Tulane-Ole Miss
Saturday, Dec. 20
3:30 p.m. Eastern, 12:30 p.m. Pacific
TNT, HBO Max, TruTV
Tulane-Ole Miss is the second of three College Football Playoff games on Saturday. There’s one game on Friday (Alabama-Oklahoma) followed by the Saturday tripleheader. Miami-Texas A&M starts the triple-decker, and James Madison-Oregon finishes it off in prime time. This is the mid-afternoon game sandwiched between those two contests.
Jon Sumrall was recently hired as the new coach at Florida, but like other coaches in the playoff, he will coach his 2025 team in the playoff before fully taking over at his new employer. James Madison coach Bob Chesney will continue to coach his team before fully taking over at UCLA.
The exception to all of this: Ole Miss, the team Tulane will face on Saturday. Ole Miss would not allow Lane Kiffin to continue to coach the Rebels in the CFP if he took the LSU job. Kiffin ultimately decided he wanted to coach LSU anyway, so he flew off to Baton Rouge.
Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding stayed behind and was rewarded not just with an interim job for this 2025 CFP, but as the permanent head coach for 2026 and beyond in Oxford. Tulane’s coach stays, Ole Miss’s coach left. It creates a fascinating backdrop for this College Football Playoff first-round encounter.
Tulane-Ole Miss is a regular-season rematch
Rebels dominated the first meeting, putting the pressure on Green Wave to adjust
This is a rematch of a regular-season game won 45-10 by Ole Miss. The Rebels’ offense didn’t really go crazy in this game despite the 45-point tally. Ole Miss had a modest 23 points through three quarters before scoring 22 in the fourth to pull away. The real story was the Ole Miss defense, which allowed just three points through the first three quarters and didn’t allow a touchdown until the Rebels had established a 45-3 lead late in the fourth quarter. Tulane quarterback Jake Retzlaff completed just 5 of 17 passes for 56 yards. The Green Wave offense was absolutely smothered by the Ole Miss defense. That becomes the primary matchup in this game. Can Tulane establish any sort of offensive consistency to control the ball and keep it away from the Ole Miss offense? Ole Miss moved the ball consistently against Tulane but didn’t finish drives. The Rebels settled for three field goals in the first three quarters, but all that ball possession wore out Tulane and led to the 22-point tsunami in the fourth quarter. Tulane has to control the ball to have any chance here.
Tulane Green Wave vs. Ole Miss Rebels Odds
Hear TJ Rives and Jason Powers break down this game on the 3Dog Thursday Podcast by clicking Play below:
Spread: Tulane +17.5 (-110), Ole Miss -17.5 (-110)
Total: 56.5 (Over -110, Under -110)
Underdog moneyline: Tulane +625
The reality of Tulane’s coach (Jon Sumrall) coaching this game while assembling a staff and a recruiting class at Florida creates difficulties for the Green Wave as they prepare for this game. Ole Miss transitioning from Lane Kiffin to Pete Golding raises interesting questions. Will Golding have his team fully prepared and focused?
One point worth noting is that Ole Miss went all-out for Lane Kiffin in the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State. If people thought the Rebels would be distracted for that game, they were wrong. Ole Miss plays this game at home and will probably be able to get past the distractions of recent weeks. Tulane is just not physically able to hold up against Ole Miss — we saw that in September. The lean here is to Ole Miss, but you might want to see how the first quarter unfolds. Maybe Tulane gets an early field goal and you can grab Ole Miss at -13.5 live. It might be worth waiting for an adjusted in-game line which could provide a great opportunity.