to LSU after an awkward breakup — but the money remains. Jones has cultivated a group of roughly 7,000 donors in The Grove Collective who range from millionaries to college students. It’s all impressive for a school that has a large following, but not the same kind of massive alumni base of schools like Ohio State or Texas.

“We may not have a T. Boone Pickens or a Phil Knight,” Carter said, referring to the well-heeled donors for Oklahoma State and Oregon. “But when you put us all together collectively, pull the rope in the same direction and people give not only what they can, but maybe even a little above what they should, we’ve been able to be really good.”

Ole Miss’ staying power has been evident over the past 12 months after last year’s disappointing ending to the season. The Rebels spent a boatload of money in 2024 for a roster that included quarterback Jaxson Dart, but they went 9-3 in the regular season and didn’t make the playoff.

Jones and Carter weren’t deterred and the donations kept pouring into the program. One year later, they’re exactly where they want to be. Even losing Kiffin hasn’t stopped the momentum; Carter quickly promoted Pete Golding and the Rebels keep chugging along.

“You’ve seen this before in sports,” Carter said. “There’s a team with all the expectations and you fall a little short. Then the very next year, you look up, and there’s a team that’s maybe not as heralded or doesn’t have as much preseason hype. But the pieces fit perfectly, the locker room is right, all these intangible things happen and it’s the best team in school history.”

It’s all new territory for an Ole Miss program that hasn’t been a powerhouse since the 1950s and ’60s, back before integration. The Rebels claim three national championships in football, though none since 1962.

There were a few good moments in the ensuing decades: Eli Manning was the team’s quarterback during a few heady years in the early 2000s, the Rebels won the Cotton Bowl in 2008 and Freeze had it rolling for a few years in the mid-2010s before NCAA troubles arose.

All those flashes of national relavance faded quickly.

Now because of Carter, Jones and a whole lot of cash, this version of Ole Miss might stick around for a while. Carter is soaking in the moment.

“It’s not just for me,” Carter said. “I’m the one who gets recognized and is the one out in front, but there are so many people who deserve this. I’m so happy for our fans, the ones who have been through some ups and downs.”

We shouldn’t be surprised to be surprised in college football anymore.

In a landscape reshaped by NIL, the transfer portal, the expanded playoff, and realignment, chaos isn’t a bug of the postseason. It’s the feature.

Very few fans, pundits, or punters indeed predicted that Miami would face Ole Miss in the final four of the College Football Playoff, but we should have been prepared for this possibility, given what this sport has become in this modern era.

The gap between the old guard and the nouveau riche is virtually non-existent anymore. All you need to do is get hot at the right time.

That’s exactly what has happened with Miami and Ole Miss.

The Rebels, who finished 11-1 in the regular season, were a lock to get into the College Football Playoff after beating Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, but Oxford turned red when it was announced that head coach Lane Kiffin would abandon ship and take over at LSU.

Kiffin’s departure was expected to derail Ole Miss, but the Rebels have used it as a galvanizing force, and are playing their best football of the season at the exact right time.

The Rebels aren’t perfect, but they can handle several different game scripts, which is essential when you’re asked to run the gauntlet in a 12-team playoff.

Tulane didn’t put up much resistance in Round 1, but a showdown with Georgia in the quarterfinals was expected to be the end of the ride for Mississippi.

Instead, the Rebels, led by quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, took Georgia’s best shot and survived. A two-score deficit at halftime was erased thanks to the heroics of Chambliss and some clutch playmaking by running backs, receivers, kickers, and defenders.

Chambliss, who started the season as the backup after transferring from Ferris State, had his most impressive performance of his career against Georgia, but he’s been lights out all year for the Rebels, amassing 3,660 passing yards and a superb 21-to-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. The Grand Rapids, Mich., native can beat you with his legs, too.

Miami’s path to the semifinals was more daunting, taking them to Texas A&M and then to the Cotton Bowl to take on Ohio State, and bettors have taken notice, pushing the Hurricanes to -3.5 for Thursday’s battle with Ole Miss.

On the surface, that all makes sense. Miami’s defense has been the most impressive unit in the College Football Playoff, holding Texas A&M and Ohio State to a combined 17 points and pitching shutouts in the first half of both contests.

Miami’s offense hasn’t been nearly as good, but it’s doing what it needs to do to get the Canes over the line. Carson Beck, who is no stranger to making errors in big moments, has held his nerve and kept a steady hand on the wheel to this point. Beck certainly isn’t winning games for Miami, but he’s not losing them, either.

Betting on College Football?

The question is whether or not Miami’s offense can answer the bell if the defense bends more than it has through the first two rounds. Holding the Aggies and Buckeyes to just 17 points is a gargantuan feat, but at some point, a big play will break, and that will force Beck and the offense to answer the bell.

And perhaps no offense is better equipped to hurl that pressure on Miami than Ole Miss. Not only do the Rebels have a game-breaking quarterback and terrific playmakers surrounding him, but they also seem to thrive in chaos. They’ve played some wild games this year, and just pulled off a stunning comeback against a Georgia defense that is on the same level as Miami’s.

Miami, based on its form and path to this game, is the deserving favorite. But I actually think it’s the underdog with more paths to success in this contest. The Hurricanes have proven they can be the storm, but Ole Miss has proven time and again it can weather one.

The Play: Ole Miss moneyline (+140, FanDuel)

Why Trust New York Post Betting

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.

What to do?

A harder look at contracts

Bo Jackson’s NIL cost rumors create Ohio State transfer portal concern originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Bo Jackson had a great freshman season for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

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He was frequently featured, and everyone got to learn that his real name is Lamar Jackson, and that he’s not related either to NFL/MLB legend Bo Jackson or to NFL superstar Lamar Jackson.

This is just Bo Jackson, the Ohio State true freshman running back.

And after a great year, there are rumors that he’s asking for a serious bag.

In fact, the dollars suggested would be more than former Ohio State RB TreVeyon Henderson is earning with the Patriots in the NFL. Henderson’s rookie deal as a second-round pick was for four years and more than $11 million total.

Here’s one trending rumor:

MORE: Jeremiah Smith breaks silence on entering transfer portal rumors

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The NIL marketplace is a fuzzy one. It’s hard to know what intel is reliable or not.

And so this isn’t to say that Jackson is being greedy, or that he has plans to transfer away, or anything like that.

It just captures the moment that college football is in. Jackson, a Cleveland native, heads down to Columbus to star for the Buckeyes.

And then one season in, there’s the expectation that a new contract can be negotiated, and it’s pretty much free agency all the time all throughout college football.

It’s a tough place for the sport to find itself. And if the Buckeyes want to keep Jackson, they’ll have to navigate whatever the reality here actually is.

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MORE: Dylan Raiola’s transfer saga is getting weirder and weirder

A quarterback reportedly reneging on a lucrative deal to hit the transfer portal, only to return to his original school. Another starting QB, this one in the College Football Playoff, awaiting approval from the NCAA to play next season, an expensive NIL deal apparently hanging in the balance. A defensive star, sued by his former school after transferring, filing a lawsuit of his own.

It is easy to see why many observers say things are a mess in college football even amid a highly compelling postseason.

“It gets crazier and crazier. It really, really does,” said Sam Ehrlich, a Boise State legal studies professor who tracks litigation against the NCAA. He said he might have to add a new section for litigation against the NCAA stemming just from transfer portal issues.

“I think a guy signing a contract and then immediately deciding he wants to go to another school, that’s a kind of a new thing,” he said. “Not new kind of historically when you think about all the contract jumping that was going on in the ’60s and ’70s with the NBA. But it’s a new thing for college sports, that’s for sure.”

Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. said late Thursday he will return to school for the 2026 season rather than enter the transfer portal, avoiding a potentially messy dispute amid reports the Huskers were prepared to pursue legal options to enforce Williams’ name, image and likeness contract.

Edge rusher Damon Wilson is looking to transfer after one season at Missouri, having been sued for damages by Georgia over his decision to leave the Bulldogs. He has countersued.

Then there is Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who reportedly has a new NIL deal signed but is awaiting an NCAA waiver allowing him to play another season as he and the Rebels played Thursday night’s Collge Football Playoff semifinal against Miami. On the Hurricanes roster: Defensive back Xavier Lucas, whose transfer from Wisconsin led to a lawsuit against the Hurricanes last year with the Badgers claiming he was improperly lured by NIL money. Lucas has played all season for Miami. The case is pending.

What to do?

Court rulings have favored athletes of late, winning them not just millions in compensation but the ability to play immediately after transferring rather than have to sit out a year as once was the case. They can also discuss specific NIL compensation with schools and boosters before enrolling and current court battles include players seeking to play longer without lower-college seasons counting against their eligibility and ability to land NIL money while doing it.

Ehrlich compared the situation to the labor upheaval professional leagues went through before finally settling on collective bargaining, which has been looked at as a potential solution by some in college sports over the past year. Athletes.org, a players association for college athletes, recently offered a 38-page proposal of what a labor deal could look like.

“I think NCAA is concerned, and rightfully so, that anything they try to do to tamp down this on their end is going to get shut down,” Ehrlich said. “Which is why really the only two solutions at this point are an act of Congress, which feels like an act of God at this point, or potentially collective bargaining, which has its own major, major challenges and roadblocks.”

The NCAA has been lobbying for years for limited antitrust protection to keep some kind of control over the new landscape — and to avoid more crippling lawsuits — but bills have gone nowhere in Congress.

Collective bargaining is complicated and universities have long balked at the idea that their athletes are employees in some way. Schools would become responsible for paying wages, benefits, and workers’ compensation. And while private institutions fall under the National Labor Relations Board, public universities must follow labor laws that vary from state to state; virtually every state in the South has “right to work” laws that present challenges for unions.

Ehrlich noted the short careers for college athletes and wondered whether a union for collective bargaining is even possible.

A harder look at contracts

To sports attorney Mit Winter, employment contracts may be the simplest solution.

“This isn’t something that’s novel to college sports,” said Winter, a former college basketball player who is now a sports attorney with Kennyhertz Perry. “Employment contracts are a huge part of college sports, it’s just novel for the athletes.”

Employment contracts for players could be written like those for coaches, he suggested, which would offer buyouts and prevent players from using the portal as a revolving door.

“The contracts that schools are entering into with athletes now, they can be enforced, but they cannot keep an athlete out of school because they’re not signing employment contracts where the school is getting the right to have the athlete play football for their school or basketball or whatever sport it is,” Winter said. “They’re just acquiring the right to be able to use the athlete’s NIL rights in various ways. So, a NIL agreement is not going to stop an athlete from transferring or going to play whatever sport it is that he or she plays at another school.”

There are challenges here, too, of course: Should all college athletes be treated as employees or just those in revenue-producing sports? Can all injured athletes seek workers’ compensation and insurance protection? Could states start taxing athlete NIL earnings?

Winter noted a pending federal case against the NCAA could allow for athletes to be treated as employees more than they currently are.

“What’s going on in college athletics now is trying to create this new novel system where the athletes are basically treated like employees, look like employees, but we don’t want to call them employees,” Winter said. “We want to call them something else and say they’re not being paid for athletic services. They’re being paid for use of their NIL. So, then it creates new legal issues that have to be hashed out and addressed, which results in a bumpy and chaotic system when you’re trying to kind of create it from scratch.”

He said employment contracts would allow for uniform rules, including how many schools an athlete can go to or if the athlete can go to another school when the deal is up. That could also lead to the need for collective bargaining.

“If the goal is to keep someone at a school for a certain defined period of time, it’s got to be employment contracts,” Winter said.

Trent Dilfer is back to coaching high school football after his failed foray into the college game. After being fired as UAB’s head coach last October, the former Super Bowl winner has returned to Lipscomb Academy, where he will oversee a program he previously led to a pair of Tennessee state titles.

Hours after news of Dilfer’s new job was announced on Thursday, OutKick’s Jonathan Hutton released part of an interview he had with the head coach, reflecting on his time with UAB.

Dilfer was fired midway through his third season in Birmingham. During that time, he led the Blazers to a 9-21 record, including a 2-4 mark through six games last year.

“I’ve got some scars, I really do,” Dilfer said when addressing his return to Libscomb from UAB. “I’m a much better man than I was when I left. I think I got truly broken by college football in a great way. Everybody goes, ‘Why would you say that?’ Well, because that’s part of growth. I mean, you’ve got to be broken and reshaped and molded.

“College football broke me. Just the losing, developing players. Like we had 14 players that we recruited, I recruited, we developed … you play them, and then they go to Ole Miss and Arkansas and Alabama and everywhere else.”

Dilfer failed to retain several of his stars at UAB due to the transfer portal, including the three departures he alluded to in his interview — offensive lineman Delano Townsend (Ole Miss), wide receiver Kam Shanks (Arkansas) and safety Jalen Key (Alabama).

During his time in charge of the Blazers spoke out on the inequities UAB dealt with in terms of NIL deals, referring to the program’s resources as “chicken scratch.”

“In our conference … we have two teams that will go to our roster and sign double or triple what these guys can make on our roster and make them backups on their roster so that we can’t have them,” Dilfer said during an interview with “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on Birmingham’s WJOX-FM 94.5 last year. “That’s happening in our conference.”

During the interview released on Thursday, Dilfer reflected on the difficulties he had retaining his roster at UAB while also questioning the program’s emphasis on remaining competitive.

“It was so hard to maintain the relationships working with people that didn’t see winning like I did,” Dilfer said. “You know the one thing that’s great about Lipscomb is that they care about winning as much as I do. They are invested. I cannot say that about the last place that I was at. It was just really hard.”

Alex Mortensen will serve as UAB’s next head coach after leading the Blazers to a 2-4 record while filling in as the interim coach following Dilfer’s firing last season. Mortensen has expressed optimism about the UAB administration’s willingness to extend more resources to the football program moving forward.

“I can just tell you that the institution, the administration, the university, they want to make a commitment to help as much as they can, to adapt in this era,” Mortensen said during an appearance on WBRC’s Good Day Alabama last month. “And then also you have people in the community that want to donate to our Excellence Fund and help that grow so we can go compete.”