Tulane at Ole Miss: College Football Playoff players to watch, key to game

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

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 December?

[More CFP: Alabama at Oklahoma | Miami at Texas A&M | JMU at Oregon]

Tulane (11-2): The American Conference champions got blown out in Week 4 when the Rebels beat the Green Wave, 45-10. The loss came after Tulane beat Northwestern and Duke over the first three weeks of the season.

After the Ole Miss loss, Tulane won three straight before getting blown out again, this time on a Thursday night at UTSA. But the Roadrunners are excellent at home in conference games. And since then, Tulane has five straight wins. The last four have been by at least two scores, including a 34-21 win over North Texas in the American title game.

Ole Miss (11-1): Do you want a recap of Ole Miss’ season on the field or a recap of how Lane Kiffin dramatically left Oxford at the end of the season to go to LSU?

We’ll try to briefly do both. Ole Miss lost to Georgia. The Rebels beat LSU and Oklahoma. Despite a guaranteed playoff berth after a 38-19 win over Florida, Kiffin decided the allure of LSU was too great and he wanted to be the Tigers’ next head coach. Ole Miss, meanwhile, told Kiffin he couldn’t coach the team while also heading to LSU. So Kiffin is gone and replaced by 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.

A year ago, BYU QB Jake Retzlaff was the toast of Provo as the Cougars won 11 games and took down Colorado in the Alamo Bowl. Now he’s the toast of New Orleans following his exit from BYU in dark circumstances.

Retzlaff transferred after a woman accused him of sexual assault in November of 2023 in a civil lawsuit. Retzlaff had contended the sexual encounter was consensual and the suit was dismissed with prejudice in June. However, Retzlaff transferred because he would be facing a suspension for an honor code violation at BYU.

He ended up at Tulane, where he’s completed 62% of his passes for 2,862 yards and 14 TDs while rushing 118 times for 610 yards and 16 scores. Only three players — including Ole Miss RB Kewan Lacy — have rushed for more TDs than Retzlaff.

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. Chambliss finished eighth in the Heisman voting as he’s completed 65% of his passes for 3,016 yards and 18 TDs while rushing for 470 yards and another six scores. Chambliss has thrown for over 300 yards in each of the Rebels’ last three games and has thrown for a TD in all but one game in 2025. That one game? His relief appearance against Kentucky in Week 2 when he didn’t throw a single pass.

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.

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.

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos