Just as the with the Oklahoma-Alabama game, these two teams already met in the regular season, when the Rebels took down the Green Wave 45-10 in Week 4. While it was a dominant victory in favor of the home team, it will have been exactly three months ago since they last played. And if you follow college football even a little bit, you know a lot has changed for Ole Miss. Here is a preview of each CFP team heading into Saturday’s afternoon matchup:
🦈 Ole Miss (11-1)
The Rebels’ season started on a roller coaster, and the team might still be on one heading into their first round matchup with the Green Wave. In Week 2 against Kentucky, Ole Miss starting quarterback Austin Simmons went down with an ankle injury that would put him out for at least a month. Rebels fans were left in doubt as to how they were going to make it through the tough schedule ahead without their quarterback.
Well, if you didn’t know his name then, you probably do now — Trinidad Chambliss. The senior transfer from DII’s Ferris State stepped in for Simmons in Week 3 against Arkansas and threw for 353 yards and led the team with 62 rushing yards. He backed that up with over 400 total yards the very next week against Tulane. The usual script of starting quarterback goes down, season ends, was flipped on its head with Chambliss. So even when Simmons returned in Week 8 against Georgia, Lane Kiffin opted to stick with Chambliss. After all, Chambliss passed for 1,227 yards through four games heading into the matchup with Georgia.
The loss to the Dawgs in Athens ended up being Ole Miss’ only one of the season after Georgia put up 17 unanswered in the fourth quarter. But Chambliss played well, and the Rebels have stuck with the Ferris State product since. That was one issue solved, but now Ole Miss is in the midst of another. On Nov. 30, Lane Kiffin announced that he will be leaving Ole Miss for LSU, and he will not be coaching the team in the College Football Playoff. The Ole Miss athletic department wasted no time, promoting defensive coordinator Pete Golding to head coach, even signing him to a five-year deal.
So obviously, there are a lot of questions regarding this team heading into the playoff. But one thing we know for sure, Oxford, Mississippi holds one of the most explosive offenses in the country, averaging the third-most yards in FBS at 498.1 per game. That’s the highest mark of any CFP team, with only North Texas and South Florida ahead. This team has playmakers on both sides of the ball, and the Rebels with or without Kiffin will be a tough out for any team in this year’s CFP.
🌊 Tulane (11-2)
The Green Wave took home their second American title this season, defeating North Texas 34-21 in what was essentially a play-in game for the College Football Playoff. The American conference was a brawl all season, and it ended up being one of the most competitive conferences from top to bottom.
South Florida was originally the favorite after taking down Florida early in the year, then Memphis held the lead for a short while, and then it came down to North Texas and Tulane. For most of the season and into CFP poll time, the winner of the AAC was projected to receive an automatic bid, and sure enough the Green Wave prevailed and get a rematch with one of their only two losses this year.
Tulane is led by BYU transfer quarterback Jake Retzlaff who threw for almost 3,000 yards this season while leading the FBS in rushing touchdowns by a quarterback (16). He is a dynamic playmaker, similar to Chambliss, and both are more than happy to beat you with their legs if you take away the pass, especially in man coverage.
In the passing game, the Green Wave are difficult to game plan against as they don’t necessarily have a No. 1 option like many of the CFP schools. Five receivers have over 400 yards, and 10 different players have caught a touchdown, making it difficult to decide whom to try and limit. However, Retzlaff was 5 for 17 in the first matchup with the Rebels, and the Green Wave will certainly need a better performance out of their quarterback to try and pull of this upset.
Defensively, no metrics jump off the page for Tulane, but the Green Wave do know how to cause turnovers with 15 interceptions on the season — the third-most in the CFP field behind Texas Tech (16) and Indiana (17). But Chambliss protects the rock better than most, throwing only three picks all season.
It will be a tough battle in front of the Rebel crowd, and Tulane will need its best performance of the season to stun Ole Miss.
