For Ole Miss, a gratifying 1st CFP win without Kiffin

OXFORD, Miss. — After leading No. 6 Ole Miss to a 41-10 rout of No. 11 Tulane in a CFP first-round game Saturday, new Rebels coach Pete Golding walked off the field with his name being chanted by fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

Golding, who won his first game as a head coach in the Rebels’ first-ever CFP matchup, raised his fist in victory and threw his visor into the stands. Then he hugged Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter, who entrusted him with the program after former coach Lane Kiffin left for LSU on Nov. 30.

Golding, 41, the Rebels’ defensive coordinator until Kiffin abruptly left, passed his first test against the Green Wave, who qualified for the CFP as the highest-rated champions from a Group of Five conference.

Ole Miss won 12 games in a season for the first time in its history.

“To finally be the last voice, it kind of hit me some,” Golding said. “And then just more excited for the players, how they responded. Some of those hugs will get you a little bit, you know?”

The Rebels’ next test, against No. 3 Georgia in a CFP quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Year’s Day (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), figures to be much more difficult.

The Bulldogs defeated the Rebels 43-35 in Athens, Georgia, on Oct. 18, handing them their only loss of the season.

The start against Tulane couldn’t have gone better. After taking the opening kickoff, the Rebels needed only three plays to drive 75 yards for a touchdown in 59 seconds. Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss threw a 30-yard pass to De’Zhaun Stribling and a 25-yarder to tight end Dae’Quan Wright, then tailback Kewan Lacy ran 20 yards up the middle for a touchdown to make it 7-0.

It was the longest streak of plays of 20 yards or longer to start a game by any FBS team in the past 20 seasons, according to ESPN Research. It was the fastest touchdown in a CFP game.

Tulane picked up three first downs and reached the Ole Miss 23 on its first possession. But cornerback Jaylon Braxton intercepted Jake Retzlaff‘s pass to Tre Shackelford at the 10.

Ole Miss took over at its 40 following Braxton’s 15-yard return and a face mask penalty against the Green Wave. Lacy gained 30 yards up the middle on first down, and Chambliss threw a 26-yard pass to Deuce Alexander. Two plays later, Chambliss ran 4 yards into the end zone on a designed keeper to give the Rebels a 14-0 lead with 7:26 left in the first quarter.

The Rebels’ rout was on, and so was Golding’s coming-out party in front of 68,251 fans, the largest crowd in Ole Miss history.

It was an all-too-familiar sight for Tulane, which lost 45-10 at Ole Miss on Sept. 20.

“We looked a little slow on the perimeter, kind of similar to the first time we played this bunch,” Green Wave coach Jon Sumrall said. “They’re very talented. Hats off to them. They made plays. We didn’t make plays. Some of that was because of them, some of that was we didn’t do a very good job. But yes, the first two drives, it’s like you blink and you look up and it’s 14-0.”

Golding said he wasn’t surprised that his team came out so focused following the circus that surrounded Kiffin’s departure at the end of the regular season.

“I don’t think it was very hard at all because, I mean, it’d be one thing, no disrespect, if this was the Pop-Tart Bowl or something like that,” Golding said. “That s— would have been really hard. This is the playoffs. People start talking about are they going to play or are they not going to play? What are we talking about?”

The Rebels’ only scare against the Green Wave came late in the first half when both of their best players — Lacy and Chambliss — were injured on the same drive. Lacy, who has run for 1,366 yards with a school-record 21 rushing touchdowns, injured his left shoulder on a 7-yard catch.

Three plays later, Chambliss scrambled for an 11-yard run and was hurt while getting tackled.

Backup quarterback Austin Simmons, who opened the season as the team’s starter before spraining his ankle, took over and finished the half.

Chambliss and Lacy came back to play in the second half, but Lacy went to the locker room in the fourth quarter. Golding said Lacy, who ran 15 times for 87 yards with one touchdown, had a bruised left shoulder.

“Yeah, he banged his shoulder up,” Golding said. “Obviously, he came back in the game and fought through that. We’ll address it here going forward, but he went back in the game and it’s a bruised shoulder.”

Chambliss completed 23 of 29 passes for 282 yards with one touchdown and ran six times for 36 yards with two scores. He is the fifth player to throw a touchdown and run for multiple scores in a CFP game.

The Rebels had 497 total yards, including 151 rushing.

Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. returned to help coach the Rebels in the CFP, along with tight ends coach Joe Cox and receivers coach George McDonald. They’ll join Kiffin at LSU once the Rebels’ CFP run ends.

“I had zero concern with Charlie Weis calling this team, for this one reason: Charlie Weis cannot afford not to call a hell of a game,” Golding said. “All he’s heard is, ‘Lane Kiffin’s offense, Lane Kiffin’s offense, Lane Kiffin’s offense.’ So this is just one opportunity for people to realize Charlie Weis calls the offense, just like he’s done all year, and he did a great job tonight.”

It wasn’t the ending Sumrall had hoped for in his final game at Tulane. He was hired as Florida’s new coach on Nov. 30 after Kiffin turned that job down.

“[I] told them it doesn’t change how I feel about them,” Sumrall said. “I love this group. Love each guy on that team. This team will walk together forever as champions because we won a conference championship, all right? So while the outcome tonight sucks — I’m not happy with it and there’s nothing about it I feel good about — I still feel good about this football team because we hoisted a championship trophy two weeks ago.”

The loss was emotional for Sumrall because his father, George, died in his sleep Thursday night after battling lengthy health issues; he was 77. Sumrall’s mother, Sandra, attended Saturday’s game.

“Man, it’s been hard, but I loved my dad,” Sumrall said. “I’m a lot of who I am because of how he raised me, and I can smile knowing that I’m going to live a life that’s going to honor my dad. He watched us today. He’s probably got some questions about how we played, just like I do. I just don’t have to hear them tonight from him.

“I’m sure I’ll hear them from my mom, though. But man, it’s been hard.”