The College Football Playoff meeting between Tulane and Ole Miss isn’t the first time the teams have met each other in 2025.
The Green Wave visited Oxford in September. It was an ugly loss. Will things be different in the first round of the playoff?
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No. 11 Tulane at No. 6 Ole Miss (3:30 p.m. ET, TNT)
Tulane (11-2) earned its playoff spot by winning the American Conference, though it was blown out 45-10 by Ole Miss in Week 4. Tulane’s only other loss was another blowout at UTSA. Since then, the Green Wave has five straight wins.
Ole Miss (11-1) is making its first playoff appearance in program history despite losing head coach Lane Kiffin to LSU shortly after the regular season ended. His replacement is defensive coordinator Pete Golding while multiple offensive assistants who followed Kiffin to LSU will coach Ole Miss for the duration of the Rebels’ playoff run.
This game will feature two unlikely quarterback stories. Tulane QB Jake Retzlaff is the toast of New Orleans in his first season with the team after his ugly exit from BYU. Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss is also a transfer. He arrived in Oxford from Division II Ferris State and took over as the team’s starter following Austin Simmons’ ankle injury in Week 2.
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The question is if Tulane be more competitive this time around. Tulane had just 282 yards on 78 plays in September as Ole Miss ran 69 plays for 548 yards.
Follow along below as the Yahoo Sports crew breaks down all of the action. Here’s how to watch Miami vs. Texas A&M and the rest of the College Football Playoff games.
Live4 updatesSat, December 20, 2025 at 12:19 PM PST
Yahoo Sports Staff
Sat, December 20, 2025 at 12:33 PM PST
Yahoo Sports Staff
As we approach kickoff in Oxford, Ole Miss fans are still clearly bitter about the way coach Lane Kiffing left to take the LSU job a few weeks ago.
Nick Bromberg
As Pete Golding coaches his first game in charge at Ole Miss, Jon Sumrall could be working his last at Tulane before heading to Florida.
Sumrall has been balancing two jobs in the buildup to the postseason and he’s got to figure out how his team can be more competitive this time around. Tulane had just 282 yards on 78 plays in September as Ole Miss ran 69 plays for 548 yards.
Tulane’s key is simple. They have to be better at the line of scrimmage to have a chance. While Lacy rushed for 68 yards, Chambliss rushed 14 times for 112 yards and the Rebels had 42 carries for 241 yards. If Tulane is getting blown off the ball, it’s hard to see how this game plays out any different.
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Nick Bromberg
Tulane WR Shazz Preston: The Alabama transfer leads a Tulane receiver group that features four players with at least 30 catches. Preston has 38 catches for 598 yards and four touchdowns and is the only Tulane player with more than two TD grabs this season.
He also leads the Green Wave with 15.7 yards per catch in a passing attack that doesn’t feature a standout receiver. Though Preston had just two catches for 16 yards against North Texas, he’s had four games with more than 80 yards receiving this season.
Ole Miss RB Kewan Lacy: No power conference player has as many rushing attempts as Lacy’s 258. The transfer from Mizzou has rushed for 1,279 yards as he’s gotten over 20 carries per game in seven of Ole Miss’ 12 games this season. Lacy’s rushed 58 times for 367 yards and four scores over the last two games and had 24 carries for 167 yards and a TD in a win over South Carolina. In the Week 4 win over Tulane, Lacy rushed 18 times for 68 yards and two scores.
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