It’ll be hard to find many predictions of Tulane upsetting No. 6 Ole Miss in the coming weeks.
But as the Rebels’ archrival, Mississippi State, just showed, anything can happen in sports.
The Bulldogs didn’t reach bowl eligibility, but because Kansas State, Iowa State and Notre Dame turned down bowl invitations, Mississippi State is going bowling.
So, anything can happen, including the Green Wave beating Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff first round game on December 20 in Oxford.
The Rebels are heavy favorites at the sportsbooks and SP+ Projections give them an 87 percent win probability. A big reason for that is the result of teams’ previous meeting this season that Ole Miss won 45-10.
“It’s good to have some comfortability with it, but also our guys got to understand that that was years ago,” new Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding said. “You know, what happened in that game has no indication of what’s going to happen in this game, and our preparation has to be on point, and we’ve got to be ready to roll and have really good plans and have a great week of practice.”
Golding, who was promoted from defensive coordinator to full-time head coach after Lane Kiffin left for LSU, also said he was concerned about Tulane in that first matchup.
“They’re multiple in personnel and obviously got a quarterback with experience that I thought presented a lot of problems coming into the game,” Golding said. “Obviously coming out of the game, created some turnovers, played really well in offense, a lot of explosive plays.
“But the big thing now, man, that feels like years ago at this point. It was early in the season, and they played really well lately, and they’re coming off a really good game and got some confidence in winning the conference championship and created a lot of turnovers.”
The Green Wave forced five turnovers against North Texas in the American Conference championship game last Friday, including one pick-six. Tulane won that game 34-21, but led 31-7 at one point.
Friendly coaches
Golding and current Tulane head coach (soon-to-be Florida head coach) Jon Sumrall have a friendly relationship. Both coaches talked about that relationship in their press conferences after the CFP announcement.
“Pete FaceTimed me last night,” Sumrall said on Sunday. “I was sitting in my house watching the ACC game and the Big Ten game. We’re great friends. I have a good relationship with Pete; known him a long time. I’m very happy for him. I’m proud of him. He’s a really good football coach.”
“I was just calling him,” Golding said in his press conference Sunday. “Obviously the selection show hadn’t come up. You know, I said, ‘Oh man, hopefully, hopefully y’all got to go to Oregon, you know, bring your ass out West.’ But no, he had a good indication that he was kind of pushing to get back to Oxford, a little closer and all that. So, I was just congratulating him on a heck of a year and obviously talking about some of the Florida transition.”
That relationship should make for some coaching rivalry moments whenever Ole Miss and Florida play one another in the future.
