{"id":76850,"date":"2025-12-21T01:31:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T01:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/76850\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T01:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T01:31:11","slug":"ole-miss-cruises-past-tulane-to-set-up-college-football-playoff-showdown-with-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/76850\/","title":{"rendered":"Ole Miss cruises past Tulane to set up College Football Playoff showdown with Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"

OXFORD, Miss. \u2014 Trinidad Chambliss ran for two touchdowns and passed for another, and No. 6 Mississippi looked unfazed by the defection of coach Lane Kiffin<\/a>, beating No. 17 Tulane 41-10 on Saturday in the first round of the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n

Scoring runs of 20 yards by Kewan Lacy and 4 yards by Chambliss gave Ole Miss (12-1) a 14-0 lead before eight minutes had elapsed in the coaching debut of Pete Golding, who was promoted from defensive coordinator<\/a> after\u00a0Kiffin left for LSU\u00a0on Nov. 30.<\/p>\n

Next up for Golding and Ole Miss: a CFP quarterfinal against No. 2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1<\/p>\n

Trinidad Chambliss celebrates a touchdown during Ole Miss\u2019 College Football Playoff win Dec. 20. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Tulane (11-3) and quarterback Jake Retzlaff moved the ball effectively at times, but the Rebels \u2014 who beat the Green Wave 45-10 on Sept. 20 \u2014 remained comfortably ahead throughout. Cornerback Jaylon Braxton had an early interception, and the Rebels\u2019 defense had multiple fumble recoveries and fourth-down stops.<\/p>\n

While Kiffin had asked to keep coaching Ole Miss through the playoff even while working for its Southeastern Conference rival, athletic director Keith Carter would not allow it. So the Rebels entered arguably the most significant game ever played at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium with a new coach \u2014 not to mention an unprecedented level of looming staff and roster uncertainty for a team contending for a national title.<\/p>\n

In Mississippi\u2019s famed Grove, artwork around tailgate tents depicted Kiffin in a negative light, including one showing him on a Christmas \u201cnaughty\u201d list, with Golding in the \u201cnice\u201d column.<\/p>\n

Trinidad Chambliss stretches for a touchdown during Ole Miss\u2019 College Football Playoff win Dec. 20. Getty Images<\/p>\n

When Golding walked onto the field during warm-ups, the crowd roared. Fans continued cheering as Eli Manning, a former Ole Miss QB and two-time Super Bowl winner with the New York Giants, greeted the new Rebels coach on the sideline.<\/p>\n

On the opposite sideline was Tulane coach Jon Sumrall, who was permitted to keep coaching the Green Wave after being hired by Florida. His hopes of returning to Tulane\u2019s home city of New Orleans to prepare for the Sugar Bowl were dashed, and he\u2019ll be packing up for Gainesville, Florida, to join the Gators.<\/p>\n

Chambliss, who briefly left the game late in the first half after a big hit during an 11-yard scramble, finished with 282 yards passing. Lacy rushed for 87 yards before heading to the locker room in the fourth quarter with an apparent left shoulder injury. De\u2019Zhaun Stribling caught five passes for 79 yards, including a 13-yard TD.<\/p>\n

De\u2019Zhaun Stribling runs with the ball during Ole Miss\u2019 College Football Playoff win Dec. 20. Getty Images<\/p>\n

LSU transfer Logan Diggs added a 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Retzlaff finished with 306 yards passing and a TD for Tulane, whose loss dropped non-power conference teams to 0-3 in CFP games (with James Madison playing at Oregon later Saturday night). Jamauri McClure gained 84 yards on 15 carries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OXFORD, Miss. \u2014 Trinidad Chambliss ran for two touchdowns and passed for another, and No. 6 Mississippi looked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[11590,33418,18813,18814,9,11,10,319,33424],"class_list":["post-76850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-college-football","tag-college-football-playoff","tag-lane-kiffin","tag-mississippi-rebels","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-sports","tag-tulane-green-wave"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}