Ole Miss Athletics and the College Football Playoffs gave media members access to two 15 minute practice windows, 10 press conferences over the weekend and 60 players at Sugar Bowl Media Day.
The defense had a press conference on Saturday, Dec. 27, and the offense was available to the media a day later. On Tuesday, Dec. 30, all players and coaches were available to the media for 45 minutes.
“We understand what the mission is,” Golding said on Tuesday. “This isn’t a normal bowl game where we’re going on a vacation (after) the experience of a long year, and this is your last game. They’re all well aware that they’re playing for the opportunity to play again.”
Blocking out the noise
The transfer portal opens on Jan. 2. Lane Kiffin left for LSU and took most of his offensive staff with him, though most of these coaches will continue to coach Ole Miss through the playoffs — even though their replacements have already been hired. The game itself is being held in New Orleans, La., a dazzling city ripe with distraction.
Factoring in the nerves that come in anticipation of the biggest game in program history, players can lose sight of the simple goal: to win the game and advance to the semifinals.
Golding and the coaches have done all that they can to keep the team in the right headspace. He wants his team to enjoy the city, yet they need to be able to focus during practice and meetings.
“I think the biggest thing is compartmentalizing. When am I focusing, and when am I allowed to have fun?” Golding said at Sugar Bowl Media Day. “ …Our focus has to be on attention to detail, to do the things that we need to do, during the day and during meetings. …In between meetings and after practice, you create some opportunities for yourself to go out and have fun and enjoy those times.”
In terms of the turnover in the coaching staff, Golding said that everyone’s primary focus is this season. The players have given this season everything they have — the least that coaches can do is continue to show commitment to their players, regardless of what season may look like.
“From the assistant standpoint, I was never concerned, because there was never a doubt from them about wanting to coach and finish the season they had promised to the players,” Golding said. “And so that was my whole thing when we were recruiting the (2026) staff was, like, ‘Look, guys, let’s not worry about 2026. Let’s stop worrying about where we’re coaching in 2026 and let’s focus on finishing 2025 the right way for the players.’”
Wide receiver Harrison Wallace III emphasized that Golding has done a great job as the new leader of this team.
“He’s really passionate about us. We love him,” Wallace said. At Sugar Bowl Media Day “He brings the energy that we need and we’re behind it.”
Wide receiver Deuce Alexander has tuned out all the external buzz and is ready for this opportunity.
“I’m just in a great space right now. I’m excited. Just to get going last game. I’m glad I got all the opportunities just to showcase my things. I’m just ready to keep pushing forward,” Alexander said at Sugar Bowl Media Day.
Ultimately, Golding said, the team knows what they need to do. It is win or go home, and nobody at Ole Miss is ready for this historic season to end.
“We understand what the mission is,” Golding said. “This isn’t a normal bowl game where we’re going on a vacation (after) the experience of a long year, and this is your last game. They’re all well aware that they’re playing for the opportunity to play again.”
Injuries
Running back Kewan Lacy left the Rebels first round CFP game against Tulane with a shoulder injury; however, he was practicing and said he was good to go.
Wydett Williams Jr. was also injured against Tulane, but he is game ready.
Georgia scouting report
The Rebels only loss this season was a game against Georgia in a 43-35 shootout loss in Athens, Ga. Georgia’s offense scored on every possession. Defensive coach Bryan Brown spoke about what makes Georgia so formidable in his press conference on Saturday.
“I think the one thing they’re doing really well is taking care of the football. They’re not turning the ball over,” Brown said. “They’re also just executing at a really high level. And then playmakers are making plays. And that’s one thing about a really good football team, that playmakers are gonna make plays.”
Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton threw for 289 yards on 26-of-31 passing with four touchdowns. He also added 59 yards on the ground on 10 carries. Ole Miss will have to do a better job of containing him this time around.
“He’s a gamer, as people call him, but he does a great job of extending plays with his legs, and it’s not just to run, but also be able to keep his eyes down the field, be able to throw, and if he needs to run he will,” Brown said. “He’ll extend drives and be able to pick up first downs.”
In his presser on Dec. 28, quarterbacks coach Joe Judge spoke about how the gameplan changes when playing a familiar opponent.
“Very similar to when you prepare for Tulane the second time. You always look at the first game, you always start with what they did against you in the matchup,” Judge said. “What you did. What went well and what didn’t. And you have to think on both sides, what can we do to manage something they did? And then, vice versa, what are they going to do to match us up?”
At media day, Golding brought up the difficulties that arise from playing a team more than once. Though addressing struggles from the last matchup is important, he said, it is important to keep the gameplan as simple as possible.
“Sometimes the more you know about people, the cuter you try to get. You try to overthink things and put too much in the package,” Golding said. “(But) the call is not going to win this game — the execution of the call is going to win the game.”
Left tackle Diego Pounds said that the team has to fine-tune even the smallest details in order to beat an opponent as skilled as Georgia.
“Georgia is a really, really good team, so we can’t really play around,” Pounds said at Sugar Bowl Media Day. “There’s very little room for mistakes, so we do a lot of walkthroughs, we meet a lot, and we really do all we can.”
Indeed, Alexander recalled how violent the Bulldogs are. He hopes that the Rebels can match their physicality.
“The thing that I remember the most is they were very physical, so we gotta just come out there and be physical from the jump,” Alexander said on Sunday. “Just take it to them.”
Wallace, too, has noticed that Georgia’s secondary tends to run man coverage, which creates an opportunity to put his physicality to good use — quite simply, he just has to beat the man across from him.
“They got a lot of great players and they do a lot of great things on the field and they put their defense in positions where they thrive. I feel like later on this season towards the end they’ve been playing a lot of man (coverage) so I’m looking forward to going out there and playing versus man-to-man and being a physical winner.”
Improvements
The Rebels have a lot to take away from that loss way back in October that could help them in the Sugar Bowl.
“The biggest thing from that game, if you look at it, the number one thing is leverage and just having the correct leverage on (blocks) as well as angles on tackles,” Brown said. “Those are the things that go into tackling, as opposed to just a physical aspect.”
Fixing these errors has been a priority all year.
“We try to correct that throughout the year,” Brown said. “Working on it right now, tirelessly, just making sure, because you’re going against a really good football team that has some speed, so (we) want to make sure we keep edges and do a really good job of tackling. But the angles are really, really key and some of it is ‘want to’ as well. So you have to want to tackle these big backs.”
Tackling has been an area of focus specifically for edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen, who has at least one sack in his last three games.
“We’re doing tackling circuits at practice, getting those right,” Umanmielen said at Sugar Bowl Media Day. “We tackle at practice, so we emphasize that.”
Despite the Rebels allowing 43 points, Brown took away one defensive positive from the last matchup.
“I think the one thing we did, I think early on in the game, was we kind of went to a couple third and longs,” Brown said. “If you can do that versus any team, that helps put you in a situation where you get off the football field and get the ball back to your offense. We got them in third and long, but they converted on those third and longs.”
Wydett Williams Jr. and the Rebel secondary allowed 289 passing yards and four touchdowns from Stockton. However, Williams believes that the defense has grown much tighter as a unit since then.
“We just trust each other more, trusting the man next to us more,” Williams said. “We know each other a lot more now than at the beginning of the season, so we’re being dependent on one another.”
A key for this game is playing a full four quarters. Last time, Ole Miss held a lead going into the last 15 minutes, but the defense allowed 17 points and the offense stalled out.
“We just have to do a better job of finishing out the game,” Judge said in his presser on Sunday. “Against Georgia, you have to be very patient with the process against them. They’re going to make you earn everything.”
Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss struggled in that fourth quarter. He was 1-of-10 for one yard. The Rebels only managed 13 yards as a team.
“We definitely have to finish the whole game,” Chambliss said in his presser on Sunday. “That comes with me. Executing on drives and just finishing series. And I gotta do a better job playing the fourth quarter and finishing the game.”
This is not entirely on Chambliss. The offensive line will need to hold off a tenacious Bulldog front seven to give Chambliss the time he needs to operate. Despite not allowing a sack against Georgia in their first matchup, Pounds was not happy with his performance.
“I feel like I didn’t have the best game against them last time,” Pounds said at Sugar Bowl Media Day. “And so I went back and I watched the film twice. I buzzed the film. I wanted to figure out why, and I just feel like I wanted to fix a little bit of technique errors. There’s been a coach with me on it, and I just feel like this time, I feel like I’m really prepared.”
Fan support
While the first game against Georgia on Oct. 18 was full of red and black, that will not be an issue this time.
“I already know Ole Miss fans are going to come pack it out,” Wallace said on Tuesday. “I already know they’re going to be the loudest fans in the building and I just can’t wait to experience it.”
Lacy echoed that Ole Miss fans helped create an intense environment in the first round game.
“The first game was a great experience,” Lacy said on Tuesday. “It was a home game so I felt like it was just great for the fans, great for Ole Miss history.
