At first glance, Tulane’s visit to Ole Miss in the first round of the College Football Playoff looks like a mismatch of a rematch.
Circumstances have changed, however, since the visiting Green Wave were routed 45-10 by Ole Miss on Sept. 20 in Oxford.
The Green Wave (11-2), who are ranked 17th in the AP Top 25 poll and seeded 11th in the 12-team playoff bracket, have evolved into a more cohesive squad as they prepare to head back to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for Saturday afternoon’s showdown that will be televised by TNT and TruTV. They’re also coming off an American Conference title victory that propelled the New Orleans program into the CFP for the first time as one of the five league champions who were highest in the selection committee’s final rankings.
“This season is not over yet, and we don’t plan for it to be over soon,” Tulane linebacker Sam Howard said. “Everyone is doing their job so we can be in the best position to win this game.”
The No. 6 Rebels (11-1), who fell just short of reaching the Southeastern Conference championship game for the first time but still secured their inaugural CFP berth, are in the midst of a coaching transition after the departure of Lane Kiffin for SEC border rival LSU.
When these teams last played, Ole Miss coach Pete Golding was only the Rebels’ defensive coordinator. Two days after the Rebels beat Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl rivalry game to close the regular season, Golding was promoted to head coach while Kiffin was on a plane to Baton Rouge.
When asked about the high-stakes rematch with Tulane, Golding suggested that “it’s two completely different teams.”
“At this point we’re playing a conference champion. You know, a team that beat the ACC champion (Duke), and a team that’s playing at a really high level, that’s really well-coached,” Golding said. “The offense is really jelling.”
The Tulane-Ole Miss winner advances to face No. 3 Georgia (12-1), the two-time reigning SEC champion, in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal on New Year’s Day at the Superdome in New Orleans.
Golding complimented the play of Tulane quarterback Jake Retzlaff, the fifth-year senior who has accounted for 30 touchdowns (14 passing, 16 running) in his first season with the Green Wave after transferring from BYU. He mentioned the recent emergence of Tulane running back Jamauri McClure, who did not play in the first meeting but has averaged 6.8 yards per carry during the past four games. And he also noted that Tulane left tackle Derrick Graham, a Texas A&M transfer who missed the first meeting, is back in the lineup.
“So we know we’ve got our hands full,” Golding said.
Maybe, but so does Tulane, which allowed Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss to pass for 307 yards and run for 112 when these teams met in the fourth week of the season.
Oddsmakers have listed the Rebels as more than two-touchdown favorites, which isn’t a surprise for multiple reasons.
Tulane football has had plenty of lean years. That includes a 2-10 season in 2021, but since then, the Green Wave have become one of the nation’s best teams outside of the power conferences.
Tulane’s stunning Cotton Bowl victory over Southern California at the end of the 2022 season has been the highlight of the Green Wave’s resurgence. A victory at Ole Miss arguably would top that.
“We didn’t come this far just to get a participation trophy,” Tulane defensive coordinator Greg Gasparato said. “We know at the end of this game we are going to be a part of history, one way or the other.”
Golding and Tulane coach Jon Sumrall both commented on how little sleep they’ve gotten lately — albeit for different reasons.
Sumrall is working two jobs, having been hired to coach Florida next season, which will bring him into the SEC with Ole Miss, but also having been permitted — unlike Kiffin with the Rebels — to finish out the postseason with the Green Wave.
“At times, it’s been really hard,” Sumrall said.
Not only has Golding been preparing for his game as a head coach during the high-stakes CFP, he has been busy working on player retention and filling vacancies on the offensive staff created by Kiffin’s departure.
While offensive assistants who committed to follow Kiffin to LSU have been permitted to return to Ole Miss during the playoff, Golding has been trying to hire 2026 assistants as quickly as possible so players could have certainty about next season’s staff before deciding whether to transfer.
Golding said his past couple weeks have been characterized by “probably the least amount of sleep” he’s gotten since a trip to Las Vegas in 2007, when he was in his early 20s.
Golding added that he hasn’t even had time to reflect on the personal significance of his sudden promotion.
“When you start getting caught up in moments and start taking pictures and do all that,” Golding said, “your focus is on the wrong thing.”
Ole Miss ranked third in the top-tier Football Bowl Subdivision in total offense (498.1 yards per game) and 11th in scoring (37.3 points per game) this season. While Golding and Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weiss might manage games differently from how Kiffin would, Tulane defenders expect the Rebels’ offensive scheme and deployment of personnel to remain largely unchanged.
“We’re not going to chase ghosts,” Gasparato said. “I don’t think they are going to add a bunch of different schemes and plays.”
Each team will be confident in its ability to run the football as both field formidable running backs and dual threats behind center.
Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy has rushed for 1,279 yards and set a program record with 20 touchdowns this season. Chambliss, meanwhile, rushed for 470 yards and six scores.
Retzlaff is Tulane’s leading rusher with 610 yards, partly because the Green Wave rotated through a number of running backs before settling recently on McClure, who has 456 yards on 68 carries, with almost all of that in the past four games.
“Jamauri’s such a talented athlete,” Sumrall said. “There’s always been that flash, like … this guy’s got a chance to be really good, but the consistency was not there. He’s invested in his preparation and his craft and become a more serious-minded guy.”
Lacy ran for two touchdowns against Tulane in September but was held to 68 yards, his fourth-lowest rushing total this season.
“They’re still a physical, good team,” Lacy said. “I just have to have the right mindset this time around: go out there and be dominant.”