In the first round of the College Football Playoffs, the Ole Miss Rebels defeated the Tulane Green Wave 41-10 in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 20.
The victory comes after Ole Miss’ 11-1 regular season and former head coach Lane Kiffin left for LSU.
This win marks the Rebel’s first win in the CFP, as well as Pete Golding’s first win as the new Ole Miss head coach.
“Obviously an exciting night for our program, for our fans and more importantly for our players,” Golding said his postgame press conference. “They’ve been through a lot over these last couple of weeks, and it was good just to get back on the grass.”
This game set the attendance record at Vaught, with 68,251 fans in attendance. The vast majority stayed until the very end.
“It was amazing. The atmosphere. The juice was there for sure,” quarterback Trinidad Chambliss said in his postgame press conference. “The crowd was amazing. We executed really well.”
First half
The Rebels won the toss and elected to receive the ball to begin the game.
Ole Miss marched down the field on the first possession and scored in three plays. Chambliss completed two passes for 55 yards, 46 of which were after the catch, and running back Kewan Lacy ran for a 20-yard touchdown. The drive lasted just 59 seconds. It was the fastest touchdown in a College Football Playoff game.
The Rebel defense prevented big plays on the Green Wave’s first drive, but they were unable to get off the field on two third downs. The Green Wave did just enough to stay on the field until Rebel cornerback Jaylon Braxton intercepted Tulane quarterback Jake Retzlaff’s pass. He returned the ball 15 yards, then a horse collar tackle gave Ole Miss an extra 15 yards.
Chambliss and the Rebels were lightning quick on their second drive and scored in four plays, this time on a quarterback keeper from the four-yard line.
Ole Miss compiled 135 yards on seven plays in their first two drives, nearly reaching 20 yards per play.
The Green Wave slowly made their way down the field with a third-down conversion and a 17-yard pass, but the Rebels stopped them on third-and-three. Down by two scores, Tulane elected to go for it on fourth-and-two, but the Rebels stopped them and got the ball back at their 37-yard line.
The Rebel drive got off to a shaky start when the Tulane defensive line sacked Chambliss for a seven-yard loss. Ole Miss lined up to go for it from their own 42-yard line, but took a delay of game penalty and punted it away.
Tulane threw a punch with a 57-yard pass to get near the red zone. Retzlaff threw a simple floater that proved to be effective. The Rebels held their ground and got a tackle for a loss to force third-and-six. Tulane settled for a 39-yard field goal to make it 14-3.
Retzlaff had more completions in the first half of this game through the first quarter (six), then he did in the entire regular season game that Ole Miss and Tulane played earlier this year (five).
Ole Miss’ next drive stalled out after a pass went through the hands of Deuce Alexander. Tulane almost blocked the punt; they were also close on the first one earlier in the game.
At some point in most games this season, the Rebel offenseseemed to get off track. The Rebels were explosive in their first two drives, but they managed only 21 yards on their next two.
The Tulane run game was working well on their next drive. They ran for 35 yards on four carries, but Ole Miss found their footing and forced a punt.
After gaining 39 yards to get into plus territory, Ole Miss reached fourth-and-three. A four-yard pass to receiver Cayden Lee gave the Rebels a fresh set of downs.
The run game was inefficient in this drive. Two straight runs for three yards forced a Lucas Carneiro field goal to make it 17-3.
A few good, quick passes seemed to revitalize the Rebel offense, until two bad runs snuffed out the drive.
The Rebel defense was stout on the next drive. The secondary locked everyone down to begin the drive and forced Retzlaff to scramble for no gain. Then the defensive line stopped a run for a minimal gain. To end the drive on third-and-eight, edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen and defensive end Kam Franklin got to the quarterback for a seven-yard sack.
Ole Miss got the ball back at their 24-yard line with a minute and 53 seconds to go and two timeouts.
Lacy was injured after a reception. Backup running back Logan Diggs came in for him. A couple plays later, Chambliss was injured on a quarterback run.
Backup and former starter Austin Simmons came into play and completed two passes for 25 yards. Ole Miss was at the Tulane seven yard line with 26 seconds to go. After an injury timeout, Tulane sacked Simmons and recovered a fumble.
Nothing came of the turnover and Ole Miss went into the half with a 17-3 lead. The Rebels gained 264 yards to the Green Wave’s 206.
Chambliss was 13-of-16 for 167 yards and a rushing touchdown. Lacy had 10 carries for 67 yards and a score. Deuce Alexander had five receptions for 67 yards.
The Rebels were just 1/5 on third down, while Tulane was 3/7. Both teams had two sacks. Ole Miss had four tackles for loss to Tulane’s three.
Second half
Tulane began the third quarter with a 21-yard completion. The Rebels were on their heels after two first downs got the Green Wave into Rebel territory, but an incomplete pass, a solid pass breakup by Braxton and a pass breakup by Franklin forced a punt.
Chambliss and Lacy were good to go after sitting out the last few plays of the first half.
Three quick strikes put the Rebels deep into Tulane territory. Lacy muscled his way up the middle for a nine-yard gain, then got the first down on the next play.
De’Zhaun Stribling caught a 13-yard pass and fought his way to the end zone for a touchdown. The Rebels went up 24-3 after the point after attempt.
Ole Miss’ third touchdown of the day took just seven plays and lasted under three minutes. Chambliss was four-of-four for 64 yards.
Tulane had two nice catches on passes that almost hit the ground. One of those catches was for a nine yard gain. They tried a QB sneak on third-and-one, but got stuffed. They ran the same play on fourth down and were stopped. The Rebels got the ball back on the Tulane 47.
Chambliss had a couple questionable throws on the next drive. He did not seem to be on the same page with the coaching staff or team. The Rebels settled for a 48-yard field goal to make it 27-3.
Retzlaff had a receiver wide open way down field for an easy touchdown, but he over threw him. That was the first real bust in coverage for the Rebels all game. On the next play, a big hit on Retzlaff forced a fumble and Ole Miss picked it up.
After picking up the first down, Lacy appeared to reaggravate his shoulder and left the game. He did not return to the game.
Diggs came into the game and immediately caught a pass then hit a spin move for a 14-yard gain.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Diggs took a direct snap and ran it in for a touchdown, the PAT made it 34-3.
On fourth-and-one, edge rusher Suntarine Perkins forced Retzlaff to fumble and Ole Miss recovered the ball at the Tulane 29.
The Rebels capitalized on the turnover with an eight-yard touchdown run from Chambliss to make it 41-3.
After that touchdown, the Rebels put in backup players for the reminder of the game.
Tulane scored their first touchdown with around four minutes to go in the fourth. With Simmons in at quarterback, the Rebels had a couple explosive plays to get in the red zone, but elected to take two knees to end the game.
Chambliss was 23-of-29 for 282 yards two rushing touchdowns and a passing touchdown. Lacy had 15 carries for 87 yards and a touchdown. Alexander led Rebel receivers with seven catches for 87 yards.
Tulane put up 421 yards of offense, but were very inefficient once they crossed the 50 yard line.
“I think the guys just ended up bowing up, and sometimes you may need to be a ‘don’t break defense,'” Ole Miss assistant coach Bryan Brown said in his postgame press conference. “We ended up executing a little bit better as we got our backs to the goal line a little bit.”
Ole Miss put up 497 yards of offense and tallied 29 first downs, while also forcing three turnovers.
The Rebels were 3/10 on third down and 2/2 on fourth down, while the Green Wave was 5/13 on third down and 0/4 on fourth down.
“Our guys were focused on fourth down. We have big bodies up front,” Brown said. “Big Zxa and Bill Will and those guys, they did a good job of pushing the pocket back.”
With two pass break ups and an interception, Braxton was excellent in this game.
“He’s continuing to develop, but he’s a smart, high-Q football guy,” Brown said.
What’s next?
The Ole Miss Rebels will take on the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday, Jan. 1 at 7 p.m. CT at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans for the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. ESPN will broadcast the game.
The Rebels are looking forward to a rematch with the only team that beat them this season.
“It means a lot to get another shot at that game,” linebacker TJ Dottery said in his postgame press conference. “Honestly, right after that game when we lost, I kind of figured we were going to have another shot at them.”
Chambliss spoke on the rematch in New Orleans as well in his press conference.
“A lot of our teammates are excited about that,” Chambliss said. “When we found out that they were the next game…a lot of people were really excited.”
